Our new place sure has its share of bi-fold doors. Like this pair sectioning off the future dining room and the main hallway (see a floor plan here to get your bearings):
And this nearby set that closes off the hallway that leads to most of the bedrooms (we removed one door to get the daybed through on moving day):
Then in our bedroom we’ve got another big set closing off the bathroom sink area…
…and a single bi-fold door right next to it closing off the walk-in closet.
That doesn’t even include all of the bi-folds that close off the other three bedroom closets. So basically… yeah, there’s a lot of ’em. And unfortunately most of them go against the whole open / airy vibe that we’re going for, so most of ’em had to go. Sorry bi-folds. But we’re already loving how the hallway looks so much more open sans doors.
And getting rid of the straggler leading to the back bedrooms certainly helped too (we still have to go back and putty / paint where the doors were attached).
Our master bedroom is even looking airier thanks to the door departure.
And although we’re going to leave them on all of the other bedroom closets for now, we did take the bi-fold door off of our own closet (we were constantly bumping into it). We’re thinking we might replace it with a thick floor length curtain at some point.
Another bi-fold that didn’t get the axe was one between the kitchen and the laundry / mudroom.
We don’t have a particular fondness for the look of this door, so right now its saving grace is purely functional. Without it there’s a straight shot from our carport right into the kitchen. See, here I am leering through the door to demonstrate.
We’ve learned that surprisingly enough, the side door that leads out to the carport is the one all of the neighbors use when they stop by (in the words of the previous owners: “if someone comes to the front door, they’re probably selling something”). And since my wife can and will nurse pretty much anywhere – even at the kitchen table – it’s probably not a good idea to leave that window unobscured.
So we’re going to leave that bi-fold up for now, but as soon as we can find a moment to frost that glass (so the light still pours in but the view is muddled) that bi-fold will be getting the same farewell treatment that the rest of them got. Stand by for that unbelievably exciting undertaking (I’m kidding, but hey- not every project is mind blowing). Oh and we’re donating all of the bi-fold doors to the Habitat For Humanity ReStore so they get to live on in someone else’s house, as opposed to junking up a landfill. Have you guys been to a ReStore yet? They’re full of awesome old windows, doors, sinks, faucets, light fixtures, and even rainbow colored toilets. Believe me when I say that there’s something for everyone.
Psst- This week’s BabyCenter post is all about trying to get Clara to adjust well to the new house (so we didn’t have an angry/grumpy/confused/scared bean on our hands). Here’s what worked for us.
it does look way better having an open doorway for your master bedroom bathroom, but the rest i like! you should keep one around the house. that will make it unique!
inspiringpretty.blogspot.com
Removing the doors is probably the first thing I would have done. I count three different trim colors so far – white, pine and a chocolate color…wow! I’m a firm believer in all trim matching throughout the house so that would be a HUGE undertaking. Are you planning on making the trim cohesive throughout? (sorry if you already answered that in another post)
Yes! All glossy white. It’s gonna be a challenge, but we’re up for it. We’re definitely planning to pace ourselves and tackle it slowly though…
xo,
s
Am I the first comment?…how exciting. That really is an unnecessary amount of bi-folds. We have one between our kitchen and laundry nook, much like yours. It is highly annoying and it’s main purpose is to muffle the washer and dryer. I can’t wait to see what you do about the sink in the master bedroom either, ours is just like it. How romantic…
Those floors in the master bedroom (I think?) are to DIE for! I love wide plank floors. Good luck with settling in and have a wonderful first xmas with the beannette!
Is it just me or is that microwave super low over your range?
Hey Kyla,
Yup, it’s super low.
xo,
s
One house’s junk …
drat! I’m actually looking for something like the first set of bi-folds pictured for our laundry nook — especially if they’re hard wood instead of hollow core.
But you’re not geographically desirable, so I’ll just keep stalking craigslist and our own ReStore til I find just the right fit.
Love the open feeling!
ReStore is so awesome! My husband is going there today to scope out some reclaimed oak flooring, it’s $1-5 a bundle! Yes, please!
Holy cow! It looks instantly more roomy and current. This makes me want to remove the huge bifold doors on my closet, which are always getting in the way.
I’ve considered hanging pretty fabric that could be pulled to the side, but I also have a two side-by-side windows with floor length curtains on the adjoining wall in there. Do you think that would be too much fabric going on? (Both the closet and the windows are about the size of a sliding glass door, to give you point of reference).
Thanks!
Hey Allison,
We would try it! We’re all about trial and error decorating- and you’ll never know unless you give it a go!
xo,
s
The hallway ones and the one leading to your carport are probably to close off sections of the house from entryways to save on heating. Our 1950’s home was the same way, and we still left up one of the entryway ones b/c it really does help. Although, I live in NY and it gets WAY colder for WAY longer here! :)
Our old house had bi-folds in every room and on all closets (hallway, linen, etc)… I think I was injured by them all at least once!
It looks better already!!!
I’ve got this crazy bi-fold in a space that’s just a little too narrow for the door – a shoddy craftsman did the reno, I guess (not me!). If I take the door out completely, what are some other options? (It’s just on a closet, but needs to be concealed.)
P.S. LOVE ReStore.
Hey Emily,
A fabric curtain? Another door that fits? A sliding barn door that’s outside mounted? There are lots of options for you!
xo,
s
We have them on all three closets which is not as weird as between rooms. Until now, I thought our knobs were in the wrong place because they are so hard to open, but your knobs are on the same panels as ours. They’d be so much easier to open if they were on the panel closer to the hinge! [End of bi-fold rant]
I’m in love with the hardwood floor in your master bedroom.
Wow what a huge hallway! It does look much better without the doors!!!
And you do look really creepy looking into the house from that door!! And there are some creepers in Richmond =)
wow that IS a lot of bi-folds. I feel your pain, our rental townhouse has them EVERYWHERE. Unfortunately, since we rent we aren’t allowed to remove them :(. I will live vicariously through you.
Thanks for the link to the ReStore site, I didn’t realize that the next town over had one (though you would think our city of just less than 200,000 would, sigh – we don’t even have a bookstore though, but I digress….) I think I will be hopping over there at some point with the 3 kiddos to see what fun stuff we can find.
LOVE to see ReStore props! I just scored an 1850s windsor chair for $10 yesterday, and we are planning on donating a washer & dryer soon. They are a great way to pump $$ back into the beautification of your town.
Habitat for Humanity is where I found some of my shutters and levered doors for my shutter wall project! Thanks for your donation! http://www.oliveandlove.com/2010/08/my-shutter-wall-is-complete.html
much better. Bifolds are a nightmare with curious toddlers (think pinched fingers), so good riddance!
glad that Clara is adjusting well to the new place…hope Burger is doing the same!
I agree that it feels so much more open without all the bi-folds. I’m finding myself carefully inspecting all your photos to try to guess what you’ll be posting about next. :)
I see you’ve already ripped out the countertop/backsplash around the master sink…Can’t wait to find out why!
The bi-fold doors on the closets in my master bedroom are the bane of my existence. The builder of this house was either stupid or had a mean sense of humor.
Go ahead builder and make two openings to one long closet, but make sure neither opening is really large enough to ever effectively see what is in said long closet and oh yeah, put one of the openings BEHIND the bedroom door to make it even more of a pain! ARRGGGGHHHH!
I am so tempted to demo the silly wall between the two doors and just make one huge closet opening with a nice curtain maybe, but I always feel like that will look temporary. Sigh. I just want an entire room sized walk in closet where I never have to close doors…only drawers.
that is a lot of bifolds!! we have them but we rent so cannot take them out and i hate them! they collect dust like you can’t believe and it is hard to get all those little slats. i would tell my kids i’ll give you 50 bucks to do all the doors, no takers!!
you guys have your work cut out for you, i can’t wait to see all your new ideas!
try and enjoy clara’s first christmas among all the chaos!
The hardwood floors in the master bedroom are beeeaaaauuutiful! PS: My husband and I did a little Holiday “home construction” over the weekend-
http://www.freshoutoflemons.com/something-to-talk-about/2010/12/20/challenged.html
;)
Those floors in your bedroom are awesome.
ahh my new apartment also came with a ridiculously unnecessary number of bifold doors. alas, i’m renting, so i can’t do much about it!
can I just tell you how totally in love with your wood floors I am……………I big fat heart them!!! ;)
SO glad you got rid of those doors! I hate them, too. Fortunately, I don’t have any in my house. Isn’t it amazing how small cosmetic changes like that can make such a huge difference? :-)
You mentioned hanging a curtain in your closet doorway. Any ideas for the one between the master bedroom and bathroom?
Hey Beth,
We do have ideas for making that sink area fit better into our bedroom. We’ll post about them as we take them on, so stay tuned!
xo,
s
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the wide planks in your bedroom!! I think my heart just skipped a beat looking at the picture into your bathroom! LOVE IT! I’m excited you are already getting into the renovations….even if its only little tweaks like taking of all those doors! can’t wait to see everything else you do!
For that door instead of frosting, you might want to consider a film. I’ve done frosting and film and the film is fantastic. Take a peek at http://www.decorativefilm.com
I get compliments on my sliders and kitchen doors thanks to their products. Easy peasy. Bye bye boxes.
Hey Theresa,
Oh yeah, that’s what we use too! The stuff from Home Depot. Film is much easier than the spray stuff!
xo,
s
I’m trying really hard to be patient… but I seriously can not wait to see what you do with the kitchen! The potential that space has is beyond words!! So excited…
it looks SO great without the doors, so much more open.
we have a traditional front door, then we have a side door that is off the driveway and detached garage – the one we use all the time. to get to the front door you must walk down a long porch, and we pretty much know that anyone at that door is selling something. :)
I LOVE ReStore!! We’ve found some great stuff there. We live in Northern Virginia and a lot of developers will donate unused, brand-new appliances from model homes so you can get them at a great price. We donate everything we take out of our house there too!
we visited our first ReStore this weekend. they didn’t have what we were looking for (well, we were looking for lumber and they had a lot of it, but it was all sitting out in the rain, which was not what we wanted), but it was a cool place to wander through and we’ll definitely go back sometime. =)
I’m with you on taking out most of the doors but I have to say I would have kept the door to your sink in the bedroom. They seemed pretty well made and sort of classic looking, and they do serve a purpose so you’re not always staring at the sink while in bed. Just a thought!
I love how it looks without the bifolds.
Thx for all the updates you’ve done in the midst of moving. I’m so excited for you guys to have a new home to transform into a place of your own…and so thankful that all of us readers have the privilege of “joining” you in the adventure! …I’ll be sitting on the edge of my computer desk chair in anticipation of all the posts to come…
I absolutely love the big wide wood plank floors in your bedroom! The way the light falls on them is just so dreamy!
We also have a million bi-fold doors, but all of ours are the vented kind like your mudroom one. We even have some regular doors like that. I’m slowly but surely removing them and either leaving them bare or replacing with regular doors. In a random switch bonus, the pantry backs up to the garage and isn’t well insulated apparently, because as soon as we put up “regular” doors instead of a door with those slats, our kitchen is a million times warmer and our pantry is super cold. Don’t think it harms the pantry, so I’m chalking it up in the win column.
Anyway, question for you. I noticed in the hallway you left up the strip of wood that the doors would stop against when closed (if that makes sense). We have a couple like that and I’m trying to decide if ripping that strip that’s like 1″ wide by .5″ deep is worth it with all the patching, sanding and painting afterwards. Mind if I ask what your plans are for that weird leave behind?
Hey MS,
Those strips are coming out and we’ll just patch and paint so all the doorways are back to their original glory.
xo,
s
I also love your bedroom floors- wow! What material are the darker floors? Are you planning to keep them, or eventually make all of the floors the same?
Hey Tarynkay,
Those darker floors are also hardwood, but they’re in a parquet pattern. We’d eventually like to refinish all the wood floors in the house in the same tone for continuity.
xo,
s
Our house is filled with bi-fold doors. Some have been replaced but in our kitchen pantry I liked that they didn’t take up much space when open. Time for DIY! We removed the track, took the doors apart and refashioned them into a pair of swing-out doors. We added a wooden piece to lengthen them to fit without the track, painted a simple floral and leaf design in orange and yellow, then put on and quickly removed the stain we used on our kitchen cupboards. That made them look like they’d be around a while. We added some handles and now have one of our favorite features in our home.
I too was wondering what your plans are for the master bathroom entry. Is privacy an issue with the doors removed?I saw the photo of your master bath and immediately pictured a cool sliding barn door. So excited to see all of your upcoming projects.
Hey Carmen,
We already have a few ideas for that area and promise to post about it as soon as we get around to tackling it! Bear with us, this whole house makeover is definitely going to take some time though!
xo,
s
looks great! Now I’m looking at our abundance of bi fold doors here (we moved in a 1940’s house in Oct). We have a huge bifold door in our bedroom where the closet is. any suggestions? Also, what do you plan on using to cover your door? We have our front door with a lot of glass where people can look right in.
Hey Jane,
Scroll back for a list of other options instead of bi-fold doors that we shared with another commenter. There are tons of options! And you can probably google around for even more inspiration!
xo,
s
The two renovations I’m most excited to see in your new house: making the fireplace double-sided and finding a way to make a sink in a master bedroom look good. Both are things we need to tackle in our own house, so I’m hoping for some great inspiration! We already looked into making our own fireplace double-sided and the answer was: it’s expensive. So if you have a great DIY alternative, I’m all ears! Thanks for sharing the process with us–I love to see how you make your new house a home!
It already looks so much better! On another note, I love the ReStore! I went there looking for an old window for our mantle display and ended up only spending one dollar on it. Gotta love that deal!
http://shutterlylovely.squarespace.com/blog/2010/12/1/decking-the-halls-part-1.html
Wow, I just noticed how much I love the extra wide floorboards in the bedroom. They’ve got that rustic yet elegant thing going on…and such a pretty warm color!
Thanks for your post about doors. We just had a closet opened up in our bedroom and installed 3 french door style sliders, which helps our tiny room feel larger. I think I’ll paint them white to match our trim, and ‘m wondering whether or not I should use opaque window film to obscure the closet contents a bit. But maybe that’s too much white–? I’d love some advice on these. What would you do?
Hey Kathy,
Opaque window film looks awesome in a room with white trim- especially on french doors! We say go for it!
xo,
s
Adios bi-folds! I took out the bi-fold that was closing off the pantry in the kitchen, and haven’t regretted it for a single second. Everyone comments on how much they like it, actually (which is weird, no?). It means that the pantry always has to look spiffy, but I don’t mind that so much.
http://www.housebella.com/2010/10/14/pantry-makeover/
Do you have room in your laundry room to replace the stacking washer and dryer (when necessary) with 2 side by side units? Or do you plan on bumping out that wall when you enclose the garage? It looks a bit tight in there to put them side by side but that is so much more convenient. I HATED my stacked unit when i lived in my tiny studio in DC.
Hey Erin,
Nope, no room for side by side, but we’re going to go with nice energy efficient front loading stacklables (John’s sister has them and doesn’t seem to mind too much).
xo,
s
Not sure what you have in mind in terms of major remodeling but it looks there is a lot of room and possibilities for your closet and master bath area to reconfigure so you don’t have that opening to stare at the sink.
Just wanted to tell you guys I LOVE your new house.
The floors in the bedroom/bathroom are so pretty. I cannot wait to see what you do to this house.
First of all, I am in love with the wonderful floors in the master. Those thick hardwood planks sure get a man’s engine going….probably TMI…oh well.
Second, I think it’s really amazing how doors can really cramp a house. I really like how open everything is, especially that long hallway. Are those bi-fold areas completely going away, or do you have plans to do updates on any (like you talked about with the master walk-in?)
Hey Brandt,
Most of them are gone for good! We just don’t need bi-folds separating hallways and open living areas. As for the ones that block closets and that sort of thing, we might curtain them as we mentioned. Who knows where we’ll end up!
xo,
s