The messy kids room doors are closed along with the home office, everything else is open.

All doors are open when I entertain. If I don't want someone in an area I do close the door, but it's rare (ie we have a large house and on occasion if we have a huge party I lock the cat in the bedroom so he feels safe but I have the luxury of door locks that most don't have (the house used to be a bed and breakfast). But otherwise I actually open doors I normally have closed (like guest rooms which we clean and then close so they stay clean normally).

I've always closed the bedroom doors. Never occurred to me to keep them open!

If I have guests staying over, I close the guest bedroom door, otherwise that is open as there is a bathroom there to be used if the powder room is busy. I usually keep my bedroom door closed which is at the opposite end of the house. If I am doing a hostess party, all my doors are open, including the laundry, so people can tour as needed.

I wouldn't think of going in a person's bedroom if I was there at a party, unless I asked to use the bathroom and was directed there...just the way I was brought up. :-)

Great question!!!

I always keep the doors open, I want them to see inside. Unless I have a criminal in the house, which I don't think I have ever, but you never know. (lol)

I'm with Vampire, I would never go into someone's bedroom without asking. Probably most people wouldn't!

....Jane

My bedroom is on the first floor, right near the front door. For a big family party over the winter, I thought we'd throw all the coats on the bed to make things easy. When it was time for everyone to go, there was a crowd in my bedroom and it kind of freaked me out on an energetic level. The image of six or seven people in my bedroom, including my husband's ex-wife (who remains a friend of ours), was more than I could bear. From now on, all the coats go to the guest room upstairs and the door to our bedroom will stay closed. Just as I would never eat or watch TV in my bedroom, I can't have it be a "gathering space" for people for any reason!

We close my son's bedroom door and the guest room door if someone's staying in there. Otherwise, the house is wide open.

I would have never thought to close doors when entertaining. Not saying there is anything wrong with that, I wouldn't worry about rules but do what is comfortable for you.

tina

Gee, I didn't make the beds with all those pillows for nothing!
When I see a closed door, I become quite curious.
Open, always.

I'm with bumblebeez. The main reason I am sprucing up my bedrooms is because my friends always want to see the entire house!

I close the door to the guest room -- only when we have company staying overnight.

Otherwise -- doors are open! Makes the house appear a tad bit larger ...

Jan at Rosemary Cottage

Ours is a one-story home and when it was being designed, I asked that the main hallway bend at an angle so that the bedroom doors weren't visible from the main part of the house. But, I do keep their doors open when we entertain . . . if DD's room is straightened up enough, that is! I'd never walk into anyone's bedroom if I was a guest, and I've never had anyone walk into one of mine unasked. I do usually designate one bedroom for everyone to leave their coats in, but it's most often the guest room.

Mostly open. Mi casa es su casa.

Not that my guests would just be wandering around to snoop, but sometimes there is a legitimate need for a quiet room to make a phone call, reprimand a child, or change a diaper. Need an aspirin? Just open a bathroom drawer or cabinet and start hunting. I guess I'm boring, but I really don't have many secrets :)

Laundry room, office?? CLOSED. Same goes for the garage if it is cluttered, LOL!

Interesting. I always close the doors to bedrooms except the one where the coats are.

Our house is pretty small and I find it kind of odd when people ask for a tour or "to see the rest of the house".

I have no problem with them seeing any of the rooms, but if you're in my living room, pretty much the only room you haven't already seen is the bedrooms--three of which belong to kids. Unless people have a burning interest in Justin Bieber posters, Hot Wheels cars or flip-flop collections, there's really nothing to see.

Since we have elem school aged kids, when we entertain, there are almost always several other kids here. I keep our bedroom and the guest room doors closed, b/c I have found one too many kids in my room...jumping on our bed no less or just wandering around looking at our things. I don't need someone child opening my underwear drawer!! LOL

We have a "no upstairs" rule sometimes, depending upon our guests as well. Sometimes our kids rooms have gotten trashed, so depending upon who our guests are, we set a kids play in the playroom or outside rule.

I close the doors if it is just a few people. When we have a lot of people over I lock them. Not because of theft, but because I am trying to deter "tours". Doesn't always work. I was in the middle of a party once and learned a close relative (not DH) was giving tours. He actually reached over the door trim to get the key (doesn't everyone keep it there?) and he let himself and the other guests in. They then proceeded to tell everyone what a disaster my (locked) master bedroom was (it was a disaster because DH is a pack rat and I dumped all the stuff that accumulates on any flat surface he passes into that room) and that the bathroom needed to be cleaned. Argh.

Guess that depends on who I'm entertaining and how! That's normally what a closed bedroom door means in our house... ;-) wink

When I've got a houseful of guests, the clean bedrooms are normally left open so guests can wander. We've done so much renovation there's usually someone who wants to see something...

I close all the bedrooms except my own (master) br. Two of them are my kids' which are generally messy and no one really needs to be in them. The other two are a junk room and the computer room - again, no reason for anyone to go in them.

The master BR is always open because its bathroom serves as the back up for the one in the hallway, and I used my bed as a place for people to put purses & coats if necessary.

It's really not that I'm worried about snooping or privacy, it's more that those rooms are not set up to receive guests so it's better if they just remain closed.

Very interesting thread. The only doors on our main level are to the half bath, the pantry and the basement stairs. Well and the one that leads to the garage. The kitchen is in the center of the home surrounded by all other rooms which open to each other with wide doorways. All doors but the half bath are closed. If the half bath door (pocket door) is closed you know it's in use.
The bedrooms, laundry room and home gym are all upstairs. I keep all but the gym and hall bathroom, which belongs to one of the bedrooms, closed because of the cats. We have four. It has nothing to do with guests.

I am now clocking in at 6 solid weeks of house guests (I just said goodbye to a the second family of 4 that we have had in 2 weeks; tomorrow a friend visiting from Switzerland is moving back in here) and going strong, with the final wave of guests expected in June.

What I have noticed, with interest, is how our friends from Europe and India shut the bathroom/powder room doors--latched tight--after exiting. It makes for some confusion because we (Americans) all then assume the bathroom is occupied.

One guest latched the basement door tightly every time he walked past it (it's a lovely room with a recessed door access that opens outward, so no one is in danger of tumbling down); we usually leave it slightly ajar.

I only close the laundry room door, none of the bedrooms or guest rooms.

we have a door at the top of the stairs, and always keep it closed, but that's so the cats don't go up....but we don't bother shutting other doors...

Open except for the laundry room.

I always open the doors and turn on a lamp in all the rooms except the laundry. I like to look at peoples homes( when invited) and I want everyone to feel free to tour mine. Most of my close friends and I always tour, to share what's new, we all have a common interest in decorating. Even when we have large parties(50-60) everything is open. We are pretty trusting I guess.
Frou

Entertaining In the bedroom, door closed. Otherwise open.

ha ha pal!

We keep the bedroom doors open but they're all on the 2nd floor so no one really needs to go up there.

We keep the door to the basement closed because that's usually where the kids are hanging out playing Wii or watching movies during an adult party.

kkay interesting note about Europeans closing the bathroom doors. We used to keep our 1st floor powder room door open (unless occupied of course) until our puppy discovered how fun it is to grab the end of the TP and run. Now we keep it closed or almost closed, which leads to some confusion if someone thinks it's occupied.

For about 6 months, I had various paint swatches all over the bedroom walls, pictures leaning waiting to be hung, etc. I finally got around to finishing the room and we had people over. I was finally able to stop cringing when our guests went to use the upstairs loo and was happy to have them view our "new" master bedrm. After the guests left, I went upstairs to find the kids had closed all the bedroom doors while playing a game. Never once had they closed them when the room was a decorating disaster. Oh well.

It may be a cultural thing (UK born but lived here for 25+ years) but closed. I'm not nuts about house tours either unless it is family or very close friends. To me bedrooms are private space, however nicely decorated. :-) Sue36, I'd have been livid in your place and that relative would never have been invited back!

I do leave the guest room and the upstairs bathroom door open if we are having enough guests to need the coat space and upstairs bathroom. That is to make them easy to find and to discourage people from barging into the other bedrooms and linen closet.

For smaller numbers, people use the powder room (door always kept closed*) and coat closet downstairs.

* FYI, most Europeans have locks on bathroom doors, use them, and prefer to keep them closed. I'm not sure whether this is a germ control or a privacy thing. I still find it disconcerting if I'm not to be able to lock myself in the loo during those private moments, and to rely solely on the US closed door convention, LOL.

We always put the coats on our bed...so the master bedroom is open. The college kids' rooms and the bedroom I use as my studio are kept closed...because they aren't presentable.

If someone pops by unexpectedly, I close most bedroom doors. If I have a group meeting on Saturday morning, (they are only there half an hour) I usually close doors because I don't have time to neaten more than just the hall bath and the LR, kitchen, that early.
But if I have people invited for dinner, or a small party, the whole house is wide open and welcoming. My kids sometimes pull friends into a bedroom to talk, friend's little kids are allowed to play in our bedroom/office room, and it's there that I pull out boxes of legos or reserved toys so the little ones can have a space. I think people feel more at home when the house is open. And I have never had a gathering where I didn't clean my whole house or have my kids clean their rooms before guests arrived.

Red

Redbazel---guess we just have different attitudes. My rule about bedrooms is that they are the domain of their inhabitants...and as long as they aren't a health hazard, and there are clear paths of egress in case of fire...well doors are there for a reason.

"Sue36, I'd have been livid in your place and that relative would never have been invited back!"

I was livid, but I might as well fess up that the relative was my father. Sigh. I was very embarrassed. The toilet seat was even up in the master bathroom...we have bad water and the toilets turn orange instantly, so it looked like I hadn't cleaned in weeks (it had probably been a few days). Box of tampons on the counter, etc. Who knows what other embarrassing things were in plain sight. I wasn't expecting anyone to go in there! It was LOCKED.

Sue36, that was exactly what my own late father would have done. Too funny!

I do so feel your pain. Next time find a better place (which Dad will never find in a million years) to hide the keys!

Mjsee, I totally agree with you. I guess it has to do with having survived kids during the teen years. Doors are there for a reason. :-)

Since some of you have mentioned "locking" bedroom doors, can someone give me their idea on whether to put locks on all the bedroom doors or maybe just the Master Bedroom? We are in the process of building a house and getting ready to put the hardware on the doors. I know this will be something to think about. Thanks.