An arched pair of glazed doors changes how a room reads before you have furnished a metre of it, which is why the brief usually reaches us as a photograph rather than a drawing. Our Santerson Arched French Doors sit in the French Doors collection and are made for residential door projects: sizing is made to measure, and material, finish and layout are specified per project. The options below are the ones worth settling early, because each one decides something that is costly to change once production has started.
Begin with the opening, not the arch
Start with the structural opening: clear width, clear height to the head, the depth of the wall build-up, and the finished floor level on both sides. Arched heads are rarely symmetrical on site, particularly where a square opening is being raised, so we ask for the opening measured at several points and for the springing line, the height at which the curve begins to rise. That single dimension sets the proportion of the whole door, and it is the one a site team is most likely to revise after the drawing has been signed.
Tell us whether the arch is being created or worked around. Cutting a new arched head is a structural question for your engineer and changes the frame we design. An arched surround built over an existing square opening is a joinery question and far simpler. We need to know which of the two you have before the frame is drawn, along with what sits above the head and whether any services run through it.
Size and proportion: what made-to-measure covers
Because the doors are made to measure, leaf width and overall height follow your opening rather than a catalogue module. Leaf width matters more than most buyers expect. Wider leaves need heavier ironmongery and hold a large glazed area flatter; narrower leaves read lighter and suit a tall, slim arch. The balance we work through with you is the ratio of glass to frame in each leaf, and where the transom falls in relation to the eye line of someone standing in the room.
If the scheme wants a lighter, straighter edge rather than a classical curve, the Santerson Modern Slim Frame French Doors in the same collection give a narrow sightline, and the Classic French Double Doors cover a paneled, traditional head. Putting all three on the same elevation is the quickest way to settle the entrance front.
Material and finish: the decision under the colour
The product page keeps material and finish open on purpose, and both are confirmed for each order. What you are really choosing is how the frame carries the curve. A painted front gives a soft, continuous arris at the arch and is the usual choice for period and classical villa work. A wood or veneer front reads warmer and shows grain running through the curve, so the direction of that grain has to be specified before the moulding is made. A darker stained or lacquered frame suits properties where the joinery throughout is dark, and we match it against your dark tone veneer cabinetry or wall panelling so the doors do not read as a separate brown.
Say which face of the pair carries which finish. A door between two rooms can take two colours, and where the doors face a terrace, pool or garden, tell us, because the exposure changes what we recommend for the coating. Approve a sprayed sample board rather than a file on a screen: curved moulding behaves differently under a sprayed finish than a flat panel does.
Glass, glazing bars and what the door is for
Glazing is the second half of the design and is left too late on most projects. Settle whether the glass is clear or textured, single or double glazed for sound and heat, and whether the arch head is one shaped piece or divided by bars. Bars across a curved head have to be laid out from the drawing, and the number of divisions decides the shadow the door throws across the floor through the day. Where privacy matters on the far side, a reeded or fluted texture keeps the light and screens the room. Where the view is the point, keep the glass clear and let the arch do the work.
Glazing also drives leaf weight, and leaf weight drives the hinges and the cost. Bring the glazing decision into the ironmongery conversation before the frame is cut, not after.
Operation and ironmongery
Decide which leaf is the active one, whether the pair opens onto a route people use daily, and whether you want the doors held back when open. Then the ironmongery: handle height and backplate, latch and keep, and whether a flush bolt at the meeting stile suits you or you want a full-length rod. A curved head already draws the eye upward, so a heavy traditional rose can compete with the arch while a slim plate keeps the line clean. Send photographs of the hardware already used in the property and we will work to that detail.
Send the whole door schedule rather than a single opening. We routinely specify an arched pair to a reception with classic panel hinged doors to bedrooms and pocket doors to bathrooms and pantries. Matching style, veneer and ironmongery across all of them on one order is far easier than matching three orders placed months apart.
Carrying the arch through the rest of the project
An arched opening rarely stands alone. If arches appear elsewhere in the scheme, tell us now, because the same profile shows up in the joinery: our arched paneled wardrobes and the arched niche and full-house custom wall cabinet project both show how a curve is carried through fitted furniture, and custom niche paneling covers the wall returns that frame the doors themselves.
As a one-stop furniture and building materials supplier, we put the doors, the matching joinery and the wall finishes on one order, coordinated from a single drawing set. That matters on villa and hospitality work, where one supplier holding the arch profile across timber, panelling and built-in units keeps three different curves from arriving on site. Where a designer's elevation calls for a profile outside the standard range, our custom furniture manufacturer service covers bespoke mouldings, materials and finishes, with a prototype made for approval before the full run.
What comes back to you before production
Once the opening, material, glazing and hardware are settled, you receive drawings with the frame plan, the elevation of each leaf, the arch profile with its radius and springing height, the glazing layout and an ironmongery schedule. Read the elevation, not just the plan: that is where you check the arch against the photograph of the room and the transom against the doorway. We then confirm the dimensions and the selected specifications for that project. Anything changed after sign-off is a variation, so this is the moment to be difficult about detail.
Options checklist for your enquiry
- Structural opening: width, heights at several points, springing-line height, reveal depth and finished floor levels on both sides.
- Whether the arched head is structural or decorative, and what sits above it.
- Leaf count, active leaf, opening direction, and how often the doors will be used.
- Frame material and finish, grain direction at the curve, and the finish on each face of the pair.
- Glazing: clear or textured, single or double, and the bar layout across the arch head.
- Ironmongery: handles, backplates, hinges, flush or rod bolts, and any hardware to match.
- The full door schedule for the property, plus matching joinery or panelling on the same order.
- Site address, access route for the longest leaf, and the installation window for the joinery trade.
Wrapping it up
Arched French doors reward a detailed brief. Settle the opening and springing line, the finish at the curve, the glazing and the ironmongery, and the pair arrives as a resolved detail rather than something your site team improvises around. If you want the arch profile worked through against the rest of a villa or hospitality fit-out, our turnkey solutions cover design and specification, production, door-to-door delivery and installation support.
Dimensions, frame material, glazing and finish selections are confirmed for each project before production. Details shown in drawings and product pages are project-specific and may be updated without notice.