People usually arrive having already decided, and then change their minds when they see the two in the same hallway. It is worth understanding what each finish is actually doing before you order five of them.
Paint is a surface. Veneer is a material
A painted door presents one flat plane, so everything you see is shape: the panel lines, the shadow under the moulding, the gap around the leaf. It disappears into a wall painted the same colour, which is often exactly what you want in a narrow hall.
Veneer does the opposite. It brings grain, depth and a colour that shifts through the day. It draws the eye, and in a corridor with five doors in it, five pieces of oak all drawing the eye at once can feel busy.
What the room tells you
North facing rooms flatten timber. Oak that looked warm in the sample photograph goes grey and slightly disappointing under north light, and walnut can go almost black. If the room only gets indirect light, paint will hold its colour better.
South and west facing rooms do the reverse. They make paint look chalky by four in the afternoon and make veneer look like the reason you spent the money.
The practical differences
Neither is more durable in any way you would notice in a house. The real differences are about repair and change.
- Paint can be touched in with a brush. A scratch through veneer needs a professional or it stays there.
- Paint can be changed in six years when you repaint the hall. Veneer cannot.
- Veneer costs between £120 and £185 more per leaf, and that gap does not narrow at larger sizes.
Order the samples
We send five, free, and they are cut from the same batches we are making with rather than a colour card. Prop them against the wall in the actual room, look at them in the morning and again after dark with the lights on, and the decision usually makes itself within a day.
Still unsure? Send a photograph of the opening with your question.
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