Bi-Fold Closet Doors Makeover into French Doors

Learn how to upgrade builder grade hinged, bi-fold closet doors into beautiful french doors in just a few easy steps.

The other day I shared our Entryway Closet organization system and mentioned the bifolding closet doors.

It was one of the first projects we ever did in our house, and it’s still a favorite.

I realized that in the rush of getting the One Room Challenge all finished up, I never really gave the closet project the credit it deserved.

So, I went back into the photo archives and  pulled up the process to show you step by step how to upgrade bi-fold closet doors into french doors with modern farmhouse style!

HOW TO CONVERT Hinged BI-FOLDING CLOSET DOORS INTO MODERN FARMHOUSE FRENCH DOORS

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience.

Video of Bifold Door to French Door Makeover:

For those of you who prefer a video explanation of the procees, here is a video showing the end result of this DIY project:

What the builder grade bifolding closet doors looked like before:

Our tiny townhouse entryway didn’t have much space to begin with. Then when you opened the bi-fold closet doors, it seemed even smaller. The dated look of the doors and handles didn’t do much in the style department either!

Supplies you’ll need for this project:

• Metal mending brackets (you’ll need 2 per door)
• Double magnetic catch (you’ll need 1 for each set of doors) or 2 single magnetic catches
• 1 1/2 inch primed trim boards to fit around the edges of each door
• 1/8 inch mahogany plywood cut into 4 1/2 inch strips to make the shiplap look on each door
• Wood glue
• Brad nailer
• Closet door pulls

Step by step process for converting bi-folding doors to french doors

1. To convert the hinged closet doors, first remove the sliding hardware from the top side of the doors.

(Once you remove the sliding parts off, they will just swing back and forth from the main hinges.)

2. Remove the doors completely off the main hinges. To stabilize the door and prevent it from folding, add a metal mending plate to the seam part of each door (above the current hinges) on the top and bottom.

3. Turn the door into a Modern Farmhouse look by first trimming out the edges with 1 1/2 inch primed trim boards cut with miter corners. The trim was first glued on and then nailed with brads.

4. Add the shiplap feature to the front of the doors by using planks of 1/8″ mahogany plywood. (We had our local Windsor Plywood cut down the mahogany into 4 1/2″ strips for us. We then used our saw to cut them to the proper length.)

**Note, If I were to do this again, I would have painted the main doors the dark color before adding the planks. The white shows through in the cracks a bit and drives my crazy!!

*Update: We eventually painted the door white after all! You can see it in the entryway here.

Once the trim frame is attached, line up the planks with pennies as spacers.

5. Attach the planks with wood glue and tiny brads.

6. Paint the door the color of your choice.

We used the same color as the feature wall in our Dining Room ~ Iron Ore by Benjamin Moore.

7. Once the doors are dry, attach the door on the main hinges. Install a small piece of wood trim with screws at the top of the door frame so that the doors will stop together in the middle,

and attach a magnet catch mechanism for closing. 

For this french door pair, we used 2 single magnetic catches. But, when we did the same process in our craft room, we used a double magnetic catch. Both work very well.

8. Add handles to suite your style.

Burnished bronze door handles are the finishing touch to this modern farmhouse style of this closet door makeover!

Before and after pictures of this bifold to french door makeover:

Here’s a reminder of what these boring builder grade doors looked like before:

And here’s the after!

And then later, we painted it Simply White by Benjamin Moore. So here’s an after after!;)

For more simple DIY projects for your home, you may want to check out these posts:

• How to add a  Farmhouse Shiplap Wall
• Shiplap Accent Wall in a bathroom
• Adding moulding to Ikea bookcase

This post was updated with additional instructions and affiliate links December 2021.