Looking to spruce up your home with new interior door styles? This guide covers everything you’ll need to know to pick the best door styles for your home.
You’ve renovated everything. The whole house.
You’ve painted every room and surface fresh, meticulously selected and placed beautiful decor elements and furniture throughout, and revitalized each space so that the entire house is perfect.
Almost.
You went to all that trouble and you still have the shabby old doors that came with the place when you first bought it. Oh well—getting doors to match all the work you’ve already done should be easy, right?
It can be.
You don’t want the time and money spent renovating your house to be in vain, and we don’t either. Below are the ins and outs of selecting the best interior door styles for your space. You’ll go from scowling every time you look at your doors to loving the way they complement the rest of your home perfectly.
Types of Doors by Material
A big part of choosing the right door will depend on what you want to do with it. And a big part of what your door can do will hinge on what material it’s made of.
Wood, composites (like MDF), glass, metal, fiberglass—it can be tough to decide what will work best for you. All of them can be used for the entrances to your home, but what about inside? That’s where you’ll want to be a little pickier.
Metal and fiberglass, generally, are out. You don’t need the insulating qualities they boast inside the house. All-glass doors (think sliding doors) often lead out to a patio, not from room to room. That leaves wood and composite doors in your house.
Something to keep in mind is what you want to do with them. If you’re painting, then either of these materials will work. If you think you’d ever like to have the beauty of natural wood colored with a rich, classic stained look, you’d better stick with wood.
Even though MDF is wood, you can’t stain it. It’s paint all the way with that stuff.
I know It’s tough to know what you’ll want to change in your house 10 years down the road, but most solid wood doors tend to last, never go out of style, and can be changed any way you please as far as coatings go.
Paint or stain, solid wood doors let you keep your options open, which just might be worth the higher price to you. Oak or walnut, pine or birch, no matter your space, you’re going to be able to find a wood door that complements it.
If you know you’ll never pine for (terrible, I know) the luxurious look of natural wood grain enhanced by a stain, an MDF door will be cheaper and will hold up over the years if you don’t mistreat it.
Types of Interior Door Styles by Design
When it comes to the design of a door, there is plenty to choose from as well.
The door you picture in your head when someone says the word ‘door’ is probably one of the paneled door types. There are far too many subsets of this type of door to realistically list here, but there is a general rule you can follow. With a few exceptions, with door paneling designs, fewer panels will create a more minimalist, modern effect, and more panels tend to create a classic, traditional look.
You might also opt for a door with some glass in it. These will often be exterior doors leading to the front porch or the back patio. That doesn’t need to be the case, though.
Whether you’re looking at French doors, Colonial doors, or any other type that prominently features glass panels inside them, these don’t have to be confined to your entryway.
I’ll say it again. You can—and people do—put these types of doors in other spaces in their homes. It’s all about showcasing your space and using areas with lots of light or unique features around these doors.
It’s your house and you can do what you want with it. If you want to put French or glazed doors leading to your dining room or interior garden spot, do it!—It will look great.
Of course, you can go with the opposite of ornate glass or elegant door paneling designs.
Flush doors are flat with no elaboration. They’re versatile and will fit in anywhere. And one thing you might consider with this style of door is you can even wallpaper it.
You won’t want to wallpaper your French doors—that’s for sure.
Door Types by How They Work
Aside from your run-of-the-mill hinged doors, there are a few interesting options for interior door styles available to you. If you have a unique space, don’t be afraid to think outside the box a bit.
Dutch doors split in two (you’ve seen them countless times on TV). That way you can open the top half while the bottom stays safely closed. Not only that, but they’ll offer a classic, countryside appeal to your space.
Again, if you’re going for a country aesthetic, barn doors recently becoming fashionable is great for you.
This isn’t a door you’ve just ripped off a rickety old building meant for sheltering animals. It’s a popular, stylish addition to a room that slides against the wall along a rail—and looks good doing it. Great for a rustic cottage motif.
Similar to the way barn doors work, Pocket doors are ideal if you want to maximize space in a room. These also don’t swing on hinges, instead retreating into a gap in the wall by sliding on a rail.
Not as rough-looking as Barn doors, Pocket style doors are an elegant solution to space issues with a classic look to them.
Finally, if you’ve got a unique space that demands unique types of doorways, look no further than the Pivot door. It does exactly what it says—pivots.
Spinning on a central rod, this door will wow guests and lend your space a modern appeal.
Open the Right Doors
While there’s a lot more to doors than you might have originally thought, hopefully, you now have an idea of what’s out there waiting for you.
You’ve got a start, but what’s next?
If you need more help finding out what the best interior door styles for you are, contact us or leave a note in the comments. We can answer your questions, direct you to your nearest showroom, or guide you to additional sources of information. Thanks to Armadi Closets for consulting!
