The door is the first thing people see, and often the last thing they forget. We carve ours from solid wood with the same hands that shaped our Louis XVI furniture — slowly, without hurry.
The Story Behind the Door: Why Wood Has Been the First Choice for Centuries
Long before steel frames and aluminum profiles, every grand entrance in Europe was a carved wooden door. The palace gates of Versailles, the cathedral doors of Florence, the private townhouses of Victorian London — all of them carried hand-worked wood at their threshold. In Saharanpur, that same tradition found a home in the workshops of craftsmen who had been carving since the Mughal era. Our wooden doors are built from that lineage. Not reproductions, not factory prints — solid wood, carved by hand, fitted with the kind of care that assumes the door will still be standing in fifty years. Because it will.
How the Carving Is Done: What Goes Into a Royalzig Wooden Door
Every wooden door we make starts as a drawing. The panel layout, the border motifs, and the depth of each carved section — it all gets worked out on paper before anything touches the wood. Once the timber is shaped and dried, the carving begins. A single door panel, depending on its design, can take two craftsmen four to six days to complete. They work with small chisels, moving in the direction of the grain, cutting floral rosettes or geometric interlace the same way it was done in French and Italian workshops centuries ago. The kind of detail you feel under your fingertips, not just see from across the room.
Panel Construction
Floating panel design allows the wood to expand and contract with seasons, preventing cracks and warps over time.
Mortise & Tenon Joinery
Traditional joinery, not screws. Frames are assembled with precision-cut joints that hold stronger over decades than any hardware.
Weather-Sealed Finish
Multiple coats of oil-based sealer and lacquer, applied by hand between coats, protect the wood without hiding the grain's character.
Style & Character: Where Do You Want the Door to Take You?
There is a Louis XVI-influenced door—fluted pilasters framing the panels and a laurel wreath at the top, carved in the same tradition as the Louis XVI living room furniture our workshop has been making for generations. There is the heavier Italian approach, arched at the top, with deeper relief carvings that cast proper shadows when morning light hits them. And then there is the straight-lined Victorian style, which suits a lot of Indian homes surprisingly well—bold in structure, restrained in ornament, something that reads as serious the moment you stand in front of it. We can carve any of these. Most customers end up with something that draws from two styles at once, and that is usually the most interesting result.
Timber We Work With: What Wood Goes Into a Royalzig Door
Solid Teak
Dense, naturally oily, and highly resistant to humidity and insects. The go-to choice for exterior entrance doors.
Sheesham
Indian rosewood. Exceptional for deep carving, rich grain patterns, and interior doors where visual detail matters most.
Mahogany
Works beautifully with gilded or lacquered finishes. Fine-grained and even in texture, ideal for French and Louis XVI-style doors.
Burma Teak
A premium grade of teak prized for its tighter grain and higher oil content. Used for high-value exterior commissions.
Questions We Hear Often
What is the difference between a carved wooden door and a regular flush door?
A flush door is essentially a flat surface, often a hollow or MDF core covered with a thin veneer or laminate. It is made to fill a frame quickly and cheaply. A hand-carved wooden door is built from solid timber — no core shortcuts — and the surface detailing is physically carved into the wood, not printed or pressed onto it. Over time, the difference shows clearly. Solid carved doors hold up to weather changes, age with character, and can be restored and refinished. A flush door cannot. It is the same gap in quality as the difference between factory-made furniture and the hand-carved pieces our workshop produces.
How long does it take to make a custom carved wooden door?
For a standard carved entrance door, most orders take eight to ten weeks from confirmation. Doors with more complex carving — arched frames, multi-panel layouts, deep relief work, or inlay details — can take up to twelve weeks. We share a production timeline with you before the order is finalised, so there are no surprises halfway through. Rushing a carved door is not something we are willing to do, and we would rather be honest about timing upfront than deliver something that left the workshop too soon.
Which wood is best for an exterior wooden door in India's climate?
For exterior use in the Indian climate, teak is the most reliable choice. It has naturally high oil content, which makes it resistant to moisture, humidity swings, and insects without needing constant chemical treatment. Burma teak is the premium option within that category, with a tighter grain that holds carving beautifully and weathers particularly well over years. Sheesham works very well for interior carved doors where humidity exposure is lower. We always advise based on where the door will actually be installed, so please share those details when you inquire.
Can I get a wooden door carved in a Louis XVI or European style?
Yes, this is one of the styles we carve most often for entrance doors. The Louis XVI vocabulary — fluted pilaster columns on either side of the door frame, laurel wreaths in the upper panels, and ribbon and rosette motifs at the joints — translates particularly well to door design. It is the same tradition behind our Louis XVI furniture and Louis XVI living furniture pieces, just applied to an architectural scale. Italian baroque and Victorian geometric styles are equally possible. Customers sometimes ask for a combination, and we find that mixing a Louis XVI border treatment with a Victorian panel layout often produces the most interesting results.
How do I maintain and protect a hand-carved wooden door?
Exterior doors benefit from a light application of teak oil or wood conditioner once or twice a year, particularly before the monsoon season. Wipe the surface with a dry cloth regularly and avoid leaving water to sit in carved grooves after rain. Interior carved doors need very little — occasional dusting with a soft cloth and a gentle polish every few months keeps the finish looking well. If the lacquer begins to dull over many years, the door can be lightly sanded and refinished without losing any of the carved detailing. That is one of the real advantages of solid wood over anything composite.
Do you make double doors, arched doors, and doors with glass panels?
We do all of these. Double doors are among our most requested formats for main entrances — they allow for wider, more dramatic carving compositions across both leaves. Arched doors, where the frame or the door itself has a curved top, suit Italian and baroque-style carvings particularly well and work beautifully for bungalows with tall porch openings. Glass panel inserts are possible too, typically in the upper section of a door, using hand-crafted wooden grilles or simple clear glass depending on the look you want. All of this gets discussed and drawn out before production starts.