The Interior Design Move That Adds Major Mystery To A Home
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The Interior Design Move That Adds Major Mystery To A Home

Doors that blend with the wall around them, what design pros call jib doors, offer aesthetic, practical and straight-out-of-Nancy-Drew benefits.

By ALICE WELSH DOYLE
Mon, May 16, 2022 10:57amGrey Clock 3 min

A JIB DOOR, that is, one sans visible jambs and camouflaged with the same decoration that surrounds it, disappears into the wall. Cue the pivoting shelves that open at the sound of a pattern of notes on Bruce Wayne’s piano in “Batman Begins” or Harry Potter’s sad closet-room concealed behind panelling under the dreadful Dursley’s stairs, virtually unnoticeable but for the slide-bolt latch.

Beyond their inherent mystery, however, jib doors appeal to interior designers for various reasons. “Secret doors are super chic and surprising but also practical,” said Charlotte Barnes, a Greenwich, Conn., pro who simplified the architecture of a family room by continuing the paisley-patterned wallcovering across two flush doors. These nearly invisible doors are ideal for establishing symmetry, for example, in an oddly apertured room, she said, “or to play down a hallway full of closets, so your eye flows along without interruption.” Jib doors have other advantages but also some challenges. Here, a guide.

The Appeal

“I love the history, novelty and secrecy of jib doors and the way they trick the eye,’’ said Mallory Mathison, an interior designer in Atlanta. Perhaps the most famous examples stateside are found in the White House Oval Office, where damask wallpaper (this administration’s choice) and panelled wainscoting continue nearly seamlessly across two doors that frame a fireplace. In grand 18th- and 19th-century estates, jib doors let servants enter and leave public rooms without, heaven forbid, the risk of sharing a doorway or stairwell with superiors. Far more dramatic: On the night that rioters stormed Versailles, in 1789, Marie Antoinette fled to a secret stairway to the King’s chambers via the jib door in her bedroom suite.

Their trompe l’oeil character means a functional door can exist without visually interrupting an expanse, noted Jacksonville, Fla., designer Andrew Howard, who hid a powder-room door among white stile-and-rail panels (shown at right) for a home in Ponte Vedra, Fla. When the door is open, a view of blue-and-white lattice wallpaper and azure wainscoting provides a vibrant contrast—an “aha” moment. Bonus: Any room that’s not chopped up by multiple doorways will seem larger.

The Tips

Grubby hands can easily stain a touch-latch door, warns Ms. Mathison. If the surface is glossy and easy to clean, no problem, but if wallpaper covers the surface at “push” level, she recommends adding an inconspicuous recessed ring pull. That said, she’d reserve jib doors for little-used portals. In an Atlanta home, she installed one as a discreet passage from a butler’s pantry to a formal dining room that sees little wear and tear, concealing the door’s existence by extending hand-painted Gracie wallpaper and panelling across it. On the pantry side, the designer hung a painting to further pass the door off as a wall. If you’re not sure you’d want to constantly give guests directions to a concealed powder room, Mr. Howard—who’s seen library bookcase walls that conceal safes and gun closets—counters, “When clients are entertaining a crowd, [they] simply leave the door ajar.”

The Caveats

Find a carpenter with experience installing these odd elements. “A jib door takes expert skills because of the way the soss or other specialized hinges are installed to make them invisible,” said Mr. Howard. Another of his cautions: When hardware is embedded in the door and humidity causes woodwork to contract and expand, the door might stick or bulge out slightly. And installation isn’t cheap. Budget at least $2,000, he says, to retrofit an existing door and more for the hinges and latch hardware. While your concealing elements—wainscoting, baseboard moulding, wallpaper—can also add to the expense, don’t discount the romance factor. “I do think a jib door conjures images of speakeasies and private gossip spaces—a sense of mystery and discovery outside of the everyday,” said Ms. Mathison.



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11 ACRES ROAD, KELLYVILLE, NSW

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London’s Luxury Property Market Turns a Corner

After more than a year, prices have finally levelled out in prime central London, while outer London saw a small uptick in high-end prices from the previous quarter

By CASEY FARMER
Fri, Mar 29, 2024 2 min

The first quarter of the year brought some long-awaited signs of recovery in London’s luxury housing market, offering the first positive quarterly price growth since September 2022, according to a report from Savills on Wednesday.

After six consecutive quarterly price falls, luxury home prices in central London levelled out in the first three months of the year, with a 0.1% quarterly uptick in prices. The £3 million to £5 million (US$3.79 million to US$6.32 million) market saw a slightly larger increase of 0.3%.

Outer London’s luxury market saw greater quarterly price growth, with home prices up 0.8%, as some stability returned to mortgage costs and lured more buyers back to the market, according to the report.

All of this is evidence that the market is “in early stages of recovery,” according to Lucian Cook, head of residential research at Savills.

“The outlook for the housing market has certainly improved, partly because the mortgage market has recovered more quickly than expected,” Cook said in the report. “With the first rate cut rapidly coming into view and recessionary risks easing, greater stability has returned to the cost of mortgage debt, which has positively impacted domestic prime markets, where many buyers rely on borrowing, most notably in leafy outer prime South and West London, as well as the commuter belt.”

Outside of London, prices across the U.K. saw no quarterly growth heading into the beginning of the spring market, which is expected to bring higher levels of buyer activity in many regions.

Suburban regions saw prices dip just 0.1%, while urban areas—like Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland, and Bath and Oxford in England—saw prices increase by 0.6%.

Cook said regional buyers are more likely to be concerned about market uncertainty than London buyers in the lead up to the general election.

“As a result, buyers are still expected to be less committed until the dust has settled,” he said.

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35 North Street Windsor

Just 55 minutes from Sydney, make this your creative getaway located in the majestic Hawkesbury region.

11 ACRES ROAD, KELLYVILLE, NSW

This stylish family home combines a classic palette and finishes with a flexible floorplan

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