One of the things I decided on when I was renovating my house was to paint all my interior doors black. Dark chocolate brown to be exact. I had seen the trend of black doors out there for awhile now and I think it’s a great accent and feature in a house. Now, I do think that to do this successfully, it helps to have a lighter color palette in a house and it makes more sense with neutrals, with the dark brown or black adding a grounding factor to the doors. I have all Pure White trim and kept the door trim in white as well, but the impact of the dark brown doors really make a statement in my house, since I don’t have a lot of architectural interest in here except what my dad and I added during renovation. Keep in mind, this is a plain 1979 house, so it’s not a grand house. I did what I could to add interest as we renovated.
So, today I’m going to talk about that and how it adds a lot of interest to a house and do an update on my dark brown doors. I haven’t really showed them since the house was finished, so here you go.
Once I painted my stairs in Valspar Fired Earth (a deep chocolate brown), it just made sense to paint the doors the same color. The dark brown flows well with my hardwood floors and keeps the continuity going. I used Fired Earth in a Satin finish for the doors as well as the stairs. Stairs were done in Porch and Floor paint. I was originally going with black paint on the doors, but decided to keep the dark brown espresso color since I did the stairs in that color too.
I painted all my interior doors (except the front door, that pop of turquoise inside and out) this deep dark brown and I still love how it looks. I think it looks so much richer than painting them white like the trim would have been. But, you can see I’ve got lots of white and cream in this area to offset the dark brown, really an espresso color. They are very dark brown, but a little softer than black would have been.
This upstairs hallway has 6 doors in it, 2 closet doors, 3 bedrooms and a bathroom door. So that’s a lot of doors! You can’t see the bathroom door from this angle, but it’s there.
Here’s another shot of the hallway floors and all the doors. You can also see I still need to paint the beadboard that closes up my attic space. I’ll get to it eventually.
In my bedroom, I painted the louvered closet doors the same dark brown.
And the master bathroom door too. All for continuity and flow.
And downstairs in the den, this space has 3 doors, one to the laundry room on the left, the one on the right goes upstairs and the one in the middle goes to the garage. The light shining in gives these doors a hazy cast, but they are deep brown too. I do occasionally wipe them down to get white marks off that happen from use and brushing things against the doors, but it wipes off with a damp cloth.
I still love how the dark brown doors look in my house and would do it all over again. I had planned to add some molding to these doors to make them look better too and maybe I’ll get around to that one day too, but for now I am enjoying the deep rich chocolate brown color that they are.
Have you painted your doors a color or do you go for white doors? What do you think of dark brown or black doors, would you try it too?
I LOVE the dark doors! I have been thinking of painting mine as well. I really love your flooring, what kind is it?
Tami, my floors are from Shaw Floors, engineered hardwoods in Broadmoor, color mocha. I love them. They are hand scraped and 3 different sizes of planks, 3″, 5″, and 7″. They are wearing well.
I love your doors and the louvered doors. I have those in my hall and love the dark color.
I recently painted the two sets of French doors in our living room gray and I love it. The opposite side of the room has a large dark armoire and by painting the doors it seemed to anchor and balance the room.
Doors definitely need some trim or something to make them look better. Not really a fan of dark doors.
I have wood doors that were stained a warm brown – the same with all of the built-in cabinets and crown molding. My walls and ceilings are all painted in cream. So, I love the dark browns of your home. I hope to tear out the carpet someday and install wood floors and at that time, I might darken the stain a bit.
The exception is my kitchen which was painted white. While I love the lightness of it, it is a pain to keep clean and as a result, it looks quite shabby with chipped paint on certain doors. I’m not really looking forward to the repainting job, but it will be done this year. Any painting suggestions?
One big thing I did was remove the door to my laundry room. Of course, I still have to fix the hinge areas, but it was worth it. I have space along the one wall that was blocked before. Don’t laugh, but I added a chair, a floor lamp and a bookcase in the room along the wall that used to “store the door”. Looking up the hallway, it appears that I have another small, cozy room. Once you are in it, then you see the washer and dryer on the opposite wall. I use the chair when I walk by and see there is just a few minutes before a load is finished. I read a magazine while I wait.
My garden books are stashed there, along with my garden gloves and clogs. It will be a nice place to rest and cool off after some gardening, without messing up the rest of the house.
Liz, I love your ideas on cozying up a small out of the way space. Repainting cabinets are work, but it will be worth it.
Your doors look fabulous Rhoda! Good job and lots of work…you amaze me.
I love the look of this! The dark chocolate brown provides such a contrast. This may be my next home DIY project!
Great idea and yours turned out beautifully! Always looking for a way to make things pop! Happy New Year!
xo. Leslie
Segreto Finishes
I just had 16 doors replaced in our 40 year old house–they were painted white. The other doors were oak colored, chipped & looking their age. I thought of painting them but my husband & I decided to buy new ones. I’m not a fan of dark doors. Our home is small & I think dark doors would have made it look smaller or as someone mentioned the eye is drawn toward the dark doors.
Rhoda,
The doors are beautiful, especially in the basement area. The dark lamp on the sewing cabinet contrasts so well with the dark doors. You continue to amaze me – just when I think you could not make another improvement, along comes this surprise. Keep it up!!
Thanks for sharing. I have these same plain (builder’s grade) doors and have been unhappy with them for 12 years. I’m sure they’re the original 1976 doors and they’re in pretty bad shape. I love this idea. You always inspire me to love my space and make it beautiful.
What is the carpet on your steps? I love it but can’t afford wool looking for a cheaper price with the same look. Is yours wool?
Hi, Janie, my runner is from Dash and Albert and it is an indoor/outdoor, so not wool. Wears very well.
Love it!! Going to do the same. Will cut down on dirt showing!!
I’m in a small condo, so I think painting doors anything other than white, would make it look smaller. I do like painted doors though. My laundry is in a hallway and I want to do something to make it look better. I might could paint those doors? What do you think ?
I think You should start your own interior design work! I would hire you !!
Hi, Kellie, thank you! I have done a little bit of that, but it was too much with my blog too, so I stick to blogging. I think even though you live in a small condo, you could still paint your doors. Maybe go with a soft tone of one color. I wouldn’t do just the laundry room door, I would do them all if you are going to do one. Think about what color would go with everything you have and flow and not be too dark or bold.