Are you wondering whether to paint your interior doors? Or what color to paint them? This is a surprisingly tricky question, more so than with your exterior doors, because you have several doors in the confines of your business where you will see them often. This post will serve as a guide to help you make a choice you’ll love.
Should You Paint?
If you have natural doors, your first question will be whether to paint them or leave them natural.
You would want to leave them natural if their natural color already blends in well with the rest of the space. Also, if the wood is beautiful or exotic, it would be a shame to hide it.
It’s also possible that the door cannot be painted for some reason. Natural timber wood and laminated doors are some options that cannot be painted. You can stain a door if it won’t detract from its natural beauty or interfere with a rustic decorating style.
Painting an interior door can make it easier to clean because a glossy finish reduces the appearance of scuffs, and wiping off dirt and scuffs is easier. One main reason to paint a door is to change the look of the space. You can make the doors stand out or help them blend in or complement the space. The latter two options are often excellent choices. Intricate doors may also benefit from a paint job as the paint can accentuate the various details in the door.
Choosing The Color
Once you’ve decided to paint the door, you need to select the color. The interior style has an impact on what color to choose, because you want to match both the colors in your office and the theme of your business and office.
Vintage
Vintage is a varied style, because many architectural and design styles fit in that category. A natural stain might be best with a craftsman-style aesthetic. White, off-white, and greige are classics for most offices. Muted colors and pastels suit any vintage style that shabby-chic complements. If your style includes bolder colors, you might include something like a deep blue or red.
If you are lucky enough to have a historic office, or if you just want to adhere to the style of the period your office building was built in, note the history of the existing doors. How were they painted? You can copy their colors and styles exactly or adapt them to modern versions. For example, off-white or cream could be switched to greige.
Modern
Neutrals are big in modern spaces, but there is also room for creativity. White, off-white, greige, gray, charcoal, and black are all great modern color options. For a calmer, spa-like space, you could stick to colors that are more similar to each other or for more excitement, you could pair darker colors with lighter colors. You can even use chalkboard paint to make the door decoratable or double-functional.
Door Painting Tips
These tips can help you choose your paint color:
- Small spaces – High contrast can make small spaces seem smaller. Stick to more similar colors and use high-gloss paint to create contrast rather than a color.
- Matching door to wall – You should match the door color to the wall color in smaller spaces or where the door already looks awkward and you would like to minimize it.
- Matching trim to door – For more subtle colors, painting the trim and door the same is best, but with higher contrast doors, keeping the trim the color of the wall may help to make the space more cohesive.
- Matching doors – It is usually safer for each door to match, but that depends on the color scheme and style of the space.
- One side or two – If the rooms on opposite sides of the door are different color schemes, you could paint the different sides different colors to match those rooms.
- Paint types – Oil, wax, water-based finishes, shellac, varnish, and lacquer are the best choices.
- Accenting intricate doors – You can paint that door an accent color to draw attention to it or apply a different color of paint such as white to the greater depths in the design to make the intricacy pop.
Call Cypress Door & Glass
If you are installing or replacing a door in your business, you probably have many questions. We can help you navigate the vast world of door options to find what’s right for your needs and budget. Contact us today to get started.