How to choose doors in an interior design?

Choosing doors is a very important and not easy step when designing your house or apartment. Both the front door and the interior doors must be selected according to functional and decorative criteria. Here are the most important tips for choosing doors, from Simona Bonea, interior designer at Avantgardesign Studio.

Edit May 2020: I have prepared a new article for you on how to avoid the most frequent mistakes in choosing, ordering and installing doors, so that the result is the desired one.

How we choose interior doors

The interior of a house is arranged in several stages closely linked to each other. Immediately after pouring the spade, the door gaps are established. From this point on, you need to choose the door supplier. It is good to know that each brand has certain standards regarding dimensions. Obviously, any door with atypical dimensions can be made, but this entails additional costs.

An often overlooked aspect is the “meeting” between parquet and tiles at the transition between two spaces, which must be located under the door leaf. Well, its positioning on the case also differs from vendor to vendor. Communicate this detail to the person installing the floor, which only the door installer can provide! Concerning the height of the doors, it is determined according to the thickness of the floor. This way, you will not have to cut the doors ordered and brought for assembly after laying the parquet. Also, the doors are installed last, after the parquet, but they are ordered well in advance.

How we choose door color

The white, simple doors with a glossy finish adapt to modern environments, while the matte ones with frames are ideal for Provençal or American style environments. Walnut-colored single doors are recommended in modern spaces and profiled doors in classic interiors. Regardless of the finish (melamine film doors are cheaper, and natural veneer doors are more expensive), the doors should match the parquet flooring. There are no rules like: “floor closed and doors open” or vice versa. They can contrast nicely or be tone-on-tone. The ideal would be for white doors to harmonize with parquet flooring in a light, warm and natural color.

If the parquet has shades of red, then the doors will be of a similar color range, based on reddish brown, in no case yellowish brown. Rover gray doors match whitewashed parquet flooring. When choosing doors, not only the color of the parquet is important, but also the finishes of the furniture and walls. So, it is good to know that white doors will be highlighted by walls painted in stronger or pastel colors and by furniture in warm colors (possibly in ivory white or dusty green tones).

If you opt for parquet with a natural oak finish, the doors can be finished in the same tone or in a darker contrasting color (brown for example). Glass doors or those with glass inserts are an ideal option both functionally and decoratively for small spaces or for those where light penetration is necessary. An exclusively glass door can remain simple or be personalized by sandblasting or painting. The decoration can go as far as stained glass inserts, for a touch of classic elegance. Careful! Glass-only doors don’t close off space as well as those made of particle board, MDF, or wood.

Why should this be taken into account when choosing doors?

It is not enough to choose doors only based on the design style, but it is also necessary to take into account aspects such as: security, sound and thermal insulation, functionality of the space it demarcates. Technically, sound and thermal insulation are ensured by the degree of interior polyurethane foam covering or by the insulating layer of wood or mineral wool. Concerning the thickness of the door leaf, in the case of an apartment, it must be between 40 mm and 50 mm, and in the case of a house, greater than 50 mm. From the point of view of acoustic resistance, it is recommended that the door has at least 28 dB. The tower must be non-deformable, and the hinges, aesthetic and of quality, preferably in steel.

Furniture, tiles and wall colors are easier to change over time, unlike doors which are more difficult to replace. That’s why the first advice I give to my clients is to first choose the doors and parquet, which must be of good quality, and only then buy the other finishes.

How do you choose the front door?

A good entrance door must be secure, burglar-proof, even fire-resistant, resistant to bad weather and UV rays, with a visor and a safe-type door, with hardware that is also weather-resistant, with a several-year warranty and 24-hour technical assistance. Exterior doors should be finished to match the window joinery. For example, choose walnut or wenge colored joinery and a front door in the same finish or at least in the same color palette. The customization of the door is done according to the architecture of the building. For example, a classic villa will require a more sophisticated, but not too busy, door with insert and processing details. Instead, a minimalist home will require a simple door design, at most with a linear, simple and elegant profile.

The images in the article are interior doors from the Delta Studio portfolio, from door manufacturers Cocif, Invado, Dorigo and Eclisse.