Can pocket doors be painted or stained to match the decor of a room?

The pocket door has re-emerged in the 21^st century as a fashionable element of an interior design scheme. Our Syntesis Pocket Door System doesn’t need surrounding architrave, the pocket door can take on a neat, unfussy and minimalist look which is in keeping with modern interior designs. Added to this is the innovative practicality of the pocket door and the space-creating qualities which open up exciting opportunities in the home. People now love these flexible, inexpensive and efficient home improvement solutions and pocket doors fall neatly into this category. And this is finished off by the fact that you can paint and sand a pocket door so that it effortlessly fits in with your overall interior design scheme.

Painting your pocket door

When you choose a pocket door system a big factor is what door you are going to use. In most cases you can use an existing door, or you can choose a new door. Which door you decide on will dictate what size of pocket door frame you will need. If you are using an existing door then the frame needs to suit the door you have, as well as the available wall space you have. If you are choosing a new door then you can choose any door and its accompanying frame, as long as it fits in your available wall space.

Either way, a timber door offers you opportunities to paint or stain it, in keeping with your surrounding décor, and to create the mood that you want for a particular room. Something bold and bright will be great for a child’s bedroom or a playroom, something neutral is good for a home office or a utility room, while you can pick anything for an en-suite bathroom, as long as it suits the décor you have in the bedroom. You can even opt to retain the natural look of a good quality wooden door, and simply stain it.

The main advantage of painting or staining a pocket door is that you can choose the option that matches your existing décor. And if you have double pocket doors, for example if they are creating a divide to link a dining room and a living room, this is a very visual space which can have a huge impact on the overall appeal of your interior décor. So if you had double doors which were a darker, natural wood and you painted them white, or any light colour, this can brighten up a room, make it feel more spacious and airy and really change the overall mood. The same can be said for a small box bedroom or a small office which you have converted using the space-creating qualities of the pocket door. Changing the colour of the doors can make the limited interior space much more appealing and palatable.

What you need to think about when painting or staining a pocket door

• Hardware – You will need to remove the hardware from the door when you paint or stain it, but perhaps more importantly, the colour you choose needs to match the hardware, unless you plan to update that also. Most pocket door hardware is polished or satin chrome, or stainless steel, but you can have brass hardware or even matte black too. Whatever you end up with, it needs to go with the colour you opt to paint the pocket door.
• Preparation – It is a good idea to spend a little time preparing for painting a pocket door. So this means filling in cracks or holes with wood filler, and sanding the surface so the paint finish will apply better and will look smooth and neat. You will also need to use masking tape to cover up any joints or edges you don’t want painting.
• Primer – If you are painting over a dark, natural wood for the first time, you will probably need to apply a layer of primer first. Any conversion of light paint over a dark surface will benefit from a primer layer, otherwise you will have to apply numerous coats of top layer, which can become expensive and time-consuming.
• Mixing it up – Where the pocket door is linking one room to another, you can use paint to change the required mood or to create a flow between the rooms. So you can paint one side one colour and the other side another colour. Maybe the pocket door is dividing two bedrooms for two sisters; one sister likes red, the other likes green. The simple solution is to paint each side a different colour. Another common scenario is a pocket door linking from a corridor into a room. Where corridors have lots of different doors, we often opt for neutral colours such as white, but on the other side of the door, you can opt for a colour which matches the décor of that particular room.

The pocket door is a flexible, practical solution to your home design, but it can also play an important part of your interior décor. So keep things natural and stain a timber door, or create the right mood by painting it, either way the pocket door puts you firmly in control.