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They are neither new and nor are they contemporary, but they still look voguish, stylish and great.

They have actually been used in buildings for close to 4,000 years, notably by the early Romans, so they can’t be referred to as ‘new’.

Archways are important elements of the structure of a building which give support to the structure and also cover gaps.

Image-1-12 Arched Interior Doorway Design and Decoration
Image source: Leslie Hayes Interiors

Archways are really great and they serve two purposes; they beautify the building and also serve structural functions.

Usually, the pressure of the load on top of the archway is shifted to both sides of the opening, and it is pushed downward afterwards.

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Image source: Dennison and Dampier Interior Design

Arched Interior Doors

Sometimes, the woodwork in some dated homes can look really astonishing, which makes it possible and plausible to add arched interior doors to older homes without needing to demolish the basic characters that enticed the homeowner to buy the house in the first place, while also protecting the architectural brilliance of the home in the process.

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Image source: Plan Architecture llc

Privacy can be improved in your home with the addition of arched interior doors which would give members of your family the feeling of privacy and that much needed personal space.

Sometimes your children might be watching television while you want to work on the computer placed in the opposite room, and you would need some peace and quiet to do that.

Image-4-13 Arched Interior Doorway Design and Decoration
Image source: Plan Architecture llc

If you require placing a phone call or going online, you can just shut the arched interior door so that you can have the time alone required for your conversation or work.

How to Create an Arched Doorway

Be it for the design of a new building or preparing a sketch for an architect, it wouldn’t be a bad idea at all to add one or two arched interior doorway to the design, even if you are looking for a modern overall appearance.

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Image source: LK Design

Also, to alter or change the usual door or normal doorway to an arched form is not difficult at all, which is good news to owners of modern homes whose homes have no sign of an archway at all. So, if you are making a consideration to incorporate arches into your home, try to be creative about the application so the result would be exceptional.

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Image source: Flooring America Ocoee

Determine the overall desired visual effect. To be consistent or for a more uniform pattern, you should convert all the doorways into arches if your home has more than one noticeable doorway.

The final effect wouldn’t be that great and you might not get the desired result if only one of many visible doorways is converted to arch.

Prepare the work area. To prevent dust coming from the construction of the arched doorways to cover them, you should remove things like furniture, wall décor, or rugs from the surroundings.

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Image source: Ence Homes

And fragments and paints could get to floor or nearby walls, so you should prevent this by laying plastic sheeting down. Any vents and furnishing should be well covered before the commencement of the work.

Organize the materials you’ll need. It is important to find out the right tools that are germane for the completion of the job.

A drill and reciprocal saw are essential. Everything should be assembled in a place so you wouldn’t waste time, energy and money by making unnecessary and avoidable trips to the home improvement store.

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Image source: Piperbear Designs

Create a list and compile all the items relevant to the job at hand, and also wouldn’t be bad to seek advice from interior design specialists at the home improvement store. They should be on hand to assist you with helpful information on how go about arching a doorway.

You can either decide to make an arch doorway from scratch, or install a pre-built arched doorway kit, of which the later could make the work easier but it is also more costly.

Most pre-built arched doorway kits are made of wood, or a wood composite material. You can use dry wall and framing lumber when you start from the beginning.

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Image source: Flooring America Ocoee

Determine the measurement of the entryway opening, and draw a line across the plywood that is long enough to go with this opening measurement.

Insert two small nails into the board, making it one at both ends of the line. Locate the midpoint of the line, and draw another line which is at right angles to the first line.

The second line will decide how deep the arch will be. A short upright line will create a shallow arch, while a longer line will turn the curve into a semicircle. Insert the third nail into the end point of this line.

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Image source: Aubrey Homes, Inc.

Install the blocks in the corners—one each on the side jambs and the others on the top jamb—with a drill and screws, and install the cross pieces. These pieces of blocking will be used for attaching drywall. When placing the archway without the new drywall, there would be openings in each corner.

Cut four pieces of drywall to the estimated size of the corners. Use screws to affix the panels of drywall to the corners and you can use a utility knife to score, unloosen and tidy the drywall to a suitable angle.

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Image source: Shapiro & Company Architects

Use a broad knife to spread joint multipart down the whole length of every joint, covering all the porous holes. The next action should be to press paper tape into the drenched joint compound and smooth the tape with the broad knife.

Apply a second layer of joint multipart above the tape and use the knife to smoothen it. Ensure you do this for Do this for each corners and leave to dry afterwards.

Use 1/4-inch thick drywall to cover up the arch itself. It is easy to bend, and the drywall can be pressed into place without fracturing it if the arch’s curve is shallow enough.

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Image source: Heritage Design Studio

Stand one column tightly in place and elevate the archway into place. Glide the second column under the arch and 3 above the sidewall jamb. Position each column in the centre under the arch and ensure you check for plumb.

Finishing the arch includes adding corner bead to strengthen the edges of the arch, then applying joint compound to smoothen the surfaces, and the most suitable type of bead to use is called flexible corner bead.

It is plastic made, and its flange is somehow looks like web which makes the bead to flex easily into almost any form or curve. Bend the bead around the arch and fasten the flanges to the drywall.

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Image source: Baker Design Group

Using Arched Interior Doors to Separate Rooms

Arched interior French doors are the most suitable way out in a situation where you want the rooms in your home to be separated without closing rooms off from each other.

The open layout of your home will be preserved with the aid of the glass panes. However, you can separate the rooms whenever you want by just closing the arched interior doors.

Arched interior doorway ideas

In a contemporary home interior, there is a long list of important elements of which door arches sit comfortably at the top. Arches are very important in a modern interior. This design is elegant and it is also a beautiful sight to behold.

You can select the arch design that will not only geographically fit into the picture of the area, but it will also be very crucial to it, and will practically draw attention to the area, no matter what the design or style of the home is.

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Image source: Meghan Blum Interiors

Internal arch is a fashionable and stylish answer to the interior of a contemporary home. It is just right for creating an open design. Arch divides the useful part of the home, but it does not give a sense of common space to go away from the premises.

There are some rooms that can dispense with internal doors and only gain from their absence in every apartment or house.

Combination of the kitchen and the dining room or living room and hallway for instance, some homes and arch doorways in useful space style are like a match made in heaven, they go beautifully well together. And the space can be enlarged and useful areas are increased by installing interior arches and getting rid of partitions.

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Image source: Adalay Interiors

French Doors with Arches

Archways can be useful to open plan in so many ways, but however, it can be desirable to have open access for some of the time at the same time retaining the ability to make two different spaces.

Maybe you have been thinking of a design where you want this kind of comfort, that would allow you to get the best of both worlds, and then you should consider going for an arched French door.

It is very suitable for this kind of living, and I’m sure you will be glad you made the decision if you eventually choose the arched French door.

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Image source: Frederick + Frederick Architects

Classical or Roman arch

Although the Romans borrowed a lot from Greek culture and designs, but this one was solely invented by them. A set with the correct radius and a semi-circular shape is the design arch that is germane to all of us when it comes to shape and design arch.

This design represents minimalism and succinctness of the exterior image and it includes no stuck out joints. It looks marvelous in lofty rooms, thus it is not recommended if you are looking to use this in an apartment with the normal ceiling height.

Exposed Brickwork

So it all comes down to individual choice in the end. While some people love the exposed brickwork, and would be willing to use it time and time again in their designs, some people simply don’t want anything to do with this look at all.

However, if there is one thing that majority of people agree upon, it is that brickwork looks marvelous in an archway. No one would argue with this fact.

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Image source: Cornerstone Architects

The way the bricks are dexterously set in a pleasing curve surely has a thing about it, maybe it is because the construction and the purposeful nature of the arch can be seen, and that helps a brickwork arch gain an aesthetic edge. If you have a desire for exposed bricks, use them in an arch.

French Doors

“French doors” is the universal term used to depict any type of two-panel door system where both doors are functional. The concept of using a door structure where the doors open in the center works right into the regular design of an archway.

The entrance of your home or any of your inner arched doorways can be set in equilibrium by lining up the centre of your French doors in the precise center of the archway.

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Image source: Julianne Stirling

Make Molding Masterworks

If you are planning to convert your entrance to archway, molding might be the best option for you. An expert craftsman will be able to make a molded arch without difficulty.

Apart from looking beautifully crafted, the arch offers no structural benefits whatsoever. Rather than only opting for a smooth curve, you can put some ornate designs out for your archway into consideration,

Pocket Doors

Sometimes, what could look easy in the eyes might actually be a daunting task. A practical example of this is installing doors to complement internal archways. It can be challenging. A pocket door is one of your options and it is installed on tracks inside the wall and is pulled into the archway opening to close it off.

A pocket door can extend from the floor to the top of the archway, which allows it to close off the entire doorway with one, regular door panel.

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Image source: Curate by Tara

Interior arched door with glass

Normally, when you hear arched interior doors, you think wood and right because majority of them are made from wood. They can have a firm and heavy look, but however, you can use glass if you are looking for a more stylish glass.

It sounds unbelievable, but glass arched interior doors actually exist, and these kind of doors usually have half off their whole parts made with glass.

You can choose whatever kind that you desire. This door can be best used in divided rooms with a corridor. It is usually used for library, study room, living room and dinning rooms.

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Image source: Parkinson Building Group

Gothic Doors

This particular arched decoration can be most suitable for larger homes, especially ones whose archway entrance is made of stone or brick. An entire gothic theme can be incorporated to the external decoration of your home by installing a large, thick wooden door just under your archway entrance. It can be the focus of a gothic castle-like theme.

Bathroom Arches

This kind of arch is not often adopted by many people, but there is no argument whatsoever about them looking marvelous. An arched bathroom will put give you the feeling of an Oriental bath house.

This archway creates a separate space for your bath and shower enclosure and isn’t that a great prospect? Perhaps you should consider this arch that will form two small rooms in your bathroom.

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Image source: John Lum Architecture, Inc. AIA

Conclusion

Contemporary interiors look great with gorgeous arches. They add fashionable and stylish look to modern interior design and make decorating feel elegant, sweet and lovely.

There are numerous kinds of archways in structural design, including gothic arches, foil arches, semi-circular arch and geometrical arches. Arches create a larger internal or external entrance for your home, and also lend themselves to a variety of door ideas.

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