Upgrade Your House With New Interior Doors

Interior doors play a more important role than you might realize. While they are minor elements in the grand scheme, they add architectural detail and style to a house. As something we use every day, doors create a tactile experience that leaves a significant impression. Closing a solid wood door, for example, feels very different than closing a hollow door made of synthetic materials.

For a house with modest detail, beautiful doors may add enough interest to make the spaces feel more stylistically specific. Even if your house has significant architecture, upgraded doors can complement and complete your design. For example, gilt, intricate details and the best stained wood finish make this Italian door remarkable. (We’ll get into looks for modern and other home styles soon.)

Who to hire: Replacing an interior door can be a good DIY project for someone who has at least a moderate level of skill in home improvement — but it doesn’t cost much to have interior doors installed by a reliable handyperson or licensed contractor. As for the design and which doors to choose, you will never regret the assistance of a competent design professional.

Permit: Rarely will you need a permit to replace an interior door. While there are minimum widths required for certain circumstances, it is unlikely that you would want less than the minimum anyway. One door that many consider an interior door is the one between the house and the garage. This technically is considered an exterior door, and it is wise to understand that these doors must have self-closing hardware and be fire rated. Consult a professional if you are changing this door.


First step: Get a quick lesson from this ideabook for some basic knowledge of door parts. Then determine if all you need to do is replace the door alone, or if you will want to replace the door and its jamb along with the casing (or molding) around the door. It is likely that you will want to replace the jamb.

Even if you hire someone to do the work, it is always a good idea to have a basic understanding of what needs to be done, so read this tutorial on how to replace one kind of door and jamb.

Project length: Give yourself a few hours per door. A handyperson or contractor can probably replace a door in about an hour. It all depends on how many doors you replace at once, but this is a project that can likely be done in less than a month, even in more complicated cases.

Best time to do this project: Since all of the work takes place inside the house, you can do this project just about any time of year, though it is best not to start projects of this nature in the weeks before significant holidays, since you probably want your house neat if you intend to entertain.


Types of Door Styles

Let’s take a look at the simplest door first and then progress by the number of panels.

Flush Doors

A flush door can come with a hollow or solid core, primed for painting or finished in a wood veneer, as shown here. Typically it is the least expensive, and is well suited to modern architecture.

Cost: Doors start at under $50 for a hollow core with a primed surface. Prices jump significantly for solid wood doors; expect to pay between $200 and $300 for the more common styles and sizes.


Moving on up into specialty woods, such as exotic veneers, the price will balloon to $500 to $1,000 per door, or more for antique and custom doors. Keep in mind that you have to pay for installation labor and finish materials in all circumstances.

This flush door has a more complex veneer finish. Some manufacturers will offer set choices for veneer designs, while others can do custom configurations.

Patterned veneers increase the cost substantially.





Single-Panel Doors

Single-panel doors are suitable for and often found in Craftsman houses as well as other modest houses of the 1920s and 1930s.

You can get a single panel on an arched door like this one. Just one or two of these in key places in your house can add lots of character. You will often find these in Spanish colonial and Spanish eclectic architecture.





Two-Panel Doors

As you will see in the following examples, variations on two-panel designs are many. This particular type, with its segmental arched top panel, is great for French country and French eclectic homes.

Very similar to the previous example, this door has a plank detail within the panel. This evokes a farmhouse or country feeling. This embossed design comes from the tongue and groove wood joinery found on old-fashioned stile and rail doors.


Here is an inexpensive example of two flush doors’ being replaced by two-panel doors.


Three-Panel Doors

Three-panel doors can run the gamut from traditional colonial to Craftsman designs.

More ways with three-panel doors



Here is a common three-panel Craftsman door. You can find these painted or in stained wood, particularly oak.


Handsome solid wood three-panel doors fit the traditional architecture of this house.


A circular detail distinguishes this three-panel door. Similar designs can be found in French eclectic and Victorian architecture.





Four-Panel Doors

Four-panel doors are another variation in traditional architecture.

It is unlikely that you have existing arched door jambs. But if you are willing to go to the expense, you can alter your jambs to accommodate these wonderful four-panel designs.


This four-panel door design would probably suit an Italianate house well.





Five-Panel Doors

One more variation in Craftsman architecture is the five-panel door. You can find these with hollow cores and in solid wood.

The significant detail of this house calls for the elegant finish of these five-panel doors.





Six-Panel Doors

One of the most common door styles is the six-panel configuration. You should be able to find this door with a less-expensive hollow core as well as in solid wood.



Specialty Doors

Let’s move up in price and see what you can get by spending a bit more. Notice that this door has an arched panel as well as an arched jamb. It has authentic plank details and a very beautiful wood finish. The wood species affects the cost and finish appearance.


Going to the top end of door design, let’s take a look at this marvelous Italian-manufactured, French-antique-style door. The exquisite detail and finish make doors like this unforgettable, but they are best left for generous budgets and sophisticated designs.


Glass Doors

Choices in glass doors are vast. You will likely want these as focal points or located in special places, such as where added light is needed.


Here a mirror has been placed in the single panel, which is perfect for this bath.


Interior French doors are charming. They are often best positioned off the entry and central halls, for studies, dining rooms and tertiary living spaces.


If you are going all-out on character, stained glass might be the way to go. This multipane door is a work of art in itself. Just be prepared for the cost. Take a look at these other cool designs.


Closet Doors

Here a two-panel has been set up as a slider, making this room feel very comfortable.

More about closet doors


Bifold closet doors are often overlooked because of poor hardware installed in the old days, but don’t discount this idea, as better hardware is now available. They nicely open up a closet without getting the opposite sliding door in the way, and use less space than paired swinging doors.

Coming next: How to pick hardware for your new doors

More:
Design Workshop: Thinking Differently About Doors
Get the Ins and Outs of Pocket Doors
DIY Project: Upgrade That Ugly Door

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