Kids Room #1: Repurposing Closet Doors That Were Found in the Garage

These closet doors were a massive undertaking that had me questioning my DIY skills. I worked for MONTHS to transform a doorless closet to a sunburst closet. Before we could do the fun, sunburst idea, I had to find doors that fit the gaping hole that was a kid’s closet. It was not much fun, actually pretty frustrating, but in the end, was worth it.

When we moved in, the closet was doorless with a visible radon fan (the PVC pipes on the left of the photo):

We left the closet like this for over a year. Closet doors are expensive and this set-up wasn’t dangerous, causing health issues or anything detrimental like that. It was just ugly and loud at night (the fan runs 24 hours/day).

The previous homeowners had left a pile of closet doors in the garage. I was hopeful that I could repurpose them. They were in poor shape, with chipped edges, mildew, and just general garage filth:

My first step was getting them clean enough to bring them indoors to even attempt to hang them. If I couldn’t hang them with the tracks already in the closet, then we’d have to bite the bullet and purchase new doors.

After wiping them with Clorox wipes, I sprayed them with Concrobium. I also had to pry out the old bottom pivot that holds the doors in place. They don’t sell the bracket for the pivot that we had, so we would have to buy a new kit and hope it would work. Here’s the kit we bought:

I used a flathead and pliers to pry out the old pivot:

Fortunately the hole the pivot came out of was the same size for the new pivots, so I just had to hammer in the new piece.

Next up, installing the brackets. I used the holes that were already in the wall:

Then came the moment of truth – hanging the doors. Hanging bifold doors is hard. You have to pop the top in, then shimmy the bottom in as close as you can to the bracket, lift the bottom up onto the bracket, ensure the pivot is not too close to the wall (otherwise the door hits the wall before it is shut), but close enough that when you close both sides, they will in fact close. I found wearing sneakers and resting the doors on my toes while trying to line everything up was helpful. After many attempts, I got the right side lined up to an acceptable point:

The left door hit the trim, so I had to cut out a small chunk of trim. I used a multi-tool:

Took out a little chunk from the inside of the closet:

And then was able to hang the left side to a point where is was functional:

Hanging the doors took multiple days. I got so frustrated that I had to walk away more than once. Like I said, hanging bifold doors is hard. If you have a helper, it’d be easier. But finally!

I was ECSTATIC to see that our doors would work. We had just saved so much money by not having to buy new doors. I think the bottom pivot and brackets were under $5 each, so at this point I’d spent $10, some cleaning supplies, and a crap load of aching shoulders and bruised toes. Definitely worth it.

The doors were functional, but still pretty disgusting from being in the garage for who-knows-how-long. Luke cut tiny little strips for the bottoms, which would cover the chipped edges:

After caulking where the strips met the doors, we pulled in our little helper to prime them:

At the end of this, we had closet doors that masked the radon fan noise and made the room look a little more finished:

Admittedly, they are not hung perfectly straight here. It’s a constant work in progress, but I can assure you once they are painted, they will look better. I had already picked out my inspiration for the final stage of these doors: a Sunburst Design by StudioDesign. Check it out, her project is amazing. We’re going to use her site as a guide, but make it a bright green – you can see the paint chip our kid chose on the right-hand picture above.

At this point, Kid’s Bedroom #1 has had some serious work done:

1. Repair ceiling
2. Repair trim
3. Paint accent wall and add blackout blinds
4. Add access panel for exterior spigot
5. Paint other walls
6. Paint inside of door
7. Hang closet doors

Next up:

1. Transform closet to Sunburst Doors.