I know lots of people don't like these, but I've never understood why. I mean, its a wide, full-length mirror that doesn't really have a footprint (since you'd often have a door there anyway). Isn't that a good thing?

if you don't need the storage, I vote for the office nook.
If you do, I vote for the hospital track.

I actually don't dislike these either, but my general rule is that everything is better with window film. I think you could get a really cool effect by using decals as stencils in plain frosted film.

I had sliding mirrors on my closet in my bedroom at my parents house. I hated them so I took them off. I didn't want to take the tracks down (in case my parents wanted to put them back on if they sold the house) so I got a tension rod and put two sheer curtains on it and stuck the tension rod inbetween the tracks. It looks nice and I don't have a huge mirror staring back at me.

there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the doors themselves (nice aluminum frame, etc) -- just that they reflect. a few of easy things would be to:

1: paint them the same color of the walls or an accent color. just mask off the frame with tape, prime with a good, sticky roll-on primer (kilz oil based in a can) and paint with your favorite latex paint -- either an accent, wall color or graphic pattern. (we did this to some windows we were too cheap to get curtains for. we masked off the 3/4in space within the frame so it looked like a neat, frosted panel when the tape was removed).

2: cover with a thin veneer of wood. measurements would need to be pretty exact (and sliding tolerances would need to allow it), but a thin piece of wood ply (oak, luan, etc) could give it a warm feel. use silicone to adhere.

3: similar to the decal idea, isn't contact paper making a revival?

4: for the more serious DIYer... remove the doors, extract the mirrors from the frames and replace with a solid panel (real wood or MDF... or plexi?)... leave the panel finished, finish with stain and poly or paint.

do the elfa system either way...

We had similar mirrored doors and removed them entirely, opting for an open shelving look. Got some shelving at Ikea, anchored them into the walls and made ourselves a custom closet, and replaced our dresser to boot. The best part of the open plan is that it forces you to be neat and organized, but you end up finding that it's not that hard.

sometimes, depending on mounting hardware, one might be able to unmount them, turn them around and use the backs. this is good for those who must live with them.

I like the curtain over the doors idea, because, as Cashew points out, you often need a mirror in the bedroom, but I wouldn't want it in my face all the time. I read that it was bad feng shui to keep a mirror in the bedroom, so I've hung one of my dresses on a hanger on a hook over the mirror on my bedroom door, and just move the dress for a minute when I want to use the mirror.

My husband and I just tackled this problem in our soon to be nursery! Our guestroom/nursery has a giant 8 foot long closet with mirrored doors. It was a bit too mirror-y for me so I searched all over for suggestions on what to do. I found one suggestion here to put horizontal frosted stripes on the doors (someone saw Candice Olson do this in her book). So that's what we did! It turned out really nicely. So far we only have 3 wide frosted stripes...I'm debating if I should add a few thin stripes too.

(Please excuse the messy room - it's a work in progress. And the streaky mirror - this pic was taken right after we were done and before I cleaned things up.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23657912@N07/4293432266/

That looks great, joules. Came out very nicely.

We have 5 (yes, 5) sets of mirrored doors in our new home.

So in the master (where we have an set in the master bath), I plan on using spray adhesive to attach the same fabric we are using for the curtain panels flanking the slider.

I would paint but am afraid it would chip off and touch ups wouldn't blend well.

Very Nice Joules. I think I saw the episode in which Candice dealt with some mirrored doors in a similar fashion and they looked great.

I would buy a glass etching kit and soften the mirrored glass with a design.

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Three of our bedrooms and our bathroom closet have them, and I don't mind them. They're especially good in my sons' rooms, because, geez, they are always trying on multiple pieces of clothing so they come in kind of handy. Our house is sort of contemporary, though, so they don't look too out of place. And I agree with the others: nice job, Joules!

Thanks for the complements!

I mis-calculated and had to go back to the store to buy an additional roll of frosty film. DH's comment was "Ok, how much is this project going to cost us?". Right after we finished he said "hmm, maybe we should do this in our room too." haha. We have mirrored closet doors in 2 places in our room. I don't mind those as much. I actually like them - they reflect the light really well. And I guess our room looks a bit nicer than the guest room so the reflection doesn't bother me as much. =)

I think people moving into empty rooms with mirrored doors are prematurely panicked.

Get in the room, set up the room, decorate the room, and nine times out of ten, once the room is finished, the mirrored doors are a non-issue.

I moved into a new house recently that has mirrored closet doors - I'm in the room, it's set up, it's decorated, and I still have plans to remove/change them. There's nothing inherently wrong with them...I just don't like mirrored closet doors.

I do like what joules did, and the other suggestions of adding some kind of design with privacy film/spray. I googled and found "Etchlook Vinyl" from modellodesigns.com, which seems like it might be a good option.

I don't like the look of mirrored doors, plus the tracks on sliding doors always get really dirty and they're hard to clean! I replaced my mirrored closet sliders with a set of louvered laundry room doors from the salvage yard and they look soooo much better. I was able to donate the old doors to a local woman who was opening a dance studio. Win win!

I've wanted to turn a spare bedroom into an office and thought about painting one of the mirrored doors with chalkboard paint and putting cork (tiles or sheets) on the other one.

i don't mind the sliding mirror closet doors in my rental apartment so much - they reflect the light that comes in from the window on the opposite wall, and as others have noted - it doesn't take up extra space and it's a mirror, it gets used every morning while i'm getting ready for work.
what i despise is the brass frame/track. there really doesn't seem to be a simple fix for that one. plus, the track on the floor is all wonky and one of the doors doesn't slide as easily as i'd like it to.

Aha--that's my other question: Is there any way to change the finish or color of the brass frame/track? I assume any sort of paint would just chip over time...

If you're renting, I think it's either curtains or you're stuck with them.

I agree with Patrick. Let the doors be while you set up the rest of the room, & then see how the whole strikes you. I like mirrors because they bring light in and visually expand the space.

Maybe some decoupage accents around the edges of the glass?

We live in a 2 BR rental and have a set of brass-framed sliding door mirrors in each bedroom. In one bedroom, it's fine as the mirrors reflect the park outside the window so they make the room feel much, much bigger -- it's like adding a gigantic window. I also don't notice the brass tracks so much anymore.

But in the other bedroom...I hate them....all they do is reflect furniture. So I've hung curtains. It's an improvement.

Joules -- your solution is gorgeous, stylish and so modern. Love it!

My fiance and I recently bought a house with sliding mirrored closet doors in the master bedroom. They are in good condition and seem relatively new. Because my goal is to have a very bright, white, feminine bedroom, I have plans to paint a faux "molding" of sorts on the closet doors- Perhaps using white paint with scalloped corners. In expanding this idea, I thought a glossy navy or black rectangle "frame" painted inside the closet doors might also look nice (for those who don't find the mirrored doors completely offensive.)

And what is your fiance's goal for the room? :)

I really prefer to take down all sliding closet doors and putting up curtains. It always softens a room and makes it feel much more cozy.

Fantastic article - these are some wonderful solutions!

Joules, I love your solution as well. I have about the same size of mirrored doors in my bedroom and need do something with them.

But the first headache is the brassy golden metal frame/track. Does anyone have a suggestion on paint for this? I'm kind of wary of the sanding then painting route because of the roughness.

Celebrate what you can not change.

Bring brass into the room as light fixtures... use gold and brass accents... and/or paint/paper the surrounding walls a gold-inspired color. Use a cream, tan and gold color scheme.

Suddenly, the challenge you hated looks like you a feature you paid to put it in.

If they are the right side, you can replace them with inexpensive shoji screens- just get one with 4 panels, remove the middle hinges (so you get two double-panels), and add rollers to the bottom (Home Depot - screen door section).

Then lean the giant mirror doors in the living room, where they look like a decorating accent!

I would like mirrored sliding doors so much better if they didn't have that ugly white aluminum border around them! In my old college dorm, mine came off the tracks, so I just put them against the wall in strategic places and hung some nice curtains on the inside of the closet. It was much nicer, and it was easier to be organized that way.

Take them down and hang curtains on a tension rod as others have mentioned.

Has anyone actually put curtains over mirrored doors? I'd like to see how this looks before tackling it.

Just purchased some lacey film to apply to the mirrored doors. I'm doing it for feng shui purposes! Just ordered one roll to try it out first. Here's what I ordered. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001B0529M/ref=oss_product

I have mirrored glass doors in my entry hallway! Thank you so much Urban Girl for directing me to the etched vinyl website (www.etchedlookglassdecals.com). I have ordered some Frank Lloyd Wright inspired designs and can't wait to put them on!

I just use wall paper on my mirror doors, I bought flock paper at home depot and stuck it up, it can come down so I can change it when i want, I also use it on my front door too...I have also wall papered my tacky wood like panels doors too..looks great

I very like the vinyl decals and privacy spray, because it’s my first time see these in your post. There thing are very pretty: vinyl decals can let your room more lightly and privacy spray can let the room more modern or maybe mystery, I don’t know how to say it. In a word I like it. Recently I have to refurbish my room and decide to rebuild my new sliding closet doors instead old one. And I will try vinyl decals or privacy spray maybe both.

In your question I will say: you should make sure there no bed front of your mirror sliding closet doors, because if you do so, It will not accord with geomantic omen (fengshui).