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?
That looks really pretty!
Over here (UK) it’s long been a trend with older houses to strip the old doors (usually pine) back to the wood. That’s what I had when I moved in. But some of the doors here were 200 years old, and had been dipped to strip them (they go in a caustic bath), and had been left too long. That meant that lots of the panels were loose, and lots of the old glue was gone. Slowly but surely me and the handyman repaired the doors, and over time they have all been painted cream, together with the surrounds and skirting boards. Chose cream because it goes with any colour, and does not “yellow” light bright white does. I just have one door to go, and they will all match. I do like your dark browns. I love it that all the doors are the same – lovely bit of continuity!
I love the darker doors and have been thinking about painting mine. I used Valspar Fired Earth on a cabinet and LOVED it.
I like the look of dark painted doors in some homes, but can’t really see it in our home. You forgot another option – doors don’t have to be painted – there are some beautiful wood doors out there.
Looks great!!!! I think it did interest. However, I do not think I will try in my house.
It is striking! But we’ve lived for 10 years with wood trim and wood doors so I really enjoy our white doors (and trim) now. We did buck the trend of white kitchen cabinets and got an espresso finish, so I guess that’s where we have our striking contrast
What a beautiful look! I’m hoping to do the same in my home.
I’m not a big fan of dark interior doors. The first thing I see when I look at your photos are the doors, and my focus constantly goes to the doors, but that may just be me. Yours do look nice, but I was always taught that your eye should not stop to rest when looking at a room, it should flow evenly throughout going from right to left, maybe that is old school now?
Your doors are gorgeous, love the dark espresso color. I think what makes it all “work” is that your hardwoods are dark, so it all flows. And the dark color does add architectural interest. In our new home we have lighter wood floors. (the house came with them). so I think dark doors here wouldn’t go well. Our trim and doors are a creamy color (again, came with the house) with taupe/gray walls. Your dark doors and woods make me think “British Colonial”. really pretty, Rhoda, great choice!
We’ve replaced all of our hollow core doors with solid wood doors and stained them a dark chestnut. They look great! And, they work out so well with small kids, no more grimy hand prints around the doorknobs of all the white doors.
i love the way they look! However, I have found dark colors show dust so badly. I have a black console that I really like and dust shows up within a day of dusting. A black iron stool in my master bath is the same way. So I stick with creamy woodwork. Guess I’m too lazy to want to dust every day.
Ann, I really haven’t had a hard time with my dark stairs or floors showing a lot of dust and I definitely don’t dust or vacuum all the time. My floors always look surprisingly good. I thought the stairs might show dust a lot too,but they really don’t.
I had not noticed your dark doors before. I think you made a very good choice for your home. They add a classic richness. I like your choice of dark brown over black. It seems warmer. I also like the lack of trim molding or detail on your doors. I’d be happy with them just the way they are. Every interior (and some exterior) doors in my old farmhouse are white and do they ever show the dirt from my garden hands 😉
Love how the look! Did you use a brush to paint your levoured doors?
Traci, I took them off and took them outside to paint. And yes, I used a brush along with a foam roller to paint them. That part is tedious.
Great job!!
I have ugly hollow core doors I’d like to paint. I may have missed it, but are yours hollow core?
Melanie, I’m sure they are hollow core. Definitely nothing high-end about them, but I didn’t want to replace them all. Maybe one day I will!
I think it looks great! The thought of painting doors makes me cringe?
The only thing I would do differently is to remove the basement door. The reason is I think it would make it feel more open in that area.
I love your wainscoting in the hall. Might bring the white paint all the way to the ceiling ?
I have a 1968 house and lived here for 20 years, I have remodeled and remodeled many times its never ending! But fun!
June, the den door stays open all the time so it’s not closed off at all. It’s nice to have the door there though, because sometimes whoever is in the den wants privacy and it separates the spaces. I chose a cream color for my walls so that is why there is a contrast between the board and batten and the wall color.
Beautiful Rhoda! I love dark doors. I think it takes the whole look of a room up a notch. My main level doors are a dark pewter (Iron Mountain). Upstairs I kept the doors white and bright in our private living spaces. I’ve been very happy with my choices from a design as well as maintenance perspective on both levels. Thank you for your continued design inspiration. May your new year be blessed with love, health and beauty!
I painted my interior doors black a year ago and am thrilled with the results. HOWEVER our doorknobs were a dark colour and afterwards difficult to see at night time. After searching for new door knobs everywhere and finding nothing I liked I decided to paint my current door knobs. I spray painted them a matt gold. They look fabulous and now are visible!
Victoria, love that idea! My doorknobs were all mismatched when I moved in, so I went with antique brass levers when I replaced them all and like the way they look on the dark chocolate brown.
If there are stairs behind the den door, wouldn’t it look great to remove the wall going up the stairs and put in a beautiful banister with white spindles and dark brown hand rail. ??
I love your blog!
My current project is a downstairs powder room? Its moving slow? Can’t find a vanity I like?
I want to put wood on my island like you put on your fireplace! Fun!
I too have all my doors painted in that dark browns which bring out my dark wood floors and my front door was also kept white to go with the white trim on the wide base boards. I think they look GREAT!
They look great, Rhoda! We’re getting ready to move (after doing some renovations), and I’m thinking about doing the same thing. Probably in a dark grey. Love what you’ve done here!