Decorative Interior Glass Doors: Style & Design Options

By Sally Painter

Decorative glass interior doors are a great way to add interest and design elements, especially favorite motifs and patterns.

Glass Doors for Inside Your Home

You can buy many styles and designs of interior glass doors. Some doors have the same pattern on both sides, while others have one smooth side and one textured side. Patterns will look the same on either side of the door.

Glass Design Choices

Many of these doors have texture from various etching techniques. You may be surprised at the many choices you have for decorative door designs.

Textured
V-Groove
Etched
Embossed
Stained Glass
One-Sided Designs
Double-Sided Designs

Type of Doors Available

You can purchase many of the same designs for different kinds of doors. You may wish to use double doors as well as single doors.

French Doors
Pantry Doors
Pocket Doors
Sliding Doors

Using Decorative Glass Interior Doors

You might wonder when a room design would warrant selecting a decorative glass door. The decision to use a decorative door instead of a plain wood door should be dictated by the overall room and house design.The choice of a glass door over a wood door can mean the difference in natural lighting in a room. Many times a glass door is a better choice than a traditional solid wood door.

Etched Vs. Carved Designs

You may be familiar with the term, etched, yet uncertain how the etching is done. An etched door creates a frosted look. This look is achieved with a sandblasting technique. A carved door, is also sandblasted, but the cut into the glass surface is quite deeper than an etched surface. This carved technique allows for a three dimensional, floating appearance within the glass surface.

Embossed Designs

Another technique used in decorative designs for glass doors is to emboss a pattern onto it. This is achieved when the glass is in a molten stage and the embossing is typically only on one side of the glass while the other side remains smooth in texture.

Rooms Best Suited For Glass Doors

There's no specific room that is best suited for a glass door, but some rooms will look better than others. An interior room that has no windows is a prime candidate for a glass door. By using a glass door instead of a solid wood door, you can have privacy without sacrificing light.

Specialty Interior Glass Doors

There is a wide selection of specialty doors as well as other decorative ones to consider for your home.

Home Office

A glass door can be one of the best ways to have privacy in your home office while still being able to see the activities going on in your household. By choosing a decorative glass door, you can add a splash of design to both inside and outside your office. Some doors have colored glass as well as transparent or frosted glass.

Laundry Room

The laundry design has a vine arch over the word Laundry underneath etched wicker laundry basket with folded linens and towels. Another style is the drawing of an old-fashioned washboard in a tin washtub.

Media Room

Drama masks of happy and sad is just one door designed specifically for your media room. Another motif-style is an etched, old-fashioned, reel camera on a tripod and a movie scene with a frosted background.

Pantry Door

One decorative door that is becoming very popular is the pantry glass door. There are several choices in this style of door. Another chef's pantry door has an etched caricature of a chef complete with a tall chef's hat. Another style has an etched ceramic-fired design of vegetables beneath the script scroll word Pantry arched above the vegetables. A whimsical door reveals a pig in a chef's hat and apron holding a sign that states, Bon Appétit.

Wine Cellar

Now that you have your wine cellar designed, all you need is the perfect door. You can choose from multiple designs of grapevines, trellis and grape clusters. Some doors have a frosted background while other choices have partial to no frosting. The etched designs are plentiful, the problem you'll have is choosing just one.