Sage Creek Office

A builder's open den in Menifee turned into a private home office with matched double doors and a fixed-glass transom, so the room closes for quiet but still shares the light.

Audie Murphy Ranch is one of the big master-planned communities on the west side of Menifee. The builder left the den off the main living area as a 61 inch cased opening with no door. On the floor plan it reads as flexible. In real life it is a room you cannot shut.

The homeowners wanted a real office with privacy, but not a dark box walled off from the rest of the house. A single door would have looked like an afterthought in that opening, and a solid wall of doors would have killed the light.

The fix was matched double doors with a fixed-glass transom above them. Close the doors and the noise drops. Look up and the light still comes through. Brian drew the proportion by hand first: standard 6 foot 8 inch doors, a flat trim band, and about 11 inches of glass under a 9 foot ceiling.

The doors are a stock prehung pair. The opening was a hair wide for stock sizing, so Brian furred it in, shimmed the hinge side plumb, and checked that the meeting stiles met evenly top to bottom. The transom frame was built in the opening, not the shop, with the glass stop cut to an even reveal all around.

One day of carpentry, two days of paint, and nobody on site the day in between while everything cured.