What Architectural Styles Do Folding Doors Compliment?
What Architectural Styles Do Folding Doors Compliment?
If you’re planning on starting a new home improvement project, then you’ll want to pick something that compliments the natural appearance and style of your house. Otherwise, you could end up with a mismatched-looking home that just doesn’t fit into any particular category.
Installing bi-fold doors for a home is one of the best improvements that you can make if you want to open your home up to more light, make it feel more spacious, and connect with nature.
Residential folding doors can be installed in any home, providing you’re working with a contractor who’s worth their salt. However, they complement certain architectural styles more than others. In today’s post, we’re going to show you which home styles go best with folding doors and why.
6 Architectural Styles That Compliment Residential Folding Doors
Given the sheer diversity of options that homeowners have for customizing their folding door systems, they can be installed just about anywhere and look good. You can customize your door panels for a classic look or a more modern appearance. They can be short, tall, wide, or span the entire width of a wall. Ultimately, the choice is yours, and whatever vision that you can think of, there’s a door company that has a product to match your ideal aesthetic.
That being said, though, there are certain architectural styles that really go well with folding door systems.
1) Beach House
Today’s modern folding door systems first became popular in Southern California beach homes. Not surprisingly, most of the top-tier manufacturers in the country are located in SoCal to be closer to their clients.
Beach houses are a particularly good style of architecture for folding doors thanks to the scenery. After all, who doesn’t want to open up an entire side of their home to golden sunlight and a fresh sea breeze? Installing folding doors in a beach house will help to illuminate the home and allow you to really take in a beachfront view without having to step foot on the hot sand or pack a beach bag.
2) Contemporary
Contemporary homes were first popularized in the late-60s and early-70s by the famous architect, Franklin Lloyd Wright. Many of his homes are still standing today, and have since been converted into architectural museums. The ones that are privately owned are worth millions.
The idea of these homes was to create a structure that blended in with the natural landscape. You’ll see lots of geometric shapes, long, panoramic windows, and large doors.
One of the biggest themes in contemporary homes is the incorporation of natural lighting. In fact, these were some of the first homes to ever include built-in skylights in the roof!
As you can probably imagine, contemporary homes are the perfect style of architecture if you’re looking to install a large panoramic folding door system. The wide, rectangular shape of the house is able to support extra-wide folding doors, which will only serve to increase the amount of natural lighting and further open up the home to the surrounding landscape.
3) Floridian/Spanish
Floridian-style homes were first popularized in the late-1800s throughout Florida. The influence is obviously Spanish, and the homes often feature terra cotta roofing, adobe siding, and grand entrances. As Florida is the “Sunshine State,” Floridian-style homes also incorporate large windows and doorways in order to let more sunlight into the home and illuminate the natural earth tones in the building’s construction.
Installing a folding door system on a rear porch or a second-story patio is a great way to make an older Floridian home feel more modern and up-to-date. While you may not open it all of the way during the hot summers, it’ll get plenty of use during the more moderate seasons of the year such as Fall and Winter.
4) Modern
Modern homes are… well modern. Think of those fancy celebrity homes you see in the Hollywood Hills. They incorporate many aspects of contemporary architecture with a modern twist. They utilize thick, high-quality glass and ultra-lightweight building materials to create vast open spaces that let in tons of natural light and create an open, limitless feel.
In fact, many modern-style homes are built to incorporate large multi-slide or folding door systems from the start. They’re often seen leading out to a patio swimming pool or a private backyard.
5) Mountain Homes
It’s safe to say that most people don’t move to the mountains for convenience; they’re there for the view! For the most part, mountain homes are designed to be sturdy and able to withstand the harsh elements and cold climates. For this reason, mountain homes are not usually built with folding doors.
However, given their sturdy, reliable structure, mountain homes provide a perfect base to add a set of folding doors. If you plan on adding folding doors, we suggest adding them to a side of the home where you can really take in the magnificent view provided by the mountains.
Thanks to high-tech energy-efficient glass technology, you won’t lose any valuable heat with your new folding doors. In fact, some of today’s residential folding door systems are more energy-efficient than the standard fiberglass doors of yesterday.
6) Tuscan
Tuscan-style homes are popular to see in warmer climates such as Southern California, Texas, Arizona, and Utah. These large homes make use of large limestone blocks and masonic cornerstones. Modern Tuscan homes also typically feature expansive glass windows and doors, which may be substituted with bi-fold or multi-slide doors to create a practical yet beautiful entrance or patio door.
Final Thoughts
Out of all of the architectural styles we’ve been through so far, we have to say that modern and contemporary homes are best complimented by folding door systems. Both of these styles make use of copious amounts of natural lighting, which folding doors can easily achieve.
Just because your particular style of house isn’t mentioned on this list, though, doesn’t mean that folding doors won’t look great with your structure! Whether you’re looking for natural hardwood doors, ultra-low-profile aluminum doors, or even hybrid aluminum and wood-clad doors, there are a number of high-quality manufacturers who will work directly with you to create the look you’re going for!