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Are closet doors so last century?

 
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Teaching a friend how to prep their room for painting,  of course the conversation turns to what a huge pain inthe ass closet door are.  Are they necessary?

That got me thinking. Parents and grandparents didn't grow up with inbuilt closets.   Although they have always been a thing for me. It feels kind of scary not to have one.  Where would we lock up the monsters?  The house is from the 1950s and the closets are obviously added on.  And awkwardly too as the room door and closet cannot be open at the same time.

Although there would still be a partition,  not having doors would increase the room by at least three feet!  A nice little alcove for a computer desk perhaps?

Chatting back and forth while plastering, we tried to remember anyone we knew who did renovation in the last 20 years that didn't turn their bedroom closet into an alchove.  Friends in new condos in swanky city building have no or hidden closets.   Not the folding doors I grew up with.

Hmmmm.... I need to do repairs and renovate my bedroom soon.  I wonder if there would be an advantage to expanding my room those three extra feet?

 
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In my home, closet doors keep a ton of dust off of my clothing.

This is the bio-dust of two humans and two big dogs in a house with forced air heating and carpets, plus the bio-dust of pollen and wildfire smoke when the windows need to be opened for ventilation, etc. etc.

Personally I defend my closet doors as a labour-saving device. That dead air is solid gold. My 2c.

 
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I'm with Douglas on this one. Unless you have a very minimalist wardrobe, so that the clothes are all used very frequently, the door protects them against all manner of issues - dust, moths, cats (ask me how I know that one!)
There is also for me the considerable advantage of shutting the door on the complete mess that is inside
 
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We use an open wardrobe in our bedrooms with a wire shelf on the top.  We get very little dust because the toewls and cloths are on it and there is a very good turnover.  This we have found is our best solution to stop or slow dust accummulating on the shoulders of hanging garments.  My parents had traditional wardrobes and they were a mycillium paradise due to the humidity and natural human detritus.

I have found the Permies absolutely perfect solution for an open wardrobe:
I think that this picture was originally in pintrest.  It takes the open wardrobe completely into left field and the appropriate allergy reducing and air cleaning plants would be a great addition to any bedroom
 
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I see on TV a lot of closets that just use curtains instead of closet doors.

I feel this looks cheap and so do the wardrobe racks or open ward robes.

I don't like the sliding closet doors either or the ones with mirrors.

I have sliding doors on our pantry though for the closets we chose bi-fold doors.

I like that folks don't see my clothes or that my clothes don't collect dust.
 
Nancy Reading
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I don't mind cheap, although I do like clean and tidy (in my dreams!)

Bifold doors or sliding doors would be more practical in a confined space perhaps.
....

I found a video of making bifold closet doors - I feel that maybe fabric could be used for the panels that could match your room decor. or maybe woven willow...?

 
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We had louvered bi-fold closet doors, the worst case scenario for me.

I HATE louvered doors because of how hard they are to clean. We replaced the bi-fold hardware with hardware that slides 2 panels side by side so the doors no longer take a huge chunk of the room. I think closet doors are necessary, but can take a huge amount of a room's footprint.

If we hadn't done this, I'd want curtains or barn doors. My partner loathes barn doors inside, so it would be curtains.

Eventually, I hope to replace the louvered doors with solid panels with screening for ventilation.
 
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I have removed the doors off the closet in my bedroom at every house I have lived in as an adult. I hate them. I consider the swing room wasted space, and my time wasted as I open and shut doors. The rental I'm in I especially hate the closet even though the doors are off. There is a 18 inch on one side, 12 on the other inaccessible space on each end of the closet, the bar goes back into it, but you can't see what's on it.  The door frame makes it so there is only a shallow shelf above it. Doors would make this even worse.

I need a well designed closet, very few are.
 
r ranson
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Clothing protection from dust, light, etc.  But also darkness is a moths best friend.   I'm on the fence about this one.

One of the things I really like about a closed closet full of clothes is the noise insulation between bedrooms.
 
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I like closet doors because they hide the visual clutter, and make the bedroom feel more peaceful.

That being said, i prefer curtains to sliding doors. I've been debating replacing my sliding doors with a sticky track inmy bedroom closet with curtains, like i did for my university aparments.  Curtains can be opened to see the WHOLE closet at once. I prefer bifold doors to curtains,  but in my current room, they'd get hit by my bedroom door.

In my mom's house, i turned a weird alcove and a tiny closet with an awkward door into a continuous closet by adding track ceiling curtains and another rod to the alcove, then removing the door.  Made it both more functional AND less visually cluttered.

I also removed the opening pantry door in my kitchen, which conflicted with the basement door.

I prefer real doors for the "dirty" areas, like entry closets. No need to brush against a white curtain with my muddy arms!

Oh and edit- i actually really like louvered doors! I dont mind cleaning them, either. I have debated putting louvered doors on my linen cupboard, which is fairly airless in my very humid house, and my linen starts to smell after a few months out of use.
 
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If not for closet doors, every closet in my house and their contents would be covered in a layer of cat hair.
 
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I hate louvered doors - they're a pita to clean, and still allow too much dust & dog hair through, for my preferences. But, I like bifold doors, because they open up the space much better, without requiring several feet of swing space. So, something like a dense fabric, wood panels, frosted/tempered glass, or mirrors would work well - until I start thinking about cleaning the tracks they open and close on. Ugh.

I tend to romanticize the *idea* of open shelves & closets, but the reality for me, is everything would be covered in every airborne anything, and I'm messy. John is messier. Anyone (including us) entering our home would be stressfully assaulted with the unsightly messes we make, as soon as they get past the living room entry. Just NO.

I like hooks on the wall, for things frequently used, and have been thinking of a captain's bed (the type that are like a platform, with drawers underneath) cubbies &/or cabinets for everything in season, and dual purpose furniture (storage ottomans, similar storage chairs & sofa, etc) for out of season storage. I'm eventually going to have to downsize from this 2,100sf house, and move into a MUCH smaller place. Probably about 500 - 750sf. I'll be getting rid of a LOT of stuff - but I'll still have to carefully manage the real estate my remaining stuff - and its storage system takes.
 
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Pros:
Hide the mess
Keeps the dust down
If it is a walk-in, it gives one a place to get dressed without waking the other up.

Cons:
Waste of space, for the door swing plus all the extra framing, especially if not a walk in
Cuts airflow, creating musty moldy conditions easily.


I am building a tiny Earthship wofati hobbit house, closets and chests of drawers are out of the question, plus any built ins have to start at four feet up. It will be interesting how it turns out.  I have a couple ideas but it will be at least a year before I get around to that problem.
 
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r ranson wrote:Clothing protection from dust, light, etc.  But also darkness is a moths best friend.   I'm on the fence about this one.

One of the things I really like about a closed closet full of clothes is the noise insulation between bedrooms.



I am not sure of the benefit of noise insulation unless the closet is the length of the room or a situation where the closets of 2 rooms take that entire wall up. In those cases, good point.

I imagine this conversation would be directly related to the amount of clothes you own.

Our family of 7 uses a 24" deep by 24" wide by 72" high space for clothes. We do 1 small load of laundry per day, everyday, is the trade off. I don't think we would be bothered either way.

Also, if a room does not have a closet, some places will not let you list is as a bedroom if you sell. I think you can only call it a den or study.  
 
Paul Fookes
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In our bus (RV) we have a concertina door into the bathroom.  It folds back to 75mm (3") wide so no room space is lost.  I had not heard it called an accordian door but that makes sense.  We have not had any issues with it working/ functioning.  I think a pelmet over the top will stop more dust, and in particular fire ash and dust from storms.
 
r ranson
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Josh Hoffman wrote:

r ranson wrote:Clothing protection from dust, light, etc.  But also darkness is a moths best friend.   I'm on the fence about this one.

One of the things I really like about a closed closet full of clothes is the noise insulation between bedrooms.



I am not sure of the benefit of noise insulation unless the closet is the length of the room or a situation where the closets of 2 rooms take that entire wall up. In those cases, good point.




A variation is pretty standard format for here.  If two bedrooms share a wall, at least one will have that wall all closets.  The bedroom nearest the kitchen has the closets along that wall.  When the house is renovated and the closet empty. It's easy to hear every tiny noise from the next room like bedsprings or breathing.  

Whereas when the closets are full and doors are closed, even snoring or moderately loud music won't make it through.  It only needs one room to have a closet along that wall to make a huge difference.
 
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I like being able to close the closet doors, I mean I don't usually do so, but knowing I can is good.

As an aside note a good friend of mine says cupboards shouldn't have doors, they should just be shelves, saves one the step of opening the door haha.
 
Nancy Reading
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Josh Hoffman wrote:I am not sure of the benefit of noise insulation unless the closet is the length of the room or a situation where the closets of 2 rooms take that entire wall up. In those cases, good point.


I spend most of my childhood in a house where the 2 upstairs bedrooms had a double wall just like that - half wardrobe in one room, half wardrobe in the other. They had sliding doors, although I don't remember now how they were hung, I do remember they were painted bright 1970s colours
I always thought it was a good use of space, although never thought of the sound insulation factor.

Built in wardrobes were a bit less usual in the UK then, so I thought they were kind of chic! Interesting that they are a legal requirement for a bedroom in some places - could make the house layout a bit less flexible though.
 
r ranson
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This is the closest that started it all (before we started fixing inside).  It's got the fake wall in front, but is basically a 3 foot wide room for clothes that goes full length and height.

It's pretty standard here for houses built or renovated late 1960s to late 1990s.  Fill that with clothes, books, etc, and it's amazing insulation.

Since about a third of it is for clothes, one idea was to get a wardrobe and move the long term storage back into the basement.  But it turns out, because stuff, removing the wall in front of the closet isn't an option.  So she's back to doors or no doors.
Closet-doors-or-no-.jpg
Closet doors or no?
Closet doors or no?
 
Paul Fookes
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r ranson wrote:It's got the fake wall in front, but is basically a 3 foot wide room for clothes that goes full length and height.
It's pretty standard here for houses built or renovated late 1960s to late 1990s.  Fill that with clothes, books, etc, and it's amazing insulation.
Since about a third of it is for clothes, one idea was to get a wardrobe and move the long term storage back into the basement.  But it turns out, because stuff, removing the wall in front of the closet isn't an option.  So she's back to doors or no doors.

I think that a concertina door will fill your requirements perfectly.  It's door from me.  I suggest that two pair of concertina doors with magnetic catches will save space and if it will fit the decor, put a mural on them or they can just be painted to fit in with the rest of the walls.

Happy renovating.  I can feel for you as I have just finished converting a bedroom into a craftroom ❤️
 
r ranson
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I'm just grateful it's not my room.  I'm just showing how to do the pre painting work.  Although concertina doors sound ideal for her situation.   Just look at the door closet relationship.   Nightmare.

My room comes later.  Still on the fence if I want to go door or alchove.  

 
Paul Fookes
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r ranson wrote:I'm just grateful it's not my room.  I'm just showing how to do the pre painting work.  Although concertina doors sound ideal for her situation.   Just look at the door closet relationship.   Nightmare.
My room comes later.  Still on the fence if I want to go door or alchove.  

I noticed how the room door swings over the closet opening.  We would have had the same issue but out carpenter suggested that we put the hinges on the other side, and swing it through 180 degrees against the ajoining wall.  Unfortunately my phone is on the blink and the camera is not working so cannot do a photo.  Here is one I found on YouTube.  The best part is that with the compensating hinges, the door jamb does not have to be moved in to be flush with the wall edge. I could not get the youtube link to embed so here is the URL of a 180 degree opening door
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/geeA1le8mvM
 
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Riona Abhainn wrote:cupboards shouldn't have doors, they should just be shelves, saves one the step of opening the door haha.


We had our kitchen remodeled professionally and they brought in and installed all the cases before the doors were done and we lived with our upper cabinets doorless for a week. I actually prefer the look of that, in addition to the ease, but the doors do protect stuff from dust and stove residue.
 
r ranson
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Living in an earthquake zone, cupboard doors are lovely.  Even a small one like 4.something, can move dishes and just having the doors seems to stop them falling out. Everything fragile is always at least an inch away from the edge, but shelves are slippery.

That said, we are moving most of our fragile stuff to drawes when we can and am considering magnets or something more to reduce the chance of the doors opening for smaller earthquake. Shelf liner has also been considered but we haven't found any we like yet.  

We also thought about more drastic options like in a camper van, but if the earthquake is that big, dishes will be the least of our issues.  So minor things like cupboard doors do quite a lot of good.


Closet doors on the other hand, I'm still undecided.
 
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I appreciate this question/inquiring of options.

We have been in our home for 38 years, built in '58. I've always disliked the closets as they are small and "just fit" a hanger. One closet actually went behind a wall, where I couldn't get to the clothes, so we built/installed a shelf unit behind two doors, and a place above for a small TV. Yes, it took away from some closet space, but at least I had a place for linens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovlM2fSXKjw

We renovated our kitchen which had a broom closet and installed storage with shelving. We built a closet down stairs for work, hunting and outdoor clothing (off season) and also a place for hubby's shirts. We tried fabric, and I hated it, as they get dirty and get in the way when walking by.
I never liked sliding doors, nor louver doors, but they did the job.

As we look for a home to further our homesteading needs, I will say, I would rather convert a sm room into a walk-in closet. It is just the two of us. Yet, if there was not space for that, and thinking back from years gone by, dressers would be the ideal answer. We have them, use them, and give our space character. I don't have a standing closet/armoire, but that would work for dresses. Doesn't need to be huge, just enough for dresses and skirts, yet one can also fold them as well.

The kitchen with the open concept of shelving wastes space for me, plus the doors keep things clean inside and keep things neat.

I do think this is a great conversation thread. It shows the personality and preferences of each other, and that is enjoyable to read.
 
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