7 foot doors with 8 foot ceilings - pictures?
We are renovating and building an addition. The newer part of our house will have 9-10' ceilings (more than 50% of the house). 2 older bedrooms and the hallway will still have the original 8' ceilings. We were thinking of putting in 7' doors throughout the house. We were thinking of about 3-4" of door trim plus a 4" crown molding. I realize that with a 7' door, that won't leave that much wall space in the rooms that have 8' ceilings.
Does anyone have pictures of what this looks like? I read online that some designers recommend doing this to make the 8' ceiling look higher. But most of the comments online say it will look weird/bad. Its only a few rooms and the hallway that have this issue so I don't want to give up the 7' doors if it works (and I'd love to make those 8' rooms look taller if this could help!).
Even pictures of an 8' door with a 9' ceiling would help me visualize (since this is similar proportion).
Any pictures of this? Does this work?
Also, should top of windows line up with top of doors? If so, then I would have to raise my windows too (more $$$)...
Comments (27)
klem1
6 years agoIMO it is near insane going through all that for 4 additional inches. Ask over on the interior decorating forum for tricks with paint to make ceilings look higher.
bardzil
Original Author6 years agoI think I may not have been clear. We are basically knocking down 90% of our house and rebuilding it with higher ceilings. Only 2 bedrooms (of a one level ranch) will remain of the original 8' ceilings. So we will be putting in all new doors throughout. Even in the 2 bedrooms and hallway that are staying, we have to replace the existing doors and door jams because the house is 60 years old. We are taking those rooms down to the studs. 100% of the doors in our house are being replaced, we are doing extensive framing, all new drywall, all new trim, etc.
Given the extent of the project, it doesn't seem like that much more work to simply reframe 2 bedroom doors and 2 closets with 7' doors in the 2 old bedrooms (since they'll be down to the studs anyway).
I was just wondering how it would look and hoped someone might have photos to share.
Matt Sturdy
6 years agoSo you're looking at about 5" or so of wall? I don't think that would look too bad. I don't have any picture but I've seen it done before. I'm sure if you google "crown molding above door" you'll get some reference images!
zmith
6 years agoIf you're going to go to the trouble of reframing the doorways, why not go with full-height doors? This would serve you better than 7-ft doors. It's been done before, see the link below (no affiliation).
bardzil
Original Author6 years agoI will have trim around doors and crown mounding throughout the rest of the house. I don't think I could do the full height door look in these two bedrooms as the style wouldn't match the rest of the house since I wouldn't be able to fit any mounding...
zmith
6 years agoWell, I tried to help. You do realize a 7' door is non-standard, right? Pardon me for saying this, but it seems like alot of expense for not much difference in the look, since it's only 4" taller than a standard 80" door. You didn't say how tall the crown will be or how wide the door casing will be, but it will probably look just fine, as long as there will be 3 or 4 inches of drywall separation between the door casing and crown molding.
klem1
6 years agoSimilar to lack of pictures of squirrel tails attached to radio antennas,you will not see many pictures of 7 foot doors with 8 foot ceilings simply because people don't do it.
bardzil
Original Author6 years agoI'm sure there are people who do it and I've found a few pictures online. I think it looks fine. There would be a few inches between the top of door and crown, and we are only talking about two kids bedrooms anyway.
kudzu9
6 years agoI wouldn't go with over-height doors in this situation. Aside for the extra expense, I wouldn't like the aesthetics/proportions. You could use standard height doors and it would look fine, or you could go to the trouble of installing these taller doors and draw attention to the odd proportions.
bardzil
Original Author6 years agoIts odd proportions to have 7' doors with 9' ceilings? That's what we'd have throughout 90% of the house. We'd only have 8' ceilings in 2 childrens bedrooms. Shouldn't we focus on what looks good in 90% of the house (rather than trying to avoid odd proportions in two small children's bedrooms)?
klem1
6 years agoI don't think kudz is saying they will look odd in 9' walls,more so in 8' walls. As far as matching doors throughout house,it's very common to see 8'entery doors combined with 6'8"interiors in a foyer with 10'to14'ceilings. 7'doors aren't common in any configuration. In your case I accept your opinion because "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder". It's your place,it's your money and it's your opinion so go go for it.
bardzil
Original Author6 years agoi think it would look odd to have a 6'8" door in a foyer with 10'-14' ceilings and an 8' entry door. That just would look really bad in my opinion... like the person who designed it was being cheap or not paying attention to details.
User
6 years agolast modified: 6 years ago7' doors in 8' ceilings, is goofy looking, and an unnecessary expense overall in most home renovations, with zero return for the additional expense. If you aren't doing a complete teardown and rebuild, you should. You will come out ahead price wise over keeping 10% of an old structure to constrain you to goofy choices like you are contemplating.
Your architect should be guiding you to appropriate design decisions on a massive expensive undertaking like this.
bardzil
Original Author6 years agowe have an architect and we aren't tearing down because where we live it is less expensive to do it the way we are doing it.
User
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoSo, what do the renderings that the architect provided you look like? And if you actually have a professional involved, why aren't you listening to him instead of asking a random group of strangers on the internet? You didn't like what he told you either and were looking for reinforcement for your opinion? And now aren't getting it?
bardzil
Original Author6 years agoI thought the point of this forum was to be able to discuss projects with others regardless of whether one has an architect or designer. I find sometimes its helpful to get different thoughts and opinions. However, given the random group of strangers has turned out not to be helpful, I think we can close this discussion. Thanks for your input!
Vith
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoIn my basement, there are a couple doors where the door trim touches the ceiling (due to insulated floor, subfloor, carpet pad, carpet). Just caulked and painted the ceiling. Used tape to get a nice caulk edge.
Not that uncommon for small wall space above a door.
I would only have the extra tall doors if you have extra tall people living there. Like... NBA players. Standard height on doors is 6 foot 8 inches so yea, lot of extra work and cost for 4 more inches.
kudzu9
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoklem-
Thanks. You're correct that I was referring only to rooms with 8 foot high ceilings. I thought it was obvious when my comment immediately followed bardzil's statement about only addressing two children's bedrooms....
E K
6 years agoBardzil, I am trying to do the exact same thing but for a different reason. I an adding on 400 sq feet and the rest of my house is ft ceilings that I can't raise because I have an upstairs. I want to change all doors and windows to tasker and closer too Ceiling heights to make the rooms appear bigger. What did you decider to do in the end? Can you share pics for me? I'd love to see how it came out. Thank you.
kudzu9
6 years agoEK-
I know you are looking for an answer from a specific person, but it would help everyone else reading this thread if you proofread before posting so we could understand what your situation is...
bardzil
Original Author6 years agoE K, after extensive deliberation, we have decided to keep standard height interior doors throughout (6'8"). We are going with higher windows and sliding French doors in rooms with higher ceilings. I ended up deciding that the 6'8" interior doors looked fine and that windows can be set higher than the doors (I looked at lots of pictures and actual houses). I actually drew several walls to scale with the 6'8" doors and higher windows to ensure I would like that look. I decided the 7' doors were an unnecessary expenses and wouldn't look that much different from 6'8" doors. I think the higher windows will bring in more light and help the ceilings to look taller.
There is one bedroom where I have one 8' wall that slopes up to 9' and I will have windows on both these walls - that was my trickiest problem. In that room, I've decided to have 6'8" window height on the 8' wall and 7'8" window height on the 9' wall with 6'8" windows.
Its not built yet but I hope it looks ok.
Below is a house that helped me think through my decision. It has higher windows than doors. In addition, in one room the windows on two walls are set at different heights. I think it looks ok and I think the sloped ceiling in my room will make the varying window heights look even more intentional.
[https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-farmhouse-farmhouse-family-room-san-francisco-phvw-vp~2207590[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-farmhouse-farmhouse-family-room-san-francisco-phvw-vp~2207590)
I do think you can do 7' doors with 8' ceilings (or 9' doors with 10' ceilings). In fact, I will be doing 8' sliding doors and windows set at 8' in our master bedroom that has 9' ceilings. This room will also have 6'8" interior doors. I can post pictures but it won't be built for several months.
Qin
5 years agoWe having the exact same problem right now. We will have a new added family with 9 ceiling. We decided to set 7’ as the top of the doors and windows through the house and I started to worry the top is too close to the 8’ ceiling.
I know that 6’10” is standard size for most brand but 7’ isn’t. So maybe we will have 6’10” through the whole house.
Sondra Peters
2 years agoMy house was built in the 70's, we have 8ft ceilings and I do want 7' foot doors, my son is 7ft and granted he does not live with me, I like to accommodate him. And thanks Bartel doors for the pics, you made it easier for me !
Dana
2 years ago@bardzil I have had similar experiences like you here on Houzz. The ”pros” can be brutal. I hope your reno was a pleasant experience. We started our full reno Feb 8th. We’re on the water and we will pay much less then what a tear down would cost. i found your post because I am thinking of 7’ doors with 8’ ceilings.
katie watson
last yearI just purchased a 1971 mobile home that has extremely tall interior doors. I swear they're over 7'. I have maybe 2 inches from molding to ceiling. I absolutely hate it. I see this was asked quite some time ago. I'm really Interested to see if you went through with it. If you did I would love to see pictures so that maybe I could possibly learn to love mine 🤣
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