Can You Mix Interior Door Styles?
You might be surprised to realize how much of your home’s space is taken up by interior doors. Your home probably has bedroom doors, closet doors, utility room doors, bathroom room doors, and many other types of interior doors throughout the space.
Given the number of doors in your home’s interior, you should consider aesthetically pleasing interior doors as an essential design element within your home. But making sure your doors add to the design aesthetic of your home may not be a simple process.
When choosing interior doors, there are many factors to consider, and one of the main questions is, do the style, color, and overall design of all the interior doors in your home need to be the same? Or can you mix and match styles to fit with the various design choices throughout your home?
Here’s what you need to know about mixing interior door styles in your home.
Types of Interior Doors
Before you start mixing interior door styles in your home, it’s essential to understand the different types of interior doors you might encounter in your home.
Traditional Doors
Traditional interior doors are probably what comes to mind when you think of a basic bedroom or bathroom door. They are usually a single door (but can be double doors) that swing on hinges and are opened with a knob or handle. There are many different design styles and options for traditional doors, such as solid wood, solid core, hollow core, panels, and more.
Bifold Doors
Bifold doors are doors that slide open using a track system. They are made up of panels that fold together with hinges as the doors slide along the track. Often an excellent choice for closets, laundry rooms, and utility rooms. They are usually simply designed and discreet since they are generally a central focal point in a room. Bifold doors are also easy to install.
Hidden Doors
Though not extremely common, hidden doors can be a fun architectural addition to a home. A hidden door can be a doorway that looks like a bookcase or other object that leads to another space in the home.
Hidden doors can be fun and interesting ways to get to private areas of the home, like a playroom for the kids or a wine cellar for the adults. While often a custom-built solution, you can buy pre-hung hidden doors that look like bookcases, shelves, and other home decor items.
Sliding and Pocket Doors
Another common interior door option for homes, sliding and pocket doors can be used for various purposes. Various sliding and pocket doors are available, including traditional pocket doors, barn doors, sliding glass or mirrored doors, and more. They are commonly found as closet doors, bathroom doors, and doors used to separate spaces, like a living room and dining room.
French Doors
French doors are a type of hinged door that is usually found in pairs. They are usually a wood frame and feature top-to-bottom window panes in both panels.
They can be used as exterior doors but are often used to separate rooms as interior doors. They work well for offices, sitting rooms, and sunrooms.
Custom Doors
Many older homes, as well as high-end luxury homes feature custom doors that are designed as focal points within the home. Custom doors might feature unexpected materials or be explicitly designed to show off a particular design aspect of the home.
In many historic homes, doors were designed with one-of-a-kind features, such as stained glass or carved wood inlays. In modern homes, doors are often designed to showcase luxury features of the home. Many modern custom doors prominently feature glass in the design.
Learn More About Custom Doors
Mixing Interior Door Styles
So, now that you understand the different styles of doors, you can consider what may be the best way to determine which door style or styles will work best in your home.
Function
First and foremost, a door has to be functional for the area in which it is located. So, if you have a tiny powder room in a narrow hallway, you’ll most likely need a pocket door for that space, even if you’d prefer another style of door. If you put a hinged door there, you may not be able to open it properly, rendering it useless. Pick a door that serves the best function for your home and needs.
The same goes for any type of door you’re considering for space. Don’t fall in love with the look of a door before you ensure it’s functional for the area where it will be installed. Since different areas will likely require different functions for each door, it makes sense to have different styles of interior doors to serve different purposes.
Make it Intentional
If you’re going to mix design styles for different doors in your home, ensure the mixing is intentional and the various types are compatible. For example, you probably don’t want to highlight a beautiful wood door with an original stained glass next to an ultra-modern custom glass door.
You’ll need to consider all the places where each door will be visible from and which other doors you’ll be able to see simultaneously to ensure that the designs work and flow together smoothly. Whereas in a bedroom, you may have a hinged door leading into the room, sliding doors for the closet, and French doors leading out to a balcony.
Mixing these various types of doors is perfectly fine, as long as they all work together within the design.
Don’t Overdo It
Don’t go overboard when trying to mix and match door styles for the interior of your home. If you have some elaborately designed doors, you may want to choose simpler designs for the doors that will be sharing the same space as the more eye-catching options.
While you may want some doors to be design focal points, you don’t want people scratching their heads about why the closet door is the fanciest in your home. Use impressive door designs when and where they make sense, and prioritize function for the rest.
Doors are an important feature in interior design and shouldn’t be overlooked as important elements. While mixing and matching of interior doors is acceptable and even encouraged, it’s essential to ensure that all the elements work together to make an aesthetically pleasing design.
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