From the curb, Amy Funk's ranch home near Kansas City, Missouri, beams with sunny color and tidy landscaping. She replaced the heavy wood front door and garage door with aluminum-frame glass models in keeping with the home's 1950s aesthetic.

The showpiece garage door is made of glass with an aluminum frame, which mirrors the style of the entry door and front windows. "That was a challenge," Amy says of convincing others how fab a glass garage door would be. "I wanted to create the look of a greater presence on the street, of the home looking larger than it is. It's such a narrow, long house; when there's a heavy wood garage door there, you pull up and see only garage. Now you see the entire house."