Doors to Adore

Move over Jim Morison, because The Doors of New Moroxico are more hypnotic than a funky bass line and wilder than any acid trip! You can break on through to the other side of the house without ever seeing the same style of door twice. I might have had a limited number of doorways to work with, but my PASSION FOR UNIQUE AND FABULOUS DOORS from around the world was inexhaustible!

Even all the CABINETRY is either made from antiques — such as French shutters and Indian door lintels — or they are newly hand carved works of art from Mexico or Morocco.

No matter how magnificent, however, all of these doors would have looked ridiculous without the right walls. So I urge you not to overlook these quiet heroes in my photographs, as finally getting the WALL TEXTURE just right is easily one of my proudest accomplishments in all of New Moroxico.

Our (It's Taking) Forever Home

In my attempts to functionally incorporate architectural pieces from places like INDIA, MEXICO, and the MIDDLE EAST into the exterior of New Moroxico, one of the unique challenges I became all too familiar with is that many of their traditional doors and windows — while stunningly beautiful — were NEVER INTENDED TO HOLD GLASS.

In Texas, neither permit nor preference would ever allow me to build an open air home, so any time I adapted one of these exotic architectural elements I paid dearly for it in both money and time.

The house took so long to design and build, that along the way my relationship status changed, and it became apparent that not one but two people would eventually be living in New Moroxico. The problem was, I didn’t design a house for a couple, I designed a house perfectly suited for one single man. And not just any man — a man with a singular and rather PROGRESSIVE VISSION.

A Poo for Two

Case in point, I have a very strong dislike of claustrophobic commodes that are sequestered away in dismal little closets, so there were to be no doors confining the toilet nook in the primary bathroom.

Considering how much I love hunting for cool doors, when my partner asked if I could please reconsider this and add a door to the toilet nook, I told him, “No problem!”

The doors I commissioned turned out beautifully, but when he saw them my partner said, “Ryan! These doors are MOSTLY SEE-THRU!”

Rather than be pedantic and point out he never said he wanted opaque doors, I simply showed him what to do with the gorgeous SARI-LIKE CURTAIN that drapes down from the ceiling.

I photograph toilets around the world; and while mine is tame compared to many of those, I will readily admit that this compromise did lead to something even better than what I originally conceived.

Outdoor Doors

After spending weeks photographing the ancient doorways of Morocco, I became a bit of a door expert DOOR JUNKIE, and by the end of the construction process, I had gathered up more doors from around the world than could ever possibly fit in New Moroxico.

But not to worry, I did the sensible thing and sold the extras started finding interesting ways to use the leftover doors outside in the landscape like a crazy person. You’ve heard of outdoor rooms?

Well, many of my outdoor rooms now have OUTDOOR DOORS!

Custom Cravings in Ouarzazate

Being in the walled city of Ouarzazte was surreal. It felt like I had somehow been magically transported to the set of some BIBLICAL EPIC. I later learned that portions of Gladiator were filmed here, which came as no surprise.

But almost immediately, my fascination was focused on a singular MESMERIZING DOOR. So captivatingly beautiful was the door, that it became my obsession for the remainder of my time in Morocco to find someone who could make me a replica of this ANCIENT WORK OF ART.

Not only did I succeed, but the artisans I found were more than willing to explore stylistic adaptations with me, as well as tailor the door design to incorporate the MOORISH ARCH (or keyhole opening) that I find so enchanting.