We might start with an analysis of what exactly would suit our own particular circumstances, for there is always a ‘correct’ approach, and you may be among those whose doors don’t match the period of house build. “There was a vogue for flat panel doors in the 1960s and 70s, and every Millie who was thoroughly modern gladly chucked their mouldings in favour of sweet nothing,” says Benedict Foley. If this is you, Atkey & Co can help. But at the same time, in these happy days when putting form over function is no longer audibly sniffed at by purists, door decoration can simply be about whimsy, and fun. That could come in the form of colour, applying Sicilian palazzo details to a Victorian terrace, or disguising a new-build door as something semi-precious.
Colour
Let’s look at colour, which can conceal as much as it can highlight. Painting a door to match the room it’s in is ideal if “your room has too many doors, or you don’t like their looks,” says Dorothy Draper. But if you do like them, you could opt for a contrast hue, in which case Tamsin Saunders reminds us that we need to think about the door as part of a whole, and review “how the colour complements and enhances and interacts with the other colours you see through to – whether that’s down a corridor, into another room or out into the garden.”
Importantly, we also need to remember a door’s position as a transition point between rooms, and thus “make the door work for both of the rooms it’s in,” says Patrick O’Donnell, colour consultant for Farrow & Ball. For example, does the door need to be a different colour on each side? This can seem confusing, particularly when it comes to the reveal and the split (the technical terms for the door edges), but “you paint those for the room the door opens into,” explains Patrick. Tamsin, on the other hand, will sometimes paint the edges another colour altogether, or paint them with an unexpected pattern. “Every surface is an opportunity for creative expression, but it’s a balance,” she advises, “You are conducting an orchestra, not dealing with a series of prima donnas.”