The opening direction of doors

Every internal door opens in a specific direction. To the left or right, inwards or outwards from the room. This direction, chosen at construction, is rarely questioned. Yet changing the opening direction of a door can free one to two square metres of usable space.

A standard door is 80 to 90 cm wide. When it opens, it sweeps a quarter circle, that is approximately 1 square metre of floor space. If that quarter circle falls on a circulation zone or against a piece of furniture, it is wasted space.

The professional rule, a door must open towards the nearest free wall, never towards the centre of the room or towards a piece of furniture.

This rule takes on its full importance in a small interior. In a studio or one-bedroom flat, a square metre recovered is a square metre that truly changes your daily life.

Spot the wrong opening directions.

Door opening onto a piece of furniture. If opening your bedroom door forces you to push against the corner of the bed, that is the wrong direction.

Door opening into the middle of the room. If entering brings you face to face with the centre of the room, and the door masks a functional wall (cupboards, mirror, console), that is the wrong direction.

Door that hits another object. Often against a chest of drawers in the bedroom, or a radiator in the kitchen.

The solutions.

Reverse the opening direction. Cost, £100 to £250 with a joiner. The door is removed, the hinge is moved to the other side of the frame, and the door is rehung. It is quick (1 to 2 hours), reversible, and the most profitable investment in all of interior design when it is needed.

Replace with a sliding door. Higher cost (£300-800 depending on the system), but it removes the door sweep entirely. Ideal for small rooms or partitions you want to open completely.

Replace with a pocket door. The door slides inside the wall. High cost (£1,000-2,500), but the most elegant effect, the door disappears completely.

Remove the door. In certain cases (open kitchen, dressing room within a bedroom), the door is not necessary. Removing it fully frees the space and improves circulation.

Tenant case. If you are renting, reversing the opening direction requires the landlord's agreement, but is generally considered an improvement and accepted. The sliding door, by contrast, is often refused (works too significant). To be raised in initial discussions.

Interior designers systematically review opening directions during a renovation. It is one of the first actions, low cost and high impact.

Pierre Yovanovitch often works with pocket doors in his premium projects, removing the visual presence of doors entirely. The room appears larger, more architectural.

In bedrooms, the implicit professional rule, the door opens on the side of the wall without the bed. This avoids knocks and preserves the sleeping zone from any visual intrusion.