There’s nothing that says “welcome” like a beautiful, well-maintained front entry. But the door or doors that separate your home from the rest of the world should do more than simply add curb appeal.

Q. I have an old wooden front door with sidelights. The door is in bad shape and leaky, but the sidelights are fine. Is it possible to replace just the door and not the sidelights to save money? A.

Editor’s note: Welcome to the 60th installment of Brownstone Boys Reno, a reader renovation diary about renovating a brownstone in Bed Stuy. See the first one here. They also blog at ...