Got old, ugly closet doors? I’m sharing 3 DIY closet door ideas for making them beautiful on a budget!
When we moved into our Connecticut home, it was a total mixed bag of higher end upgrades like built-in bookcases along with some pretty sad features that screamed low budge. One of those was the closet doors in our bedrooms. While the doors throughout our home are your typical six panel doors, the closet doors in both of our girls’ rooms were flat slabs of wood and the ones in our master bedroom were bifold doors that drove us nuts. Over the years we’ve upgraded all three sets of closet doors in different, unique ways so I thought it would be fun to share all three closet door ideas in one place! They’re all DIY upgrades that made a huge difference without costing a lot of money! (post includes affiliate links – full disclosure statement available {here})
Closet Door Idea #1: Cork Board + Molding
Let’s kick things off with what is definitely one of my favorite closet door ideas of the bunch – the molding + cork board closet doors in my oldest daughter’s bedroom:
Room Sources: Grasscloth wallpaper | Gold quatrefoil pendant | Duvet cover | Blue fringed pillow covers | Similar wood art frames
This is what her bedroom closet doors looked like when we moved in – nothing but flat, yellowed wood slabs and two teeny cabinet knobs as door knobs (those suckers were seriously only an inch wide – so crazy!):
My daughter had been asking for a bulletin board in her room right when I was planning a door makeover so I decided to incorporate the bulletin board into her closet doors! I found some pretty molding with a small inside lip that was perfect for securing two cork sheets. All it took was cutting and adhering four large rectangles of molding with the two on the top securing cork sheets and the two on the bottom holding thin plywood sheets to balance out the design:
After caulking and a fresh coat of white paint on everything plus new larger knobs from Hobby Lobby, these closet doors not only have an upgraded look but the cork boards make them fun and functional too!
You can find the step by step tutorial for this cork board closet door idea {here}.
Closet Door Idea #2: Creating a Pattern With Molding
My second DIY closet door makeover was in my youngest daughter’s bedroom. You might remember that I made over her bedroom to get rid of the green walls she had grown tired of and decorate it in a boho chic style (you can see more of this space in my post on boho bedroom colors if you missed it):
Room Sources: Gold quatrefoil pendant | DIY upholstered headboard | Moroccan leather poufs | Woven lidded laundry basket | Small acrylic lamp | Hanging swing chair (similar) | White linen quilt
One thing I didn’t need to touch during that recent makeover was her bedroom closet doors since I had already glammed them up a few years back:
They were in a pretty sad state when we moved in. Just like in my other daughter’s bedroom, her closet doors were plain, flat wood slabs with those same teeny cabinet knobs and rusted hinges:
I decided to dress them up by adding inexpensive molding in a stylish geometric pattern. I drew out my idea on paper and figured out the sizes of molding I’d need to make my idea come to life. After a couple of hours of sawing with a miter box (this was before I bought a miter saw that would have made it go a lot faster!), I taped everything onto the door in the final pattern to make sure I had the spacing correct, and then glued each piece on:
After finishing the doors off by caulking, painting, and adding a pair of spray painted IKEA pulls (they’re no longer available but {these pulls} in the 12″ size would give you the same look), my daughter’s room got the glam upgrade we were looking for:
My step by step tutorial for upgrading these flat closet doors with molding can be found {here}. I included the measurements for all of the pieces needed to recreate this exact molding design but the design possibilities using this same closet door idea but with different molding patterns are endless!
Closet Door Idea #3: Swapping Doors for Drapes
Our master bedroom was the last of the three bedrooms to get a closet makeover (more details and sources for this space can be found {here}):
Master Bedroom Sources: Upholstered Bed | Gray nightstands | Camp stools | White USB table lamps | Semi flushmount light (available {here} and {here}) | Gray & white patterned linen duvet – no longer available | Gray & white dragon/floral pillows | Quilt in king (color is Flagstone) | Drapes (mine are single-width blackout lined) | Diamond jute rug
Our old closet drove me CRAZY. It was one continuous space behind the two pairs of bifold doors but between the center divider and the space taken up by the bifold doors, less than half of the closet was easily accessible:
My solution was to remove the bifold doors, tear down the center partition and add new molding framing the top (the storage cubbies to the left were already there – love them!):
It ended up being my favorite of our closet door ideas! I replaced the doors with inexpensive Ikea drapes hung by a rod and rings that I spray painted gold. And I prettied up the inside too with a beautiful wallpaper and acrylic rods. I was honestly not so sure whether I was doing the right thing when I decided to remove the doors but I absolutely LOVE it. It’s made every inch of our closet accessible and I love the look of it too!
You can find all the details about how I replaced my doors with closet curtains – see more in {this post}.
And what about our fourth bedroom that we use as a guest room?
Guest Room Sources: Mirror over Bed | Upholstered Wingback Bed (fabric is Zuma White) | Quilt (color is flax) | White and beige check duvet (similar) | 24″ Embroidered Medallion Pillow covers | White Bedside USB Lamps | Round Wood Beaded Tray | Clock
Strangely enough, this room has no closet at all. We could have added a built-in closet but based on the design of the room, there isn’t a good place for one that wouldn’t make the space look awkward. Instead, I decided to add an armoire for guests to have space for hanging their clothes. Right at the time that I was looking to buy one, a neighbor of mine was getting rid of this dated TV cabinet that had two sets of doors and a TV shelf inside (I actually saw it sitting in their open garage one day when I was walking Hope so texted them to ask what they were doing with it! #furniturestalker):
I modified the interior by removing the TV shelf and adding a bar for hanging clothes, removed the four knobs and patched the bottom pair of knob holes, and added brackets inside to make the top and bottom doors move as one piece. I painted the armoire with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and was originally thinking I’d leave the center cane areas as-is:
But in the end, I decided to paint the whole thing. I added some new rope pulls and some accessories to the top including a vintage olive bucket and a handled basket I found at the Country Living Fair. I ended up loving it more than anything that I could have bought new and the only costs were a quart of paint and new pulls:
You can find all sorts of tips for using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint {here} and see more details of this space and get sources for our guest room {here}.
If you’re looking for more closet inspiration, I’ve got two other closet spaces to share with you too! We have no coat closet on the first floor so I took the small recessed space across from our washer and dryer and used shallow IKEA PAX units to create a closet space with three floor to ceiling cubbies. There’s not only room for hanging coats but there are also a bunch of drawers (dressed up with {these pulls}) for scarves, gloves, and a few pairs of shoes:
Hop over to my reveal post on our IKEA mudroomfor all of the details! We added a second closet to our master bedroom too, also using IKEA PAX wardrobes:
You can take a tour of our closet and get my IKEA PAX closet system review {here} for all the details!
I hope you guys took a few closet door ideas away from this post – even if all of your bedroom closet doors are already pretty 🙂 If you love hearing about DIYs like this one that go a long way in upgrading the style of your home, subscribe to Driven by Decor by email (it’s typically only 2 posts per week and you can unsubscribe at any time) for more DIY and decorating inspiration. CLICK {HERE} TO SUBSCRIBE!
I’ll see you back on the blog soon!
