When renovating your home, it can be easy to get caught up in talks of colour schemes and furniture choices and forget about house ‘essentials’ such as doors, as they’re so often taken for granted as part of a basic house structure.
Contrary to popular belief, there are many different designs and styles of doors out there, which is good as it allows freedom to pick and choose a door which suits your home, but having too much choice can be confusing, especially when you’ve never had to consciously think about a door before.
Knowing what to look for, and why, can help you to make an informed decision about which door will suit your new home.
Colour
Picking a door whose colour matches your room may sound obvious, but it is something that is often forgotten about. While white doors do work well with most rooms, they won’t work for everything so it is important to take a look at your décor before taking the plunge.
Minimalistic and contemporary rooms work well with white doors, but would equally work with a door which adds subtle colour, such as a light grey or cream. Natural grained doors work well with shabby chic and rustic rooms, but also with rooms that incorporate a lot of creams and neutrals.
Style
Once you have decided on the colour, it’s time to decide on the style. Flush doors are completely smooth, making them ideal for sleek and contemporary rooms. They’re better bought in light colours, as otherwise they can look heavy and reduce the perceived size of a room.
Panelled doors are doors which, instead of having a smooth surface, have panel structures embossed into the design. On a wooden grain, these look very traditional and suit more rustic homes, so choose a white panelled door if you’re looking for a more modern-traditional design.
Glazed doors are wooden doors which incorporates glass panels. These are a good choice for interconnecting rooms, as it opens up the space, or rooms which lack natural lighting. They’re also a good choice for increasing the perceived size of a smaller room.
Fixture
If you’re on a low budget, sticking to a traditional swing internal door is probably your best bet as it doesn’t require knocking through walls and buying new fixtures, but if money is not a problem or you’re conducting a total renovation, consider more contemporary fixtures such as folding or sliding doors. Not only do these modernise your home and brighten up the room, they are the perfect solution for small spaces as they don’t require space for the doors outswing. 