Upholstered doors are an age-old decorating device. We rounded up examples by some of the best designers in the biz to spotlight how the right materials, colors and patterns can transform the often-overlooked doorway into a showstopping room-maker.
Miles Redd tempered the punchiness of a red patent-leather door with crisp nailhead details, one of many grounding touches that keep this exuberant entryway from feeling chaotic.
In Alidad’s London apartment, the doorway to a powder room maintains the opulence of the hallway—pink-suede walls, gold-braid details, fine antique art—and offers a dramatic contrast to the serene space beyond.
With a lilting pattern that rhymes perfectly with the framed botanical prints hung nearby, Eric Ross made smart use of a door’s details, and turned a bathroom entry into its own work of art.
In Kate Rheinstein Brodsky’s home, a starburst pattern and peripheral border hammered out in nailheads on the upholstered door add an extra dose of glam to a bathroom.
By extending the moss-green velvet of the upholstered walls across the jibbed closet doors, Pappas Miron ensured that this main bedroom exudes a cohesive and handsome, tailored gravitas.
Ruthie Sommers offset chic, aubergine lacquered walls with swinging doors in a stylized lime-green and bubblegum-pink chinoiserie fabric to infuse a hallway with personality and fun.
Instead of playing down a cluster of adjacent doors, S.R. Gambrel highlighted them by covering them in a supple, pumpkin-colored leather.
Veere Grenney used a single print on the curtains and walls (and even the waste bin!) to transform a modest guest room into a cozy, slightly cheeky mod-trad sanctuary.