A colour chip in a catalogue and a door leaf in a finished hallway rarely look the same. Before a batch of Santerson Decorative Interior Doors goes into production, a physical finish sample is the cheapest checkpoint in the whole procurement cycle: it is small, it is quick to ｒｅｐｌａｃｅ, and it exposes mismatched veneer, wrong sheen and awkward edge details while they are still a note on a drawing rather than a snag list on site.

Santerson Decorative Interior Doors sit in the Interior Doors collection and are made to measure, with material, finish and layout selected for each project. Because the finish is specified rather than fixed, the sample is where that specification is settled. The steps below are written for builders, interior designers and project buyers who order doors as part of a wider fit-out and need a review process that holds up when several door lines, joinery runs and wall panels are being approved in the same week.

Why decorative doors need a sample, not just a schedule note

A plain painted door can be called out from a standard colour reference. A decorative door is usually doing two jobs at once — carrying a surface, such as wood veneer or a textured finish, and lining up with the panelling, wardrobes and cabinetry around it. That is why the same supplier offers related lines such as Santerson Wood Veneer Hinged Doors, Wood Veneer Folding Doors and Wooden Sliding Doors: the operating style changes, and the finish has to hold across all of them.

When a door is paired with wall panelling, the sample also has to match the adjacent surface, not only the door itself. Santerson's Paneling Systems include Wood Veneer Panels, and the Integrated Door & Paneling line exists for exactly this situation, where the door and the wall around it are treated as one surface. Approving these two finishes separately, from two different sample rounds, is one of the most common ways a clean wall becomes a visible seam.

What to request before you review anything

Ask for the sample set as a package, and put the request in writing against the drawing set you are working from. At minimum, ask for:

• A finish sample in the door construction you have specified, at a size large enough to read grain and sheen at arm's length — a postage stamp tells you almost nothing.
• The edge and frame treatment shown on the same sample, so you can see how the finish wraps the stiles, rails and any reveal.
• Ironing or joint direction, and the sequence the panels will be assembled in, so grain run matches across a pair of doors or a door beside a wardrobe.
• The hardware you intend to use, or at least the cut-out and fixing detail, so handle, hinge and closener choices are being judged against the correct face.
• A matching sample of the wall panel, architrave or architrave-free reveal that the door will sit inside.
• The written confirmation of the dimensions and specifications you approved with the project quotation, with the sample signed and dated against it.

Because these doors are made to measure, a sample that does not record which drawing revision and which opening size it relates to is hard to defend later. Number the sample, photograph the signed label, and file both with the door schedule.

How to judge the sample on site

Take the sample to the space, or to a mock-up that uses the same lighting and the same wall finish. Under warehouse or office lighting you will approve the wrong door. Then check the following, in this order:

1. Colour and grain at the real viewing distance. Stand back at the distance a person will actually pass the door. Veneer figure reads differently at 1 m than at 3 m, and a strong figure that looks rich in a showroom can look busy in a corridor of repeating doors.
2. Sheen and reflection. Check the sample at three angles against the adjacent surface — the wardrobe front, the panelling, the paint. A matte lacquer panel beside a slightly glossy door leaf will read as a mismatch even when the colour matches perfectly.
3. Grain run and matching across multiple leaves. If a room has a pair of doors, or doors and tall cabinets in one run, ask to see two samples laid side by side and confirm whether grain is book-matched, sequence-matched or independent.
4. Edges, reveals and shadow gaps. Look at how the finish is returned onto the edge, how the frame meets the leaf, and how deep the reveal is against the wall finish. This is where concealed and flush details either disappear or advertise themselves.
5. Hardware interaction. Confirm that the handle, hinges and any closener sit correctly on the approved face and do not break a pattern or interrupt a groove.

Record the outcome as a decision, not an impression. "Approved against sample, joint direction sequence-matched, no change" is usable; "looks good" is not. If you are rejecting the sample, say which of the five items above failed, so the supplier can correct the right variable instead of re-submitting a new colour.

Common mismatches the sample round should catch

In practice, most door finish rejections come back to four things. First, veneer tone drift between the door leaf and the joinery next to it, where two batches were approved in different light. Second, sheen mismatch between a painted surface and a decorative one, which shows up the moment raking sunlight crosses the wall. Third, grain direction, where the design intent was a continuous run and the delivered leaves were cut independently. Fourth, the edge detail, where the finish return was never specified and the sample reveals an unexpected line.

For flush and concealed details, the same logic applies with higher stakes. Santerson's Decorative Concealed Doors and Flush Interior Doors are intended to read as part of the wall, so the sample has to be judged against the wall finish, with the architrave treatment and the reveal drawn and confirmed at the same time. A sample reviewed in isolation will not tell you whether the concealed detail works.

Fitting the sample round into the procurement timeline

For a project ordering doors as part of a wider package, the sample review belongs after the door schedule is fixed and before the order is released. That keeps the sample tied to one revision of the schedule and avoids approving a finish against a drawing that has already moved. The practical sequence is:

• Issue the door schedule — openings, sizes, operating style, ironing and grain notes, and any fire or acoustic rating the specification calls for.
• Request the sample package against that schedule, including the adjacent panel or architrave sample.
• Review on site, record decisions, and re-submit only the items that failed.
• Release production against the signed sample, and photograph the signed label for the project file.
• Inspect the first door off the line against the same signed sample on delivery, before the batch is installed.

Santerson works on made-to-measure doors and built-in furniture for residential and project work, and the same review discipline applies across the Interior Doors collection, including Standard Interior Hinged Doors on the utilitarian side of a job and decorative doors where the finish is part of the design. Santerson specifies these doors to the dimensions and finish selections recorded in the project documentation, so the signed sample is the document that makes those specifications measurable at handover. Where doors are ordered alongside joinery, panelling and other finishes on the same job, a single one-stop project furnishing supplier keeps veneer tone, sheen and ironing under one sample register instead of three, which is where most of the mismatches described above are avoided before they reach site.

A short approval checklist

• Sample size large enough to judge colour, grain and sheen.
• Edge, frame and reveal treatment shown on the sample.
• Grain run and ironing confirmed for the quantity ordered.
• Adjacent panel or architrave sample approved together with the door.
• Sheen compared against the neighbouring surfaces in site lighting.
• Hardware checked against the approved face.
• Sample signed, dated, numbered, and filed with the door schedule and quotation.
• First production door inspected against the same signed sample before installation.

Confirm dimensions, materials and finish selections for your specific project before releasing the order, since every opening in a made-to-measure schedule is different. A disciplined sample round costs a few days and one courier charge; the same mismatch found after installation costs door removal, re-makes and a programme slip. Review the sample where the doors will live, decide against a written schedule, and sign what you have actually seen.