Matching Interior Door Styles to a Home’s Decor Motif

Built By Jove Arthur for Building Moxie & Published September 12, 2012.
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The exterior door of your home is your ally in making a nice first impression to your guests. It is your home’s personal introduction that can either make the visitor want to get to know it better, or prompt them to abandon all grand expectations just outside the entrance.

Interior doors, on the other hand, capture, or should capture, your home’s character. They can either further establish or indiscriminately ruin the first impression you have made. Therefore, choosing interior doors is just as crucial as finding the most inviting exterior door.

To help you determine the best interior door styles for your home’s specific motif, here are some notes to ponder.

Classic Interior

Classic design aptly fuses aesthetics and practicality. With this in mind, the best type of interior door to complement this motif is the no-nonsense hinge doors which can be employed in various areas of the house such as bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchens.

Hinge doors can either swing outward or inward, and are typically made of a solid or hollow core, depending on a homeowner’s required level of solidity. These doors are reliable sound-insulators, hence noise can easily be contained within specific rooms or areas of the house.

Hinge doors easily fit the classic interior theme since its mechanism’s ease allows many possibilities for old-world aesthetics, without eventually coming off as too flashy or tacky. Taking into account the surrounding classic décor, these doors can be outfitted with the different classic elements like grilles, arches, glass patterns, and the likes.

Modern Interior

This should not be confused with the contemporary design. Whereas the latter is more focused on design trends, modern interior is more inclined to minimalistic and clean usage of both aesthetic and functional design elements.

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Sliding doors made of glass, vinyl, or even wood, fit the modern design temperament perfectly. These doors serve as functional house dividers/partitions, while keeping true to the modern design’s fluid vibe.

If sliding doors don’t cut it for you, pocket doors are another option. These doors use a sliding track for movement and discreetly tuck inside a wall. They are like the chameleons of the door species—almost invisible once opened, hence capturing modern design’s flowing and uncomplicated quality.

Unique/Eclectic Interior

If your home interior doesn’t quite fall under a specific category such as classic or modern design, or if it has an infusion of various themes like the exact expression of the word eclectic, then, bypass and folding doors—both oozing with enough sense of oomph, are recommended options for you.

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Bypass doors have a staggered panels mechanism which allows their panels to fold onto each other.  These are usually seen in bedrooms and closets, and are quite reliable in creating an illusion of space. Bypass doors with mirror finish are quite popular for their stylish appearance that easily matches eclectic room theme and patterns.

Folding doors, just like bypass doors are great for compact areas. Folding doors made of wood are typically used for closets and as living room or kitchen dividers.

The door styles mentioned here, as well as the home design categories, are just some of the most common in the field of interior design and home improvement. Although the options cited are not exhaustive, they are enough to give every homeowner an idea on how to mix and match interior doors with their chosen home motif.

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Jove Arthur works for Door Emporium, an NJ-based interior/exterior custom wood door company. Check out their various knotty alder and mahogany doors.

All images via Door Emporium, except:

• White Pine ByPass Doors
• Red Metal Folding Door