5 Tips for Upgrading an Open Doorway with Trim and Casing
August 19, 2021
By: The Finished Space
An open doorway adds flow to a space. It allows people to walk around freely and plays well into the theme of open-concept homes.
Almost every home has an open doorway (or two), and while you can leave them plain, there’s an opportunity to really make an impact with your open doorway. Using casing and trim, you can bring your open doorway to life.
Here are five unique ways to upgrade your open doorway with trim and casing:
1. Use Contrasting and Unique Colors
One of the simplest ways to make a statement with your home’s open doorway is to use exciting color combinations. Many people tend to stick with whites and creams for their doorway casing, but the versatile colors will let you create your own unique design.
Like crown moulding, you can utilize interesting color combinations to draw focus and breathe new life into any space. Just look at this example. The use of understated teal trim around this open doorway looks amazing, especially when paired with matching window casings and natural wood beams.
Like this example, if you go with a unique color, keep the trim simple. A detailed casing profile and a bold color might be too overwhelming.
2. Add Pocket Door Pizzaz
Make your open doorway multi-functional with a pocket door. Pocket doors are fantastic because they don’t open inward or outward and take up extra space. Instead, they slide right into a slot built into the wall.
If you want the doorway to be open, it can be, but if you want a little privacy, you can slide the door out to close it. Pocket doors can range from minimal and simple to stunning statement pieces. If you want your pocket door to really impress, you can use trim, casing, and architraves to make it stand out.
If you’re brave, you can even DIY your own pocket door installation. Make sure the wall doesn’t contain critical electrical wires or plumbing, and it’s very important to ensure that it isn’t load-bearing before you start knocking down walls!
3. Increase the Width of the Doorway
Open concept homes are popular now. In the example above, the homeowners have captured that open concept home feeling with a wide-open doorway. However, it’s more than just the width of the doorway that adds openness to the space.
The choice to use a really thin trim to line the door makes this open doorway feel even more wide open than it actually is. Playing with proportions is a great way to add dimensionality to any room, and it’s a wonderful way to use casing and trim.
If you look deeper into this room, you’ll see the shiplap on the back wall and the beautiful hardwood floors. The finishing touch of the thin trim around the wide-open doorway on this Craftsman-style home really ties the look together in a wonderfully understated way.
4. Create a Wow-Moment with Columns
This open doorway is a real wow-moment. The large, exaggerated columns built with a combination of casing, trim, and crown moulding are gorgeous. There are even gold-plated lights on each column. Talk about an entrance. How nice would it be to enter through this luxurious open doorway every day?
You can create your own DIY, swoon-worthy columns in a few simple steps. Essentially, you build columns to your desired dimensions and then just add decorative crown moulding to the edges, top, and bottom of the columns.
You can add a dramatic architrave to the top, thick baseboards to the bottom, or use thin trim in the middle to create shapes (like the example picture). If you don’t need the columns to extend out in a three-dimensional fashion, you can also stack moulding and casing to create the illusion of columns on either side of an open doorway.
5. Combine Casing and an Architrave to Add Height
If you want to add a little height to an open door, just add an architrave to the top. Architraves are used to accent the tops of windows, doorways, and openings, so they’re a perfect addition to an open doorway.
They really add a sense of grandeur to any space. When you pair an architrave with an intricate casing, it can elevate any room to a new level of elegance. A simple architrave paired with an uncomplicated casing also adds a layer of sophistication to any room.
In the example above, the homeowner has combined creamy, flat casings and a simple architrave to their open doorway. They’ve applied the same treatment to all the doors in the room, for a sense of continuity and ease.
Start Enhancing Your Open Doorway
These design ideas are just some examples to spark your design creativity. You can use a whole host of casing and trim combinations to create stunning open doorways that spark conversation and add an effortless finished look to any room.
If you aren’t sure what finishing touches work best for your design, we can help. Option {M} can match you with your design aesthetic and reveal the perfect finishing touches to compliment your style. Give Option {M} a try today!
