apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Sorry, I'm not buying it - It always ends up looking cheap and unfinished.

the proper thing to do would be to simply have the door remounted so that it hinged on the right rather than the left, making access easier.

I've had a curtain for a closet door for quite awhile, not because of space limitations, but because I really hated the metal bi-fold doors I had.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3241/2939004004_d10bdb7869.jpg

I recently did the same thing to my daughter's closet...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3074/2956332902_76d0d0dbb2.jpg

I like the look and the accessibility, not to mention the possibilities of changing out the fabric at whim :)

I think curtains look great as "doors," but you have to hang them higher up -- OVER the doorway, not in the nook.

i've done this in my room because the folding doors were UGLY, and they didn't paint them when they painted my room before i moved in, so they also didn't match.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/closertotheocean1/3068111265/in/set-72157608842745489/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/closertotheocean1/3068947534/in/set-72157608842745489/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/closertotheocean1/3068948650/in/set-72157608842745489/

I have a fabric curtain for a door, I love it. Mine is crewel on natural linen color. I have never gotten around to hemming it though and now I am glad. I really like the idea of hanging it taller than the door frame.

What about using panel curtains from Ikea? They are a bit more modern and seamless than reg curtains..Also, they slide back and forth to make for easy access. Just a thought!

http://www.ikea.com/PIAimages/81041_PE207914_S4.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com
/198/526569343_7a4f5d2a6a_b.jpg

A fine solution, given the circumstances, but not the best execution I've seen. (The curtains should really be hung higher, I think.)

Sorry... that's just my opinion. If the owner is happy with it, than who care what I've got to say!

I like the idea (I have a similar problem) but I use the back of the closet door for my shoes. I haven't figured out a workaround yet.

i'm actually going through this right now and have decided to go with ceiling track (like hospital curtains use):

i haven't been able to source it locally so i'm probably going to order it through www.mosquitocurtains.com (which is too bad b/c the shipping is going to cost me more than the track itself! oh well... it come to about $50 with shipping included, not the end of the world):
http://mosquitocurtains.com/screened_porch_installation-4-tracking.html

my plan is to mount the track to the underside of the door frame and hang heavy twill curtains that are hemmed to hit about 1 inch above the floor. i'm too nitpicky to have unhemmed, long curtains pooling at the bottom of my closet and i would no doubt trip over them and yank them right off the curtain rod some sleepy morning, if i did.

the doors to my closet were ridiculously wide bi-fold doors that made no sense in the limited space between the closet and bed.

I think a couple of small fixes would make this curtain look much better. First, add more rings. 9 rings instead of 5 would make the curtain much less droopy. Also, that rod doesn't look like it's cut out for this job -- it's sagging in the middle. Either add a center bracket, or simply use a more substantial rod.

I think curtains-as-doors can look quite lovely and casual (and the piece of linen Dorinda has chosen is very nice!), but the small details really need to be taken care of in order to keep it from looking sloppy.

I've always hated this trend. A bifold or a barn door is way nicer than a closet, especially in an old house. I don't want to be reminded it's a freaking closet by the presence of a silly curtain.

curtains can serve as acoustical wall (buffer from noisy neighbours), quieter alternative to doors, and draft barrier if placed over main entry door, as seen in drafty new england or british houses.

Our house has pretty small (or average I guess 12x10) bedrooms and long skinny closets with double doors that opened into the room. It really limited furniture placement, so we removed the doors and put up those rods that you pull out until it fits tightly between the doorframe.

My mom found a really cute black and white fabric shower curtain for her room. It's very pretty, kinda functions as art too; I would never have guessed it was a shower curtain. We hung it on the rod with simple black and white hooks (those S shaped ones). We opened the shower curtain fully and centered it, then put slightly longer sheer black curtains on each side of the shower curtain as sort of a frame (we have much wider doorframes than in the pic obviously).

The trick is getting the correct height. If the curtains are too long and dragging along the floor, it looks sloppy. Too short and you see the closet mess. You want about an inch off the floor.

My husband and I did this in our tiny Tokyo apartment because the double doors (on a small closet, no less) swung outward and made it very difficult to place any furniture in the room near them. We can't change anything about the way the doors work because we rent and the room's construction won't really allow it anyway.

We covered ours with two Japanese entryway curtains, the sort you see at the entrance of restaurants. They don't slide on rods, but we just lift them up because they're each half length (which works because our closet is bisected in the center by a futon shelf so they are the right length for each half).

My closet actually didn't even come with a door in my new place. I have the curtain rod hung (above the opening!), but I haven't found a curtain yet. this might just be enough to get me off my ass to do it. Also, I think that it can be a wonderful look, especially if the closet curtain mirrors those on the windows in the room.

Thanks!
Emily

If I wasn't renting, I would love to do the same to my bedroom. Definitely would look better with more rings - but I think the height is fine -- too high and if you accidently pull it a little too hard, you're gonna need a stepstool or ladder to get it back up. With the fabric she used, it kinda blends into the wall - which hides the closet a bit. In my honest opinion, closet doors seem to be a waste of materials - it's not like your clothes need the privacy of an actual door - LOL!

I recently removed the door to my closet in my bedroom, but used a tension rod on the inside of the door frame, up high at the top, and used a very simple white curtain that I hemmed. Because the door frame and tension rod are white and the rod and curtains fit so nicely within the frame, it has a very tailored customized look to me.

It looks like in this case, the curtain couldn't have been placed any higher because of the sloping ceiling. I like it this way anyway.

I have a huge closet door in my living room - 36in! I would love to drape it instead of surrendering all that floor space, but since it takes up 1/3 of the wall I'm afraid it will look odd.

I hung my curtain *inside* the closet doorway, so the cheap tension curtain rod it's on doesn't show at all. I used two sheer panels with embroidery in colors that complement my paint, and I think it looks great.

i agree with kostia. i live in boston and i have two tiny, 17x31 closets in my apartment. i've taken off the doors and plan to hang curtains tucked up and inside the entryway.

i've always hated the look of loop or hook curtains (except for the shower - and even then it has to be a really close fit for me. nothing is sadder than a baggy curtain over a drooping rail), so the nesting of the workings in an invisible spot appeals to me. plus, since all of my doorways and windows have that great elaborate new england molding, i'm really excited about the way it will look.