What types of sliding doors are there, what they are made of and how they are fastened, for which room barn or glass doors are suitable, as well as the history of movable walls.
Modern living room with sliding doors
The door is a very ancient and important symbol. It is impossible to imagine a house without a front door and interior doors, just as it is impossible to write a good story without coming up with an interesting beginning. Sliding doors in the interior are another way to add accents in a new way.
The door is a sign of transition: beginning and ending, salvation from external vanity and dangers in the comfort of your own little world, and, at the same time, an opportunity to reach a new level, to achieve your desired goals. The threshold of a house is a kind of boundary. And the way it and other doorways are designed affects the overall atmosphere of the home.
The modern market for interior solutions is huge. And if standard “door” solutions don’t seem relevant to you, the world has something to offer.
Advantages and disadvantages
Main advantages and disadvantages.
| pros | Minuses |
| They have special ergonomics and increased comfort. | Some varieties require additional space for rolling. |
| A wide variety of materials are used for their manufacture. | When using this sliding structure, difficulties may arise with the placement of the plinth. |
| No need to install a door frame. | They do not provide opportunities for silent opening. |
| They fit perfectly into both small and larger rooms. |
Briefly about the main thing
Sliding interior doors are the optimal solution for filling openings in cramped conditions. When opening, such structures do not require a large area on both the front and back sides of the wall. There are 3 main types of sliding structures on the market - sliding doors, “pencil cases” and barn doors, each of which has individual characteristics, as well as advantages and disadvantages. It is better to entrust the installation of sliding panels to professionals, since the slightest mistake can lead to disruption of the comfortable operation of the doors.
Types of interior sliding doors
These products are divided into several varieties.
Double
They have 2 doors that can be moved in different or one direction. The double design allows rational use of free space and is perfect for rooms of any size.
Single
They occupy a minimum of free space and do not clutter up the interior, which makes it possible to equip them with standard or narrow openings in city apartments.
The photo shows single-leaf sliding doors in the living room of a city apartment.
Sliding doors
They are the most popular option. Sliding doors move compactly along the wall, do not take up extra space and can be used in any living space.
The photo shows the interior of the attic room with sliding sliding doors.
Harmonic
It has several segments that move when opened to one or to different edges of the doorway. It can be a folding mechanism, in the form of PVC panels or sashes made of other materials.
The photo shows glazed folding accordion doors in the design of a balcony opening.
Hanging
They are distinguished by the presence of an upper guide, which can be attached to the ceiling or wall, which allows you to maintain the aesthetics of the floor and its covering.
Recoil
They are equipped with a threshold-free system and special wheels, which bear the main weight of the door leaf. In addition, they allow you to add a rigid and reliable support point to sliding models.
Pencil doors
Such built-in cabinet doors conveniently hide inside the wall without disturbing the overall appearance of the interior and are characterized by a high level of sound insulation.
The photo shows white matte pencil case doors sliding into the wall, located between the kitchen and living room.
French doors
Translucent French sliding products will not only fill the room with light, lightness and sophisticated charm, but will also visually expand its boundaries.
Tricuspid
They are truly convenient to use and are especially suitable for creating wide openings with non-standard dimensions.
The photo shows sliding triple doors with frosted glazing in the design of the opening leading to the living room.
Expert advice
Installation, configuration and operation of sliding doors requires responsibility and attention on the part of the owner of the premises. The design is highly sensitive to mechanical stress and requires special care. In order for the result to meet expectations and the sliding doors to be used for many years, the following nuances should be taken into account:
- The slides of the sliding structure should be inspected, cleaned of dust and debris, and lubricated at least once every 6 months.
Structure care
- During installation, it is necessary to monitor the size of the gap between the floor and the doors - even with a deviation of 2 - 3 mm, the doors will not be able to close tightly when closing.
- If components and leafs are purchased separately, the load and load-bearing capacity of the mechanisms should be calculated, since the upper fastening absorbs the entire load from the mass of the door structure.
Installation defect
- When fixing the runners, you need to take into account the structure of the wall - all fasteners must correspond to the materials of the wall.
- During installation, you need to take into account the width of the wall and install a locking mechanism with elastic stops so that the panel is not damaged during sudden opening.
Measuring the wall
When installing it yourself, it is necessary to ensure ideal straightness of movement - curved guides cause the door to jam when opening.
Optimal installation of a sliding door
What materials are used?
The material from which sliding structures are made is a very important point when choosing.
- Wooden. Door leaves made from solid wood of various types are always very popular. They have a natural and natural appearance and look stylish and expensive.
- Plastic. They have many useful functions, are very convenient and safe to use, have a beautiful appearance and a long service life.
- Aluminum. Such steel models are characterized by good strength properties and resistance to external influences.
- Glass. All-glass panels are considered quite popular. They can have various convenient mechanisms, original handles and other beautiful accessories.
- Combined. They combine different types of materials, such as aluminum, steel, wood or plastic frames and glass, mirror or rattan filler.
The choice of material allows you to influence not only the performance of the door model, but also to further emphasize the given style direction of the room.
How to organize space correctly?
If your apartment has fairly spacious rooms, then for demarcation you can use, for example, glass sliding doors to highlight the dining room.
If you have not previously thought about this option, then it is better to first look in magazines and the Internet at what all-glass panels look like to make sure that this is the right option for you.
Don’t worry that this method of dividing a room will negatively affect the appearance of the room.
If you use double or even triple transparent doors, they will not interfere with the visual view at all.
And when open, such a design will easily unite the entire space into a single whole again.
Photos of doors in the interior of rooms
Interesting photos of the design of various rooms.
Balcony doors or loggia
Thanks to the stylishness, ergonomics and huge variety of designs of sliding panels, it is possible to choose the most suitable option for the balcony opening. Most often, fully glazed models that allow natural light to pass through are used for loggias.
To the bathroom
First of all, when equipping a bathroom, it is worth considering its important features. Only high-quality and wear-resistant materials are used here that are not afraid of humidity, steam and high temperature.
To the dressing room
Sliding structures can become not only a functional, but also a very original solution for both large and compact dressing rooms.
To the living room
Sliding doors will become a truly significant piece of decor in the room and will allow you to create an amazing design in it. In addition, these products can become an effective zoning element for a small living room, for example, combined with an office.
For veranda or terrace
Fully glazed sliding panels with an aluminum or wooden frame will create unhindered penetration of natural light, create a cozy atmosphere and provide a gorgeous panoramic view.
The photo shows an exit to the summer veranda, equipped with sliding panoramic doors.
For the toilet
Products made from moisture-resistant materials are perfect for the bathroom, which will avoid their deformation for quite a long time. For example, these could be practical plastic or glass doors.
To the bedroom
Such designs represent a fairly stylish interior element, which becomes the central link of the bedroom and significantly improves its aesthetics.
In the hallway and corridor
In the corridor there are often canvases with mirror or glass inserts, which make it possible to give a small hallway more lightness and visual spaciousness.
To the kitchen
Sliding models, which have convenient, comfortable placement and save additional space, can be easily used both to design an opening in a traditional kitchen and to separate a kitchen area in a studio.
To the nursery
Door products decorated with stickers with cartoon characters, photo printing, various kinds of applications or drawings must not only create a colorful design for the nursery, but also, first of all, fully comply with all quality and safety standards.
To the pantry
The storage room, due to proper design, turns into a harmonious continuation of the general interior space. In this case, these door leaves are an ideal option to save space, free up space and avoid clutter.
The photo shows a kitchen with a pantry decorated with sliding single-leaf wooden doors.
Selecting an interior panel
Interior panels are a universal product; you can divide the space of a room using sliding door systems. The most popular embodiment of this solution is used for large studio spaces or small apartments; this choice is determined by the requirements of compactness, simplicity and convenience of design.
There are other options for using interior partitions:
- A common bedroom for a girl and a boy can be divided into two separate smaller rooms, and each child will be given their own personal space.
- It’s quite easy to create a dressing room in your room, just allocate the necessary area and use the interior sliding partition as a separator.
- Some rooms have a common area for the kitchen and dining room; you can limit the kitchen, and leave unpleasant odors or dirty dishes in it by installing a sliding partition.
- Office space is another application; so, if you need to provide employees with personal space, create a conference room, a small kitchen, or a director’s office, you can use interior partitions.
Varieties of door shapes and sizes
There are several main types:
- Big ones. Due to their solidity, they will give the interior a special impressiveness.
- Tall. They have excellent performance characteristics and a truly spectacular appearance, due to which it is possible to turn a standard apartment into a luxurious apartment.
- Arched. They endow the environment with originality and expressiveness and, thanks to smooth and curved lines, soften the geometry of the room, making its appearance more noble.
- Semicircular. Correct radius designs have a particularly original and unusual appearance, adding originality to the design.
- Hidden. Thanks to such an effective design technique as an invisible door, you can not only make the atmosphere unique, but also visually unload the space, bringing air, volume and weightlessness into it.
Sliding door colors
Currently, the color range of sliding structures is not limited to certain shades. However, the most popular of them are the following.
White
Elegant and noble white is considered particularly popular and provides the opportunity to create a new conceptual design.
Gray
Despite its laconicism and restraint, gray color is distinguished by its special character and rich tint palette, which allows you to create a truly unique interior.
Black
Incredibly stylish, but at the same time ambiguous black shade will undoubtedly give the furnishings a luxurious, elegant and slightly glamorous touch.
Wenge
Wenge-colored products always have a more massive and solemn appearance, which is especially advantageous when decorating wide doorways in a room with high ceilings.
Pros and cons of installing a sliding structure
Sliding is a system in which the main part of the door (leaf) slides along the wall.
The idea of moving the door along the wall, and not outside or inside the room, was spotted by the Japanese, where, in conditions of severely limited living space, they came up with the idea of moving doors along the wall to save space.
Such an original and slightly unusual design has gained recognition in the everyday life of Russian consumers. This is due to the advantages that these doors provide:
- The sliding door mechanism does not take up the usable area of your room, when ordinary doors require at least one square meter to fully function.
- The width of the doorway can be easily adjusted using the number of panels, so you can choose a sliding door from 2 panels without sacrificing space, and the option of three sections will give your interior some “zest”.
- You can also use such a system as an interior or interzone sliding partition. This approach will help to divide the space of the room into the necessary sections without any difficulties.
In addition to the advantages, there are a number of certain limitations in choosing sliding doors:
- While saving space for opening (forward and backward) within rooms, sliding doors are at the same time very demanding on the side space of the wall on which they are installed. The so-called “parking” space, where the door moves when opened, imposes restrictions on the choice of location for installing the doors. If there is no parking space, the doors will simply have nowhere to open.
- Noise when opening. The design involves the movement of the door rollers along the rails; this approach is accompanied by the appearance of certain sounds and noises. You should approach the choice of such a door more carefully if you or your roommates have very sensitive hearing, as this may cause discomfort.
- The price tag for such doors will be higher compared to ordinary swing doors, this is due to the cost of the mechanisms.
Design and decoration of doors between rooms
Design ideas for interior models.
With a mirror
They will add majesty to the space, create a mesmerizing effect and at the same time visually expand its boundaries and provide additional light.
Stained glass
Thanks to stained glass decoration, it is possible to make any ordinary interior luxurious, and turn a simple door leaf into an art object.
Panoramic
They erase spatial boundaries and fill the atmosphere with lightness, style and sophistication.
Louvre
They are distinguished by a simple and at the same time beautiful and original appearance, and also due to the slats, they allow you to maintain constant air circulation in the room and improve the microclimate.
Barn
They have such a beautiful and presentable appearance that they become the main decorative item in the room, creating interesting visual effects.
With an image
Thanks to sandblasting designs, painting or photo printing, the space is filled with new bright accents, and sliding doors turn into an original and unusual addition to the interior.
With inserts
Symmetrical, asymmetrical or staggered inserts with impact-resistant triplex glass, decorated with patterns, drawings, tinting or matting effects, will give the doors special elegance and uniqueness.
With transom
The transom is a valuable architectural object, which becomes a fairly effective solution in the case of a non-standard doorway.
Examples of sliding doors in various styles
Application options in popular stylistic directions.
Loft
For the industrial style, designs made from natural wood or rough boards that have an accentuated lively texture or are subjected to an aging effect are often chosen. It is also appropriate to use attic or barn structures with a rail in the form of metal pipes or strips painted in dark gray or black.
The photo shows sliding barn doors made of rough boards in a loft-style bedroom.
Classic
In a classic respectable and aristocratic interior, wooden sliding doors are assumed to have strict lines, proportional design, emphasized design and a prestigious and sophisticated appearance.
Modern
Simple door leaves, in the spirit of minimalism, with decor in the form of laconic or more complex glass inserts, drawer models, PVC products in light, dark or contrasting colors will go perfectly with the modern style.
Oriental
Elegant and sophisticated sliding shoji models are a familiar element of Japanese style. They can have a decorative grille, frosted glass inserts, or be decorated with intricate bright patterns, hieroglyphs or even embroidery.
Scandinavian
Natural wooden or glass structures with a democratic design, combined with a similar Nordic setting, made in light colors, such as white, milky, light gray, beige or sky blue, will be a harmonious addition to the Scandi interior.
The photo shows a Scandinavian-style living room with wooden hanging sliding doors.
Provence
Sliding doors made of natural wood or chipboard, in bleached shades, pure snow-white or pastel colors, products with glass inserts decorated with engraving, lattice, floral patterns or antique paneled canvases will add noble charm to the interior in the Provence style.
High tech
Doors with plastic and aluminum profiles, decorated with solid glass or glossy inserts, will especially harmonize with innovative and high-tech decorative elements.
Combined doors with decorative elements
An unusual design element on which the eye involuntarily lingers. A decorated door adds uniqueness to the home and sets the mood for the interior.
Wood with metal elements
A bright representative of the fashion trend is the “Barn” door.
The design of the suspension with large metal parts, in addition to its main function, serves as decoration.
Wood with mirror inserts
A narrow mirror strip easily fits into the classic style and emphasizes respectability. Longitudinal stripes will visually enlarge the room.
A door in this design will give the narrow corridor additional volume and divide it from the living room into two functional zones.
Decoration with a pattern
Frosted glass with a transparent pattern will emphasize individuality without losing privacy when closed.
A glass panel with a bright pattern in a wooden frame (stained glass) will expand the space, adding new colors.
Options for zoning a room with doors
Mobile sliding structures make it easy to change the current layout of a room and create a non-trivial, beautiful and functional interior. With the help of doors of this type, it is possible to separate additional zones or organize the division of a room into compact parts.
The photo shows sliding doors with glass inserts separating the kitchen area from the living room.
Such a multifunctional sliding partition is perfect for zoning both spacious and small rooms and even for visual adjustment of a narrow and long room.
Studio apartment
Such a popular apartment layout does not take into account the features of the kitchen. Therefore, there is often a desire to separate the cooking area from the rest of the room.
Since in the studio there is only one window for the entire area of the kitchen-living room, it is impractical to divide the space with a stationary opaque partition.
The best solution for such apartments would be a glass sliding partition. It reliably zones the space, while leaving enough light in both parts of the room.
To prevent large sliding doors from resembling a storefront, it is better not to use ordinary glass for them. Depending on the interior style, glass can be:
- matte;
- embossed;
- stained glass;
- with an image.
Or you can combine several materials in one partition. For example, the lower part, which is easiest to break (by hitting it with your foot, or moving furniture), is filled with MDF, and the upper part is made of glass.
Ideas for sliding doors in a niche
For this recess, you need to build in sliding models designed in accordance with the size of the niche, which will be the most optimal solution. In this way, it will be possible to create a functional door structure that will perfectly perform an insulating role and will not take up much space.
The photo shows a bathroom in a niche, decorated with sliding doors made of frosted glass.
