We all have rooms that seem to have too many doors. Doors interrupting the flow of walls, creating sometimes jarring contrasts that make small rooms even smaller. Sticking to my rule that sharp contrasts in a room are not good. Wall colors should be warmer with natural or stained wood.
Painted trim should blend with the colors selected for the room. Sometimes even following those rules, doors can create a visual disturbance.
In many homes without the luxury of walk in closets, bedrooms have a wall of doors covering closets. In almost every case home owners wish these rooms were bigger. Making those closet doors disappear will at least give the illusion the room is bigger. In situations where it may not look good to put furniture so close to a door, camouflaging the doors can allow more visual space for furnishings.
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| Wallpapered doors and moldings make these doors disappear |
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| Upholstered wall and doors. Pictures on doors complete the illusion. |
In some rooms too many doors may not be the problem. A lack of architectural interest or the style of the windows may be the problem. In this case treating a door more like a window may help. For example, a room with small casual windows with sills four foot above the floor make it difficult to create a grand effect. If the room is to be casual work with what you have. However if you want something more elegant, treat the windows very simply. Sheer set inside or a roman shade the same pattern and color of the walls. In this case you are making the windows disappear. Instead of trying to force the windows to accept a treatment too fancy for them, give the door the attention. The door after all has the proportions needed . Too many people, unfortunately some who call themselves decorators will dress these little pig windows in great ball gown window treatments.
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| How much more can this little window stand? |
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| How much more can this little window take? |
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| A bit much don't you think? |
They will make a pathetic attempt to hide the short little "pig" behind behind a sheer treatment.
Of course no amount of sheer can camouflage what is behind it. Then to ad insult to injury, they add a large formal treatment often with tie back panels to the floor. The whole thing looks like a toddler playing dress up in mommies prom gown. As Christopher Dresser said, referring to things like wicker vases or pottery made to look like wicker, "One element should not stoop to do poorly what another does well." Wicker has qualities that make it desirable. It is flexible, it allows air to circulate; but it certainly does not hold water. Holding water is why we have pottery.
The same holds true with windows. A little window is intended to be inconspicuous. It is to simply let light and air into the room. Forcing a small window to carry the load of a much larger looks unsettling and is wrong!
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| Draped interior arch ads detail by framing entry to next area |
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| Draped interior door adds architectural detail |
To summarize, if you have a room with casual windows and want casual work with what you have.
If however, have little windows but want a grand room; take attention away from the windows
and focus on something imposing, a work of art, a great piece of furniture or even a door.
If you have a room with too many doors blend them into the rest of the room as much as possible with color, pattern or" make them disappear"
As always I hope you find this useful. Please tell your friends .
Let me know what you think.
Bill Gantt
As always I hope you find this useful. Please tell your friends .
Let me know what you think.
Bill Gantt
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| 3319 Derry St Harrisburg,Pa 717-561-8166 |
Don't forget Holiday Decorating starts October 20!
