apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Not especially creative but when we remodeled our bathroom we had the door changed to swing away from the bathroom rather than into it. It adds so much more space to the bathroom!

We didn't have the cash but I think pocket doors are another nice alternative.

Before/after shots here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdeathstar/2628819077/

i installed a 12-light door on both my bathroom (swings out into the hallway, not into the bathroom) and extra bedroom. the idea was to keep the really narrow upstairs hallway in my 1920s foursquare as bright as possible -- to allow light to pass from the front of the house to the back, and from side to side. it works fabulously, and i'll eventually get around to replacing the clear glass with stained or patterned glass.

Maybe not for bathrooms, but I was inspired by Natalie's linen noren room divider. I've seen these dividers many years ago used beautifully in Japan, and Natalie uses them with equal finess.

We had two half doors as our bedroom door in our last place. I'm not sure if it was a function of how these were hung or not but they stayed swayed open into the room pretty much all the time. It was impossible to get them to stay out of the way except by closing them altogether. It was frustrating to deal with and I don't miss them. They probably beat the alternative of a full sized door but I can't be sure.

I have them in all the upstairs doors, because rowhouses are so dark, otherwise.

I've been looking for mini french doors! Anyone know where to get them?

In my old apartment, I had a mini-French doors for my bedroom doors (2 entrances, v. strange) and closet doors. My landlord had salvaged "outside" doors for indoor use. I painted the closet door's glass panels with Tiffiany's blue, water soluable paint; it look great against the white door and hid my junk. That said I still used curtains on the bedroom doors, to block out light.

Pocket doors are the best option for tight, small spaces.

I think this look would be better for a bedroom than a bath.

A pocket door could solve your problem but I bet it wouldn't come cheap.

All the doors in the downstairs of my house are old wooden doors ripped down the middle, and fixed up to fit together. Ours are hinged on both sides to open like french doors, but a friend of mine cut her door in half and hinged the middle so they open accordian style.

I have a pocket door on an ensuite bathroom. I would not recommend it for opening to a living area as it does not give complete privacy.

My tiny bathroom had a big door that could open only part way because it hit the toilet. I took a woodworking class in which I built mini-French doors to fit the doorway and made them open into the hall. Much better. The only problem is that one door has an extra, added piece of molding to cover the crack between the doors when they are closed. That means one door must close before the other. Not everyone can figure that out.

I just had the door flipped around in a small bedroom so the door swings out instead of in and the room seems much larger now and I get more usable SF out of it.