How We Customized Our Standard Bifold Door To Look Like Double Doors (For Less Than $25!)

I planned on waiting to share the details on our closet door until I had shared a full bedroom reveal first, but my dresser dilemma is delaying a reveal so let’s talk about our closet doors now instead. More specifically, let’s chat about how we transformed our standard bifold door to look like double doors…for less than $25 might I add!

Originally our closet looked like this. ↑ Crowded and cluttered with a dated hollow core bifold door. Then we gave our closet a quick makeover last year with a much better flow. ↓

And this summer we completely overhauled our bedroom with a higher ceiling, planked walls, new floors, and yes…a new closet door.

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Our primary bedroom is small, I think you know that by now with all the videos I’ve been sharing on Instagram. So when we were looking at our options for a closet door…as much as I wanted a double door entrance like the stunning custom homes have, I knew we only had practical space for a bifold door.

So my mission became 1) to make a standard bifold door look high end and custom. And 2) to create the illusion of a double door (aka two doors that swing open from the center.)

We purchased this solid core, 1 panel bifold door and it’s a really great price! But after seeing it in the space, and browsing through my Instagram saves for inspiration, I knew it needed to be a 2 panel door. The one panel just wasn’t helping my illusion of making it look like 2 separate doors and 2 panel doors just feel more charming anyways.

Adding a piece of MDF at the height of our knobs was simple enough. We found MDF the same thickness as the border trim and glued them on with a couple brad nails in the corners to hold them in place.

But it still needed a little extra detail to feel like a custom door so I grabbed a bunch of 5/16” poplar dowels and added them along the inside border of all 4 panels. I tried cutting the 45° angles at each corner with my power saw but it was too powerful and just shattered the dowel so I ended up cutting each angle by hand with a hand saw. Since poplar wood is pretty soft, it wasn’t hard to cut through…just took some precision to get my angles perfect.

I wood filled and caulked all the nail holes/seams and primed the pieces I added so I was working with a solid base color.

And then paint! If you scroll back up a few photos, you’ll notice that the white primer on the door was making the walls look peachy so I knew that a white door would not work for this space. I chose to paint the doors the same color as the walls for some uniformity. (The color is custom mixed…click here for the color code.) And I used this sprayer for an incredibly smooth finish.

I like to think of hardware as the jewelry for the door and I found some antique hardware at a local shop in town…this is where the magic really happens! My biggest pet peeve with bifold doors is when there’s just one handle or knob on the door. It’s a dead giveaway that it’s a bifold door so I chose to attach two handles instead. THAT’S the key to making this look like 2 double doors.

I think we can officially say our closet transformations have come to an end and if feels good! Who knew something as simple as adding MDF, dowels, and antique hardware to that boring bifold door would make this big of an impact…and for less than $25!

Stay tuned, a full bedroom reveal is coming up as soon as I get the dresser and decor sorted out!