Multigenerational Living Ideas Start With Interior Doors: Why Solid Core Changed Everything

Why We Work With Horner Millwork for Interior Doors

Horner Millwork has been our go-to supplier for home building materials for years—and for good reason.

As one of the leading millwork companies in New England and part of North Atlantic Corp, they’re both a distributor and a custom manufacturer specializing in windows, doors, and millwork for residential and commercial projects.

What makes working with Horner efficient?

They custom-make and prepare all the prehung door components right at their facility, which means every door arrives perfectly hung in its frame with hinges attached, pre-drilled for hardware, and ready to install.

The delivery process is seamless, and their inventory is massive—which matters when you’re outfitting an entire multigenerational home with dozens of doors.

And when you need custom work—like panel doors (instead of bifolds) for custom sized closets, Horner excels at creating exactly what your project needs.

The Multigenerational Home Jim Is Building: Two Families, One Shared Space

This isn’t your typical multigenerational setup. Jim is building a home for twin brothers and their wives who wanted to live close but maintain their independence.

The design?

Two separate houses connected by a shared kitchen and great room that the families affectionately call “the holiday room.”

Each family gets their own private wing with bedrooms, bathrooms, and living spaces. But when they want to gather—holidays, Sunday dinners, game nights—the holiday room becomes the heart of the home.

Smart design, right?

But it only works if you nail the details.

And one of the biggest details?

Interior doors that actually provide privacy and soundproofing between the shared space and the private wings.

Multigenerational Living Soundproofing Ideas Start With Solid Core Doors

Here’s what the clients were adamant about from day one: modern sleek design, quality construction, and serious soundproofing.

They didn’t want to hear every conversation, every TV show, or every dishwasher cycle happening on the other side of the house.

And that’s where solid core doors become non-negotiable.

For a home where two families are sharing common spaces but need real privacy in their own wings, solid core doors aren’t optional—they’re essential.

Multigenerational Living Interior Door Design Ideas: Why We Chose Masonite Shaker Logan Style

The clients wanted modern and sleek, but also timeless.

Nothing trendy that would look dated in five years so we chose Masonite solid core doors in the Shaker Logan style.

Shaker doors feature clean lines and flat panels—simple, understated, and incredibly versatile.

For this multigenerational home, we installed Masonite solid core doors in:

• All bedrooms in both private wings
• Every bathroom
• Bedroom closets—using double swing doors instead of bifolds, where the Logan 2-panel design gives an elegant look
• Laundry rooms
• Entries between the shared holiday room and private spaces

Custom Doors for a Multigenerational Living Setup

Because this is a multigenerational setup and each wing needed its own laundry area, the clients decided to go with the newly efficient all-in-one washer/dryer units.

This meant we needed custom panel doors that matched the interior Logan 2-panel doors to cover the appliances.

The clients didn’t want bifold doors, so we had Horner create custom panel doors to fit the small spaces where the laundry hookups were located.

The result?

Seamless integration where you can’t even tell there’s a washer and dryer behind the doors—just clean, consistent design throughout.

This is where Horner’s custom capabilities really shine. They took the exact style of the standard Masonite Logan doors we were using throughout the house and created matching door panels that blend perfectly with the rest of the design.

With slab doors, your installer has to measure and mark every hinge location, route out mortises for hinges on both the door and frame, hang the door, adjust for proper swing, install strike plates, and hope everything lines up correctly.

With Horner’s prehung doors?

The installer shims the frame level, secures it to the rough opening, adds the trim, installs the hardware, and moves on.

Jim’s crew was installing doors throughout both private wings, all the bedrooms, bathrooms, and the holiday room area in a fraction of the time it would have taken with slab doors.

The efficiency matters when you’re working on a large project. But more importantly, prehung doors ensure perfect alignment—no gaps, no doors that scrape the floor, no hinges that aren’t quite right.

These Same Doors Work in Different Design Styles

Still wondering if Masonite solid core doors in the Shaker Logan style will work for your aesthetic?

We used these same doors in The Kenwood ICF Modern Farmhouse and you can’t deny, they look absolutely amazing.

The Kenwood is modern farmhouse with board and batten, clean lines, and a crisp white-on-white look.

This multigenerational home that Jim is building is more transitional with a focus on functionality and shared living. Two completely different houses, same doors, both look fantastic.

That’s the beauty of choosing timeless design. These doors adapt to your style rather than dictating it.

Stay tuned, this multi-gen home is just about finished which means I will be sharing the final walk through tour soon!

Disclosure: Thank you Horner Millwork for the continued partnership and always exceeding our expectations ☺️.

More Posts On This House Build:

• Part 1: The Twin Brothers’ Story – multi-gen living idea and how it became an idea
• ICF Foundation Build Updates for the twin brother’s and their wives
• Part 2: Twin Brother’s Multigenerational house interior update
• The best interior doors for multigenerational living with solid core interior
• Multigenerational Floor Plans That Actually Work
• The multigenerational house is complete. Take a tour of the interior.
• New House Build Splurge or Save checklist