Arched Doors | Arched Interior Doors | Arched Wooden Doors

Arched doors and doorways have a rich and colorful history dating back to the Roman times. When you think of arched doorways, Roman villas and European gothic cathedrals might come to mind. Though arched doors have faded into the stylistic background, they're making a definite comeback and for a good reason. Arched doors can add depth, style, and elegance to any home. If you're thinking of adding an arched doorway to your abode, you'll want to:

10 Ways to Use Arched Doors

Keep It Simple
Consider Metal
Think About Paint
Embrace the Natural Look
Use Modern Windows
Dress Up Doorknobs
Enhance the Door
Consider the Surroundings
Decide on Arch Style
Pick a Hardware System

When done right, arched doorways can give your house a modern, sophisticated, and timeless look that will increase its value and resale potential. They can work with nearly any style home from Italian villa to rustic farmhouse. No matter where you live or how you've styled your home, an arched door can find its home with you.

1. Keep it Simple

The best thing about arch doors is their ability to instantly create a sense of elegance, style, serenity, and timelessness by just being there. As opposed to many front doors, you don't necessarily need to do anything to your arched door to make it look its best. Place your door in the entryway without fully mounting it and take a step back. What do you see?

Do the colors match as-is? Does it need to be dressed up or do you like the way it looks? How does it make you feel? Does it feel elegant with no need to touch it up? Does it invite you to walk up to it and open it? If you were a guest, would you enjoy walking up to the arched doorway knowing your friend was on the other side? As a homeowner, will you enjoy seeing your door as-is every day when you get home from work or taking the kids to soccer practice? If you've answered yes to these questions, then consider mounting your door just the way it came. Sometimes, keeping it simple is the best thing you can do to perfectly match your home.

2. Consider Metal

While any arched door can ignite feelings of grace and elegance, an arched metal door adds another level of sophistication and luxury. Given the nature of the arched design, a metal arched door is perfect for French, Italian, gothic, or Romanesque interior design styles.

When designing your classy metal arched door, consider steel as your metal of choice. Steel is one of the best metal options for your interior arched door, as it’s incredibly durable and strong. Plus, it’s Rustica’s most price-conscious metal door option.

However, if you want to install your arched doorway in a bathroom or if you live in a climate with high humidity, consider a stainless steel metal. Stainless steel is the strongest, most durable, and most resistant metal to corrosion and rust than any other. Steel is still a fine choice for interior use, but is prone to rust if exposed to precipitation.

When ordering a high-quality metal arched door with Rustica, you’ll have access to our incredible customization options. This includes your preferred metal type, hanging option, width and height of the door, and more! To make the metal door unique to your one-of-a-kind style, Rustica offers a variety of finishes for your metal door. These finishes range from stylish flat black to luxurious modern gold to shiny satin chrome (and more).

No matter the metal type and finish you choose, an arched metal door is long-lasting and extremely durable, making it a great material to consider for your elegant interior arched door.

3. Think About Paint

Painting the front door to a house is all the rage right now. Many people enjoy the extra pop of personality and color it provides. Rather than a house that looks like all the others, paint can take your arched entry door to the next level and make your house a complete showstopper.

When considering what colors to paint your doors, you'll want to follow a few general rules. First, you want the paint to complement, not clash, with your siding, house color, and roof color. The door is like the cherry on top of your ice cream sundae and it draws the eyes of everyone who views it. As such, it should pop in a good way - not in a way that makes visitors and guests cringe. Along with your color scheme, consider any décor you'll be adding to your entry way or porch. If you are planning on placing a turquoise wicker chair set and welcome sign on your porch, consider matching the door color to the chairs. Choose a color scheme and stick with it. There's nothing quite so out of place as red bricks, aqua patio furniture, and a purple arched door. Think through your colors carefully.

With the right color on your arched entry doors, your house will make a statement fit for the front of a magazine.

4. Embrace the Natural Look

Sometimes the best look for your house might be the simple elegance of natural wood grain. Arched double front doors and single doors come in a wide variety of finishes. You can choose from options such as:

Alder
Poplar
Cedar
Red Oak
Cherry
Hickory
Mahogany
Walnut

To go with the natural look, you'll want to choose your wood depending on the style, exterior, and coloration of your house. Darker woods such as walnut, mahogany, and cherry look especially good on houses with lighter color exteriors. Exteriors sporting natural rock or a mix of light and dark siding also work with darker woods. Lighter woods work well on darker colored homes as well as rustic or ranch type exteriors.

Consider the overall look of your house and compare options when choosing. You want something that completes the look of your home. Ideally, your arched doors should not fade away into the face of your house, but complement each element from the construction to siding and coloring that is in place.

5. Use Modern Windows

Whether you're purchasing your arched double door or single door for an entry way, interior arched door or exterior door, one option to consider is inserting windows, or sidelights. If you live in a home that needs the added benefit of natural light, but you still want the elegance of a solid wood door, then sidelights are your answer.

Sidelights are beautiful modern window inserts that match the arched top of the door in terms of architecture and stylistic qualities. There are numerous options when it comes to the windows you choose. You can choose smaller sidelights that allow in light without compromising on privacy. Larger sidelights can be covered with a privacy screen so light can enter when you're home but kept out when you're away You also have the option of coating the glass with one-way film, allowing light inside without allowing people to see in.

No matter which type of arched window you choose, modern window sidelights in your wood doors will provide light, beauty, and style for your home. These also work for an interior glass door where you want to see through to another room such as a kitchen or wine cellar.

6. Dress Up Doorknobs

If your door is the cherry on top of your sundae, then the doorknob acts as the stem. In other words, this important part of your door should not be forgotten about or ignored. The arched door might be what immediately grabs the eye's attention, but your doorknob is what completes the picture. The type of handle or knob you choose to include on your door will either complete the total look you're striving for or will detract from the rest of the picture.

So what should you do for your doorknob? With solid wood doors, you'll want a dark metal such as iron or steel that comes in flat black, raw steel, bronze oil rubbed bronze, or shop black. If you want a doorknob that makes a "pop," then choose an option such as barn red, white, rustic gold, aqua, or copper. When it comes to your front door, the sky is the limit for creativity. Match your color scheme and your personality and you won't go wrong.

7. Enhance the Door

You might not think it's possible to make an incredible door look any better, but with a few waves of your decorating wand, anything is possible.

Any front arched door can be dressed up seasonally to add some personality. Functional décor includes wreaths, greenery, monogramed letters of your last name, or other signs such as, "Johnson Family Est. 2020." Tasteful décor can add a pop of color, whimsey, and flare where there might otherwise be none. The key in this category is to go simple. The elegance of the door should be paired with elegant décor.

If you're looking for a permanent door enhancement, consider either a transom window or a rustic metal grate that fits over the transom window. Both options give your door a unique style that others on the street might not have.

8. Consider the Surroundings

In order for your arched doors to fit in well with your house, you should make sure your home's exterior and surroundings support the look and feel of arched wooden doors. If you have a modern industrial-style architecture home that uses hard lines and edges, the refined and softened feel of an arched door opening or arched windows may not fit the style of your home. If, on the other hand, you have a setting for Spanish style doors arched or arched barn doors to go with the rest of your Spanish-inspired or rustic farmhouse feel, then you're in business. Look at the overall look and feel of your home when deciding if arched exterior doors are right for you.

9. Decide on an Arch Style

Not all arch doors are the same—there are actually several different arched door styles. While the differences between them are subtle, the style of arch you choose is significant, as each has its roots in a specific architectural style. Arch styles include:

Round Top Arch
Segmented Arch
Cathedral Arch
Gothic Arch
Tudor Arch
Oval Arch

Now, let’s dive into the unique characteristics of each arch style and explore some of their historical relevances so you can choose the best style for your space.

1. Round Top Arch

The most common and versatile arch style is the round top arch. The round top arch, as the name implies, is perfectly round, and the straight sides of the door smoothly transition to the rounded arch without any hard edges.

Round-top arched doors are one of the oldest arched door styles, and were favored in Roman architecture. Their popularity lasted through the ages. This arch style is common in Tuscan, Victorian, Tudor, Old World, and Mission architecture.

The curve of the round top arch is distinguished, which makes this door style a staple piece in any room. Because of how magnetizing the style of the round top arch door is, you’ll want to place it where it will receive the attention it deserves, such as an exterior front door or master bathroom interior door.

Whether you’re looking for exterior arched metal doors for a stunning entryway, or a warm wooden arched interior door for your Tuscan-inspired kitchen, Rustica has the round-top arch you’re looking for.

2. Segmented Arch

A segmented arched door is characterized by a slight curve and noticeable edges where the arch meets the straight sides of the door.

Compared to the round top arch, the segmented arch is much more subtle and has more distinctive edges. The slight curve of the door adds undeniable elegance and sophistication to whatever entry it occupies.

Rustica has captures this luxurious style in our selection of high-quality French metal doors. If you envision double French doors with beautiful metal windows for your home, take a look at our impressive selection of segmented arch doors.

3. Cathedral Arch

Historic European cathedrals are represented by their elaborate stained glass windows and arched doors. However, most Roman cathedral's arches differ from the smooth round top and segmented arch, as they are characterized by a point at the very top of the door.

The curve leading up to the point is smooth, and this distinguished arch is a staple element of most cathedrals—especially old American catholic churches—that honor traditional architecture.

The cathedral arch is less common in modern homes, but it is a desirable style for those who love Roman Gothic architecture and wish to incorporate the style into their home.

4. Gothic Arch

The Gothic arch is the most elaborate of the arch styles, and consists of a point at the top of the door much like the cathedral arch. It differs from the cathedral arch by the addition of a swooping inward curve leading up to the point.

The Gothic movement was known for its grandiose architecture. Considering this, it’s no wonder that the Gothic arch would have the most character as compared to the other arch styles.

This style is perfect for anyone looking for a show-stopping door that honors historic architecture.

5. Tudor Arch

Following the height of the Roman Catholic church's influence over England, the Tudor Arch emerged just as the country started to veer away from Catholic authority. As such, they also had to make their arched doors unique to the Tudor Dynasty.

The Tudor arch is a key feature of Tudor-revival architecture, spanning from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It’s similar to the cathedral arch, as it also has a distinguished point at the top of its curve, but the curve itself is more subtle and gradual.

6. Oval Arch

The oval arch is another subtle and graceful arch that is almost indistinguishable from the segmented arch. It differs from the segmented arch in that the oval arch does not have any sharp angles. Rather, the transition from the straight edges of the door to the curve is smooth, much like the round top arch.

This arched door style is a great door to consider if you want the subtle elegance of the segmented arch, but prefer a smooth transition between the door edges and the top curve.

10. Pick a Hardware System

One of the most important things to consider when designing an arch door is what kind of hardware system you want. A hardware system is how the door will operate. In other words, you’ll want to figure out how you want your door to function. Rustica offers arched doors in a few different hardware systems, including single or double-hinged, single-barn door, and double barn door hardware systems.

A hinged door is a traditional swinging door that swings in or out when you open it. When ordering a custom arched door through Rustica with this hardware system, you’ll have the option to add hinges and hinge-prep to your door. Adding these options equals one less step for you to prepare before installation.

If you want hinges added to your arched door, you’ll need to select the “pre-hung” option when ordering your customized door. You’ll also choose the type of “handling” you want, which refers to the side the door will open when installed on a hinge. This determines whether you want the door handle to be on the left or right and if you want the hinged door to swing inward or outward.

A barn door, on the other hand, operates by sliding along a track mounted above the door frame. Barn doors are perfect for saving space and adding a modern, rustic touch to your home. Naturally, they have a much different hardware system than hinged doors.

Rustica’s barn door hardware system is designated to take the weight off your door, resulting in a smooth and effortless pull. When ordering a single arched barn door, you’ll have the option to add a barn door hardware system to your order, which includes the track length and style, wheels, hangers, stop, and door guide. Each of these parts is customizable, and Rustica offers a variety of wheel and track styles to make your barn door hardware one-of-a-kind.

For an arched double barn door, Rustica uses a dual sliding barn door hardware system. In this system, each arched barn door will hang and operate on the same track. When opened, the arched doors slide in opposite directions and meet in the middle when closed. This standard metal hardware system is fully customizable. Choose from one of our several metal finishes to add a stylish touch to your barn door hardware, such as industrial bronze, distressed white, or brushed copper.

Are Arched Doors Out of Style?

Arched doors are some of the oldest architectural elements we have on record. They began during the Roman times and were incorporated in the Roman villas and cities. The arch top door continued to enjoy popularity throughout the Medieval European days as well as the Gothic period. Finally, the Tudor period continued their use and incorporated arch top doors into homes and buildings alike.

Arch top doors can be seen in architecture throughout the world and they're still a popular option for homes today. At Rustica, we offer two unique arched doors. First, there is the arched front entry door. Ideal for both farmhouse, Italian villa, and Spanish-inspired homes, this solid wood door is detailed and elegant, adding a unique door design to your home. This door comes in a wide variety of finishes, color options, hanging options, and unique add-ons to perfectly match the style, elegance, and feel of your home.

We also have our round top door. Created stylistically with a mix of the 1920s and Tuscany. You'll feel like you're in the Mediterranean with the arch top door, natural wood grain, and old-world feel. Add the transom window and you'll have an instant "speak-easy" type window that allows sunlight to enter when desired but provides complete privacy when needed. This custom door will perfectly complement and complete the look and feel of your home.

Arched Doors Make Elegant Statements

Whether you want to add a pop of elegance, a statement piece, or some old-world charm to your home, arched doors are a perfect way to make it happen. You can customize nearly any door to fit the style, look and feel you're going for. Keeping it simple and going with a natural all-wood look matches nearly any exterior from brick and rock to wood siding. A pop of paint color can tie a color scheme together and give your home a cohesive feel. Modern windows, doorknobs, and décor are the finishing touches that can give you that extra "something" that makes your door "yours" and provides you with a stunning piece that wows neighbors and inspires friends.

No matter how you decide to design and style your door, arched double doors or a single door might just be the finishing touch you need to turn your house into the home you've always wanted.