Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm thinking of painting my hollow core interior doors but I'm not sure what color I should paint them. All the doors are located off one hallway which is painted sage green with pale yellow trim. Do I paint the side of the door that's facing the hallway the color of the walls or the color of the trim and then do I paint the other side of the doors the color of the walls or trim in each bedroom? What would you do (other than replacing them with better doors)?
Your dilemma is a great advertisement for having white trim (and doors).
Sorry, I know that's no help. With different color trim in each room... hm.. well, I guess you have only 2 options. Either paint each side of the door to match the trim on the room it faces (you could paint the 4 outside edges something like Decorator White); or if any of the doors are hardly ever closed, you could paint the entire door the color of the hallway trim.
Just my opinion but you may not like the "frame effect" you'd get if you painted the side of each door to match the color of the wall in that room, rather than the trim. I guess it'd depend on how much contrast between the two colors.
Why don't you try taking a picture of the doors (if they're hung) and use an image editing program (like Paint) to see how each door would look in the different color options? It would give you an idea of what the color-block effect would be.
Quote:
What would you do (other than replacing them with better doors)?
Not sure how that would help; wouldn't you still be painting "better" doors? Unless you would stain them instead, but then you'd want the door trim to also be stained, right? And what about the floor and/or crown mouldings? Would they be stained too, or stay painted? And the big question, what color stain (light, medium, dark)?
I once had 6-panel white oak interior doors that were all stained (Minwax Early American) and then poly'd. The doors were beautiful but the staining didn't "go" well with some room colors. I wouldn't do stained doors again; I'd have white, no matter what they were made of. White goes with everything, unless you have a room that's wood panelled (does anyone, anymore?).
My first thought would be to paint each side according to the room it faces and the edges to match the room it opens into. Another thought would be to pick a neutral color that goes with all of your other colors and paint all the doors that color.
I once had 6-panel white oak interior doors that were all stained (Minwax Early American) and then poly'd. The doors were beautiful but the staining didn't "go" well with some room colors. I wouldn't do stained doors again; I'd have white, no matter what they were made of. White goes with everything, unless you have a room that's wood panelled (does anyone, anymore?).
Gasp
Are you saying I should return all that mahogany wood paneling I just bought for my living room with the orange shag carpets? What else would go with my avocado swag lamps?
I wish white would work but i don't think it will because of my color choices and the fact that the hallway is not that long (i have a 1300sf ranch typical 1950s). all the doors are off the one hallway. i think i like the idea of painting the side of the door that facing the hallway the trim which would be the light yellow. I love color and only have one room that has white trim. I even paint my ceilings a non-white color. the tricky part is the only room that has stained trim is my bedroom and the walls are a corally color (not blazing coral a pretty girly coral - dh hates it to girly for him). maybe i'll just buy new doors and stain them a medium stain color. or better yet get rid of them all that way I can show off my wood paneling! HA!!! just kidding. LOL!
I do like the idea of taking pictures and playing with the colors. thank you for that.
too much color for me for sure. I have two hallways with bedroom and bathroom doors off of them. I have found a color of Behr paint from home depot that I just love. It's called light sand, it's a white color but not bright glaring white. I usually paint the doors a flat light sand and the wood trim around them a satin light sand. It looks great especially now that we have dark wood floors going down the hallway. Good luck to you though, you're a braver soul than me with all the color.
too much color for me for sure. I have two hallways with bedroom and bathroom doors off of them. I have found a color of Behr paint from home depot that I just love. It's called light sand, it's a white color but not bright glaring white. I usually paint the doors a flat light sand and the wood trim around them a satin light sand. It looks great especially now that we have dark wood floors going down the hallway. Good luck to you though, you're a braver soul than me with all the color.
Thanks for the suggestion. I still haven't decided on what to do with the doors though. i think for right now i'm just gonna leave them. plus i've now moved on to a new project (which to my surprise dh was NOT happy about). Tore up the carpeting in my guest bedroom (the only room left with wall to wall - had hardwoods underneath). Unfortunately the hardwoods are not in very good condition (thought they would be because the other bedroom (which had carpeting as well) had beautiful hardwoods underneath). DH is upset cause now we have to sand and restain the floor in the room. Oh well. The hardwoods look SO much better than the carpeting even with them being a mess.
Good luck to you though, you're a braver soul than me with all the color.
Hi.
In most of my adult life, I've had nothing but white walls. Eight years ago, I had a beautiful custom home built. One day I just decided I'd had enough white walls -- I was influenced by all these decorating shows. I decided to paint my master bedroom two colors -- are you ready? On some areas, I put a deep Behr raspberry color, and on the others, a Behr color called "Stained Glass" - a very deep purple -- yep, purple!! I had doors and trim in pure white, and the ceiling was an almost-white blue called "Blizzard" (Behr also). The carpet was a color called "popcorn" - very light off yellow or sand, but VERY light. The comforter on the bed was a white background with country designs (stars) in lots of bright and medium colors -- red, yellow, blue, green, aqua, and some others. Well, I have to tell you, the final effect was gorgeous. When I went to sell this house, the first realtor who saw it said "You MUST paint over this." I said "Forget it....I'm not repainting." I got rid of her and got another realtor who told me to leave it alone. The house sold in one week!
I think color makes people happy. Right now, my walls in this house are white, and I'm so sick of it -- didn't know what else to paint them when I had this house built two years ago, plus the builder was a jerk and wanted to charge me $4500 (!!) to paint various rooms different shades.
Hey, if you try color and hate it, you can always repaint. Go for it!
might not look great with yellow and green, but just thought i'd throw it out there.
Black can be very striking, especially with accents of silvers and scattered bits of very bright colors like reds. Or for the more sedate, they can put earth tones with it. But a black wall would definitely require some wall hangings with lots of whites in them. I have been tempted to paint the wall above my fireplace black, then hang lots of silver or white-framed pictures on it. Not sure yet.....probably not cause my home is not what you would call sophisticated or urban. I'm more into modern country and even touches of cowboy western. Black wouldn't cut it there.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Being brave with color
