DIY Closet Doors under $50

INSIDE : Learn how to give an old folding door a new completely new modern look with this DIY Closet Doors under $50 post! A fresh coat of paint, adding some decorative trim molding and modern circular doorknob hardware gives your closet a fresh budget friendly feel.

DIY Closet Doors under $50

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I am a guest participant in the Spring 2024 One Room Challenge and have decided to take on my son’s bedroom! What is the ORC you might be asking? Let me tell you.

One Room Challenge

Over the next eight weeks, I will be slowly transforming my son’s bedroom along with numerous other bloggers and content creators on Instagram. Every Wednesday I will be sharing an update on his room. It should be fun, but also eight weeks isn’t much time for all I have planned.

So, let’s get to the good stuff!!

A few years ago, I updated his sister’s bedroom ( Modern Tween Girl’s Bedroom) and she had the same closet issue in her room. I did a post on How to Modernized Bifold Doors and it’s been a very popular tutorial. I knew I wanted to do something similar to my son’s closet doors… but with a new look.

Ugly (before) Closet Doors

One of the biggest issues in my son’s bedroom was his bifold closet doors.

The old hinges had been getting very loose with time and many of the screws had fallen out. He is fortunate to have so much closet space in his room with two full sets of bifold doors (read 8 panels in total), but they were literally hanging by a thread.

Broken Closet door before

Also I hate the color of wood of these doors. It’s a mix of like red wood / yellow tones.

It was time to bring his closet back to life!

Painting Closet Doors

I used my favorite soft blue paint to give these closet doors a new fresh look. I used HGTV Home by Sherwin Williams Stardew. I gave it took 2 coats on the trim and the main flat surfaces.

Painting Closet doors blue

Once the paint was dry, I started to lay out my trim design using painter’s tape to get a feel for how the design would look. FYI, I loved how the design was going to look so it was time to get started on making my design a reality!

Closet door design painter's tape

Some of my favorite DIY tools, or you can check out my Best Basic DIY Tools blog post here.

How to DIY closet doors

Before you get started on updating your closet doors, make a quick run to your local hardware store for the supplies below. A few items like the miter saw and nail gun are slight investments, but they are very basic power tools and ones that you will likely use for multiple projects down the road.

Start by measuring out the height for your rectangle sides. I wanted 5″ on the top and bottom of my closet doors, so I ended up with 69″ lengths.

Since I was doing larger rectangles (one rectangle for every two door fronts), I had a total of (4) 69″ lengths… but then to make things more confusing… I had to sets of closets, so I cut (8) 69″ pieces. You will only need to cut as many as needed for your particular closet door situation.

I used my favorite Craftsmen miter saw for the cuts and it makes things a breeze.

Also note, to make a clean rectangle with sharp 90′ angle joints, cut the ends of your 69″ pieces at a 45′ angle.

Miter Saw trim cuts

Measure and mark your top 5″ mark and double check you have your first length straight using a level. I recommend using a 24″ level for this project.

Once your length is just where you would like it, use your cordless nail gun and nail about every 8″ or so.

Closet trim nail gun

Once you have your vertical pieces installed, it’s time to nail up the horizontal pieces.

For my doors, since I have bi-fold closets, I decided to have the “fold” section of the door be each a half of my trim rectangle design. The space between my two vertical pieces was roughly 16″ and since I was having each on a half of the door, I cut that dimension in half as well.

I ended up with (16 – including the top and bottoms of all the rectangles) 8″ cut pieces.

NOTE – One side of these hortizontal cuts was a 45′ cut and the other cut was straight 90′ cut so they would meet flush to each other.

Closet Trim installation with level

Be sure to take your time and draw this out before starting the project. I was able to measure, tape it out and make a cut list which really helped in not making any errors when I was making these closet door updates.

Closet door trim

Adding Caulk to your Closet Doors

For that final touch, after your trim pieces are all nailed to the door adding caulk on all edges gives your work a professional look. Be sure to use a caulk that is paintable!

Paintable Caulk

Slowly add caulk to the edges of your trim and then go back with a wet paper towel, damp rag or even a baby wipe to clean up the edges.

Caulking Trim

Once you have waited the allotted dry time for your caulk, go ahead and paint it. Mine took two coats of paint, just like the door fronts.

Blue Closet Door with painted trim

Adding new hardware to your closet doors

I have been obsessed with oversized wooden (round) door knobs and knew this would be the perfect project to use them!

I looked all over the place locally to see if I could find what I had envisioned in my mind and just couldn’t quite find the size or color or shape I wanted. So, I got mine online. You can check out my Best Oversized Round Doorknob post here for all my favorites.

Painter’s tape hardware template

I traced the shape of my round hardware onto a piece of painter’s tape, marked the center of the knobs and made small holes where the screws were located.

Next, I used a laser level to mark across all 8 of the door fronts where I wanted the centerline of my knobs to be located. You typically want this height to be 30″ from the floor.

Once I knew where my centerline mark was and placed each half of the oversized knob equally distant on each side of my door opening, I then used a pencil and marked where my screw holes were going to be located.

Painter's Tape knob template

Then it was as easy as pre-drilling holes with an electric drill and bit and then screwing the knobs into place! (PS – I would be lying if I said this step was actually easy. It took me walking away a handful of times because it was meticulous and tedious and I thought I was going to lose my mind.)

Round Wooden Knob on closet

Cheap DIY closet doors

HOWEVER, I am 1000% obsessed with how these doors and knobs turned out! And as soon as I finished the 8th closet door panel… all the work and struggle was very much worth it.

Also, I think if you don’t have bi-fold doors this project would be much faster and straight-forward.

Blue Updated DIY Closet doors

It’s really shocking how budget friendly this DIY Closet update was. Buying new bi-fold closet doors would have cost me around $400 on the low end and mine cost MUCH less!

Cost of DIY Closet door update – $66

Blue BiFold Updated DIY Closet doors

Okay, let’s see how my to do list is going below now that we have just two weeks left! I’m getting so close!!

TO DO LIST over next 8 weeks –

  • Paint Walls basic colors
  • Create + Paint Checkerboard / Stripe accent wall
  • Remove wooden shutters
  • DIY Mobile over bed
  • Storage and style an Arched bookcase
  • DIY rug art
  • Install Mini Shelf Railing
  • DIY Lego Storage cabinet
  • Update + repair closet doors
  • Assemble new furniture (bed + loveseat)
  • Bulletin board install
  • Style room with new rug, curtains + accessories

Here are a few items I have already picked up for my son’s room :

9 Comments

  1. I love this idea! It’s amazing what you can do on a budget. The step-by-step approach makes it seem so doable. Can’t wait to try this out for my own closet! Thanks for the inspiration!

  2. I love the ideas in this post! These DIY closet doors are so budget-friendly and look amazing! Can’t wait to try out some of these techniques in my own space. Thanks for the inspiration!

  3. I love this DIY idea! It’s amazing how you transformed those closet doors on a budget. The step-by-step instructions are really helpful, and I can’t wait to try this out in my own space. Thanks for the inspiration!

  4. Wow, I love these DIY closet door ideas! It’s amazing how much character you can add to a space without breaking the bank. The tips on materials and tools are super helpful—can’t wait to give this a try for my bedroom. Thanks for sharing!

  5. I love this idea! The step-by-step guide is super clear, and I can’t believe you can create such stylish closet doors for under $50. I’m excited to give this a try in my own home. Thanks for the inspiration!

  6. Vicki Wier says:

    Great job Amy! Can’t wait to see it all put together.

  7. Love the handles you put on these doors! Following along for more, looking forward to seeing the finished product. Cheers, Trisha – fellow ORC participant

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