apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

uma---
i kind of liked these at home depot..they aren't bifold--but I am sure you could lay new track and use them in most closet openings

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Navigation?storeId=10051&categoryID=2950&langId=-1&catalogId=10053

you can buy them at home depot, lowes, etc... the issue in my apartment is that all the closet bifold doors go straight to the ceiling... a custom job that would cost a ton... so instead we had to reframe the closet door/wall/area to hang standard sized bifolds. otherwise, the bifolds were very inexpensive.
we got birch ply hollow core, so they're boxy with no frills, light, relatively attractive in a woodsy way, and easy to paint whatever color.

Great question Uma!

While the HD options look pretty good I hope people will come up with several options.

I'm going through the same dilemma right now. I've been trying to find out if I can convert my bi-folds to glass doors. Unfortunately, the corners on the glass doors prohibit the attachment of the bi-fold hardware.

any good lumber store can also help out. i got mine at metropolitan on spring street in nyc and they have a ton of standard sizes – custom can be ordered as well.

you can also order them pre-primed for painting which saves you the hassle.

Wow the HD ones looks awsome. The price are definately very attracting. Will be great to see what else will people come up to. I will keep you updated and posted some before and after pictures.

Can bi-folds be turned into sliding doors? I am going thru a similar evaluation to replace my ugly sliding doors in two closets. And I have been considering the sliding doors from IKEA - there is a set that comes in plastic with a simple light weight aluminum frame and another one in glass - they are both 92inches tall - I want them to go all the way to the ceiling (well closer to what it is now) If anyone has used them, please let us know... Thanks

My apartment had the ugliest floor-to-ceiling metal bifold doors you have ever seen, which jammed constantly in the tracks. I replaced the front closet and linen closet doors with plain french doors -- flat panel, not with glass panes (not cheap, but well worth it) and used an attractive simple molding to encase them. In the bedroom, where there are 2 closets side by side, I removed the doors and will be hanging a curtain on rings that covers the wall.

I got the doors from Lowe's and had my carpenter hang them, because it was less expensive than having the Lowe's contractor do it. Doors are difficult to get right and I didn't want to find them sagging or uneven.

The Lowes doors are even cheaper than HD! Thank you so much Deborah. Great Idea.

Uma

yuck. Don't purchase new bifolds. Replace them with sliding doors using Hafele hardware. Bi-fold doors remind me of a cheap rental. If Hafele is too expensive, you can do an exposed "barn door" look using inexpensive Stanley hardware.

I also stole 2 1/2 feet from the end of the long single living room/dining room space that would traditionally be "the dining room" and turned it into the Big Closet with floor-to-ceiling sliding doors the width of the space (117 inches, to be precise) -- three doors, birch veneer. I've left the okay but not at all distinguished hardware exposed for the time being because I didn't want a wood valance -- it's in the main living space so I wanted a closet that didn't look like a closet. It's actually really pretty, the wood has a very interesting grain and mellowed into a warm sheen. My ceilings are 8 feet tall. Don't use cheap track, it will bend eventually. Also -- be sure your doors are solid enough that they won't start to bow after a year or two.

I guess it's hard squeeze something cool out of a bi-fold door. It really is there because it was the cheapest thing the builder could find.

Only problem is that on two of my closets there isn't enough space for excess track so the closet could never be completely opened if I wanted it to be.

Deborah, I'd love to see a picture of those sliding doors.

The one good thing about bifolds: you can open them up and get a good look/ good access to your whole closet. The problem with the sliding doors is there's usually that weird little zone in the middle that is never quite as viewable/reachable.

I'm sure there are sliding-door exceptions to this -- I hope to get some from the smarties in this thread.

Yes to curtains! I took off both my sliding doors (could only access one side of the closet at a time as a previous poster mentioned) along with my bifold doors (which never closed right) and installed curtain panels w/grommets/rod at the ceiling, in the same color as my walls.

I hate hate hate sliding doors for the reason others have mentioned. That awkwardness when putting away clothes, or finding something to wear. Slide the door one way, put a shirt away, slide the door the other way, hang a skirt. Oops, darn, there's another shirt....slide the door back. Aaaand, leave the laundry in a pile on the dresser because I'm now tired of the damn doors. ;)

I like the idea of bi-folds, but they do look rather dated. My husband just spent the better part of a year installing pocket doors, so I'm hoping that when we either build or renovate a home, we'll be able to stick the closet on a wall where pocket doors will be a possibility. I will not put the clothes away unless I can easily access the closet. I can think of better things to do with my time than spend half an hour sliding the door one way, then sliding it another. Rinse repeat.

spanishfish--
Those style doors only work if you have wallspace on either side that you are willing to keep clear, and that are wide enough to handle the doors in the "open" position. Not sure that is the case here.

I specify sliding doors all the time. They work great. They have girth and weight and feel "permanent". It's not very often that two people stand at the closet door together and need to access both sides simultaneously. I strongly discourage the flimsy bi-fold doors even when clients don't like sliders and every time, they are very happy that they heeded my advice.

Though I have to say that I really like the curtain idea, in lieu of bi-folds.

Great question. I have the same issue with my closet which has sturdy sliding doors. I've debated the curtains or bi-fold option, curtains don't seem any more permanent or flimsy to me than bi-folds. I don't like my sliding doors because I can't open up my whole closet and it feels like a dungeon. I'd like to hear any other ideas on this.

It's not a matter of 2 people standing side by side. It's more that you want to be able to see the whole wardrobe at once.

what crap. all these suggestions suck. hire a professional.

I agree that the problem with the sliding doors is that you can't see the whole space at once. I installed 3 doors, so you get almost 36 inches of view at once but it would be better to have more. However, we work with the spaces we have. I will organize myself to get a photo of the doors and post it.

P(too) & Spanishfish, I yearned for the sexy exposed hardware and the barndoor approach but unfortunately the room is configured in a way that made it impossible without sacrificing a lot of space, and I finally decided that keeping several feet of space was more important. The hardware I have exposed now is (in my opinion) marginally better than a wood valance -- okay but no more -- and I'm thinking of options. (A valance made of one of those architectural grilles? textile hangers suspended from ceiling with bits of exotic fabric?)

this company has a huge catalog of door styles...
http://www.trustile.com/

I supppose you could probably choose a door style and custom size then buy the hardware to make it bifold.

When my friend renovated her apartment, she had a pretty wide closet space (100" or so) in her entry hall with hideous bifold doors. She demoed the closet area, and installed the PAX system from ikea with the birch full length pivot doors. The walls were finished around the closet so it looked like a custom built in system. Plus, the insides of the closets were fitted with the birch pull out drawers, closet rods, etc. for a nice finished interior.

I did a similar thing with the Pax system in my apartment, where I had 2 pretty deep closets (31") dividing 2 bedrooms. Each closet was pretty large, but only had a 30" doorway. I demo'd the existing closet area (no retaining walls here) and installed a combination of the shallow (14") and deep (23") Pax cabinets back to back. I finished the wall around the closets, so in both rooms the face of the closets is almost flush with the surrounding walls.

A few notes: The Pax systems I got had flimsy back panels. In my construction, I replaced them with birch luan panels so the closets would not have so much flex, and stay square. I also put some soundproofing between the backs of the two closets for more 'privacy'.

You want easy minimalism? Go to Home Despot or Blowes or whatever you have nearby and purchase the inexpensive hollow-core bifolds. Paint them to match your interior and dress them up with some really great hardware. Instead of mere knobs, use something like those really long, thin brushed stainless steel kitchen cabinet handles.

Another easy option would be mirrored doors. I personally hate, hate, hate mirrored closet doors--I think they suck the life out of a room like a big black hole in the wall, but you yourself may like them and they're also easily obtainable at the nearest building center.

Thanks for everyone's suggestion. Although sliding doors look great, just like Patrick mentioned, I can only intall bi-fold doors for the space. I think Lowe's and trustile look great.

Uma