Asking if the “interior doors inside a house should match” might sound like a dumb question, but being a house-flipper and remodeler myself, I have asked myself whether I needed to change out the existing doors on a home renovation project on several occasions. Does having the doors match really matter? Will a prospective buyer or tenant even care or even notice for that matter? While some readers might say it’s a no-brainer and to go ahead and just change them out, it can be expensive and time-consuming, and it might not even matter. Part of being a house-flipper or even a homeowner looking to renovate their property so they can sell it for the best price involves fixing the stuff that will give them a ROI while not over-renovating to where they’ll never get their money back. Here’s my rule of thumb that I follow in regards to figuring out whether or not you should replace mismatched interior doors inside a house.
So, should they match or not?
In general, yes, the interior doors in a house should match in both style and color for aesthetic reasons, but this is most important when the doors are in close proximity to each other or in the same field of vision i.e. bedroom hallways where 3 or more bedroom doors can be in someone’s field of vision like the picture below.
People typically will notice doors being different in close proximities like this. Whether that matters or not is a different question entirely and is ultimately up to the buyer or tenant, however, it might negate some of the positive effects from the other upgrades you might have made. Again, small style differences don’t matter as much going from one floor to another – I would just make sure that all the doors on a particular floor had the same style so at least it could be played-off as being intentional.
More important than subtle differences in door style is keeping the door color consistent everywhere in the house (unless you’re intentionally doing it based on a design). Differing paint colors and sheens on doors are going to stand out more than subtle differences in door style because the wall, ceiling, and trim paint are consistent throughout the entire house, and there is not a “break” in those paints going across the different floors or into each room. Even if a door had the same style as the other doors, but you accidentally painted it with, like say, the flat ceiling paint instead of the other doors’ paint, people will notice that more because each other door throughout the house had a consistent feel or lighting effect when stacked-up against the trim, wall, and ceiling paints throughout the entire house. Introducing a different color or sheen to one door, even if it’s slightly different, it’s going to draw attention to where something something feels “off.” Lastly, many renovators paint the doors the same color and sheen as the trim because 1) it’s easier and 2) less paints to manage, so any deviation from the color of the trim paint is going to draw attention or look like a mistake to people walking by.
So, to summarize whether the interior doors need to match – keeping the paint colors and sheens consistent is probably the biggest thing to focus on. Unless you have a master design plan or you have a painter that insists other-wise, paint them the same as the trim. As far as the door styles go, door styles should be similar if they are in the same field of vision or on the same floor: anything you want to do, you’re going to want to make it look like it was done intentionally and with purpose.
Good luck!