When is a door so much more than a door? When it's a historic and artistic statement from the skilled craftsmen at this magical collection in Santa Fe.
Before you walk through La Puerta Originals' expansive outdoor "Antique Yard" in Santa Fe, prepare for a true treasure hunt. And you'll want to allow plenty of time to wander the approximately four acres filled with pieces from around the world. Here, you're making your way not only through exciting inventory, but also through history — rows and rows of exquisite doors that are hundreds of years old, from places like Mexico, South America, Egypt, Morocco, and Pakistan, lined up alongside old hardware, antique decorative corbels, large wooden columns, unique pieces of metalwork, and so much more.
The whole experience comes as a wonderful surprise. Who could have imagined what treasures awaited you, what antique pieces would call to you, and what the team at La Puerta Originals would do with your treasure once you discovered it.
Credit Scott Coleman for this trove. Since the early 1990s, Scott has been collecting antique doors from around the world. An architect, custom home builder, and artist at heart, he would incorporate the doors into his designs. Pretty soon the doors filled up his garage, then his driveway, and eventually he had to start renting space to accommodate his growing collection.
As Scott began using these special doors more and more in his home projects, people caught on to the beauty of them and began to seek them out exclusively, even when he wasn't building the person's home. There was only one problem: The antique doors weren't designed to fit contemporary door openings. Soon Scott was operating his own shop to make the doors suit housing specs, and La Puerta Originals was born.
Scott's wife, Melissa Coleman, took over ownership of the company in 2003. Scott remains the founder and creative director. Now, the husband-and-wife duo, along with their team of around 20 craftspeople, operate out of an 18,500-square-foot production facility, where they make the past come to life again day in and day out for clients across the country, one puerta at a time.
Initially, it was primarily door and cabinetry, but the offering has since expanded into pretty much whatever a customer can imagine of any millwork goods — from staircases, driveway entry gates, coffee tables, benches, and beds, to jaw-dropping doors you'd have to see to believe. The company might have 100 different projects going on at any one time.
"It kind of runs the gamut. It really kind of is the sky is the limit, but our main focus is doors and then secondarily is now kitchens," Melissa says. At the moment, it's a kitchen going to California; a large order of doors going up to Boulder, Colorado; and an Old World door requiring 72 tiny nails being hammered into a unique design for a couple in Texas. "Every day that we come in, there's something new going on," Melissa says.
The company sources one-of-a-kind antiques from multiple countries and combines that with reclaimed wood from structures across the American West. These are building materials that are otherwise being demolished and scrapped, but hold so much history and authenticity, in addition to being the more sustainable option for building material, Melissa explains. The company currently busy about 150,000 board feet of reclaimed lumber every year. "A lot of the material we have is several hundred years old, so the older the better," she says. "The quality of the craftsmanship is better, and the wood is more durable. Old-growth wood lasts for many, many centuries, even when exposed to the elements." La Puerta Originals then remills the wood and incorporates the antique material into it to create a finished and seamless piece.
The best part? The pieces function flawlessly in modern settings, but they come with a piece of history.
And that's exactly what is resonating with customers. "I think people are really starving for something unique and different — they're looking for something that tells a story," Melissa says. "You can get any kind of machine-made door that your heart desires, but everybody has those doors. It's not different. It's not unique. If you want something handcrafted just for you, for your home, there aren't many places that do that. Everything we do here is by hand."
Melissa praises her team of highly skilled craftspeople, most of whom have been with the company for decades, and she's also quick to credit Scott for bringing his artistic visions to life on paper and then to fruition in a way that makes customers' dreams materialize. "I think the most incredible part ot me is seeing an idea that comes out of Scott's head manifest into an actual door," she says.
Melissa tells the story of one of their customers, a married couple in Kansas for whom La Puerta Originals built a beautiful door for their farmhouse. It quickly became clear the couple had something special when they started to hear that folks in their community would often drive out past the farm just to look at the front door. "They love it. They're very proud of it, and it's exceptional quality. It's just a showstopper," she says. The couple have since returned to purchase other items for their home from the company. A lot of La Puerta Originals' sales are, in fact, repeat customers and referrals. The company also works with architects and home builders across the country. "When their client wants something truly spectacular, beautiful, and high quality, they know where to come, and they come to us," Melissa says.
When you come to La Puerta Original — by phone, online, or in-person — you can expect to take a walk (or virtual tour) through the Antique Yard and then sit down with Scott to come up with a vision for your home. From concept to finished piece, the process can take several months or more, depending on the project. The company works with clients every step of the way. "It's an amazing process," Melissa says. "There aren't that many people who do this for a living, because it takes an incredible artistic boutique offering what we provide, and not a lot of people do that on the scale that we do it."
Though Melissa has been in the business a long time, even she's still surprised by what their company can do. "When you're running a business, you can get a little bit down in the weeds of the day-to-day, but something will come off the [work] bench, and it will be stood up, and it will be so incredibly beautiful and so special that you just have to stop and really appreciate how the process works. It's an art project from start to finish. We really do love the material we're working with, so we take a lot of care with it, and we try to make everything the most beautiful thing for our clients."
For more information on La Puerta Originals, visit lapuertaoriginals.com.