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I'm about to start finishing my basement and am simply not a decorator.
I just read the other post about doors and am now concerned about my choice and it's not too late to change.
My basement in in the "mountains" in N GA and is a casual older house/cabin. The upstairs has a lot of windows and wood, cute but not upscale. I'd planned to use wood trim and door downstairs, but have a nice steel door to the outside and need a steel door for entry into a back corner closet I'm reinforcing as a safer room for tornadoes. Since I have those, I decided to go with 6 panel molded door that will be white downstairs since I can match the steel door for the closet.
The comment that concerned me was the one about the 6 panel door being a colonial. Seems I see them everywhere though.
Relax, it is one door in a basement you are not going to be banished from the community. If you liked it before I am sure it is fine. Listen to my DH, I have finally realized his wisdom. As my DH would say, "last time I checked I don't believe the Interior Decorating police are due for a raid in this house"!!
It's 7 doors in the basement. I'm having it completed so bath, cllosets, 2 doors to upstairs, storage, etc.
same advice, whether one or twenty. It is the basement and it still does not sound like you are ruining the aesthetics of the neighborhood with the doors. JMHO, however.
The "other thread" was probably a comment by me. I meant it more for MAIN FLOOR & bedroom doors. If you don't have a home that is enhanced by "colonial six panel" style doors then it makes sense to buy doors that do enhance the apperance whether that be more modern / retro / ornate or other...
In my own the bozo that remodeled the basement used cheap six panel colonial style doors and it does bug me a little bit but just a little bit as I know that basements, even walk out ones, just do not add enough value for this to be a "make or break" deal.
For main floors and bedrooms I definately DO recommend getting something that suits the house's style becuase even if the effect is nearly "subconcious" it CAN result in quite a lot of buyers either "falling in love" with a fully detailed cohesive look OR be turned off by things that "just do go together". Basements are different. Even if you have AWESOME sized / ammounts of windows you'll never fool anyone into not feeling the "undergroundness" of the space and that sorta blunts all the other visual and emotional cues.
btw I suspect that some folks are thinking "seven doors??? must be HUGE" but even in my rather modest basement I have five regular doors (spare room, storage area, utility space, bath, and walk-in closet) plus a pair of bifolds (clothes closet for spare room) so I imagine that added more in a slightly more partitioned off space is not out of the question. Spend more on better light and ways to emphasize the windows. That will be a better "up spend" than custom doors...
I believe continuity is the key. What ever you have on the main floor should be on the other
floor(s).
When I did contracts to build or sidelined a basement finish my "standard" finish was whatever the upper level of the house was (doors, casing, baseboard, etc.). There's nothing more distracting and illogical than walking through a house and it's this type of finish on this floor and something completely different on another. But, that's not to stay I didn't do some build-outs that way. No matter how much I tried to emphasize the importance of continuity, they were deadset on ultra-modern or ski lodge, or "beachy" cottage for a traditional colonial home. Go figure! To each his own.
As far as the safe door there are many way to "disguise" a metal insulated door- if you get a standard flat slab you can cover it with other materials or add a 'skin'. Or you can do double back-to-back doors; the safe door swings in, the 'cover door' swings out.
Thanks for the feedback. It's actually going to be a pretty nice guest/master suite there and am hoping it will increase the value more than a typical basement. It's built into a hill so while the back seems like a basement, the front seems like the first floor with many windows and good light.
I'm going to go ahead with the 6 panel doors. You're right about the number of doors-seems there are a lot for the size. I picked those because the steel door is very similar.
Thanks again for the feedback.
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