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Hi, in our 1940's new house, the closets are a little hard to use, specially in one of the rooms, and we are considering adding a sliding closet door for easier access.
As you can see in the pictures, one of room shas a very small closet and in an odd shape. The other closet in other room is wider, but hard reach clothes on the corners once it's full of hangers.
Ideas to make it all more accessible? We thought about double sliding doors. Do you think it would hurt the "old house integrity"? Any other ideas?
It would not fit in with the old house look, but, you can bet that the closet was an add on at some point anyway, so nothing about the closet is 'authentic'. OTOH I have a closet like yours with a door and do not have any trouble using it. We put shelves across the far ends and pile all sorts of goodies there. I personally avoid sliding closet doors if possible (not attractive).
Thanks luv4horses. I wish we didn't need to put it, but in one of the rooms it's very small and very hard to access the back. And we don't have a lot of storage space in the house in general. Is there any better solution than sliding doors?
When you say sliding doors, are you referring to "barn" style sliding doors? Or do you mean bi-pass doors?
Bi-pass doors would require some framing modifications- you'd probably want at least a 4/0 opening. Even the barn style door would require a larger opening at least for accessibility but, would require more wall space to slide against.
Of course bi-pass doors only allow one half of the closet accessible at a time. Did you consider bi-fold?
Keep the door--change the inside of the closet. Put hanging bars on the short walls of the closet and shelves (or even nothing) on the long wall. You could also put shelves on the short walls and a double hang bar set-up on the long wall. It makes the closet more usable.
My tenancy would be to work on the set up of the internal closet and also build cabinets (great if you can sink into the wall but even shallow hung cabinets) around the exterior of the closet painted white, like you see in old European homes....so you have an old fashioned "wardrobe" wall to increase your storage. Yes, you do lose the closet wall in my suggestion, too, but gain a more vintage look to match the house and even greater accessible storage space. http://starcraftcustombuilders.com/closet3.htm
I'm not a big sliding doors fan. I've had them in apartments and they were always coming off of their tracks. You could only ever see half of your closet. When you go to clean out a closet, you're constantly sliding them back and forth... never again!
Look into other options. I'm not a fan of bifold doors, but they are more practical. Best would be adding double doors that open into the room -- IF you have the room to open them, once you get all of the furniture in there. Is it at all possible to add another door to the END of the closet?? Maybe one that doesn't go all the way to the floor? Or use that space and build in a cupboard on the end.
My tenancy would be to work on the set up of the internal closet and also build cabinets (great if you can sink into the wall but even shallow hung cabinets) around the exterior of the closet painted white, like you see in old European homes....so you have an old fashioned "wardrobe" wall to increase your storage. Yes, you do lose the closet wall in my suggestion, too, but gain a more vintage look to match the house and even greater accessible storage space. Lincoln Closets | Beyond the Closet — The Wardrobe Wall | Homeowner Guide | Closet Solutions in Lincoln, Nebraska
I've got this in my dining room - didn't know it was so chic! Two closets flanking a built-in set of drawers. But in my case, the space above the drawers is open. At one time, the room was used as a bedroom. I think my grandparents also had this in their BR, in an old Philly row house. LOVE built-ins!
I don't know if it's barn doors or bypass doors, but would be some kind of solution so we can reach the blind areas of the closets. Specially the L-shaped on in on of the rooms. It's very hard to reach.
The idea of putting a bultin wardrobe where the closet is might be a good one, but not sure I can deal this now as I am dealing with a much bigger remodel that is already running late and over budget.
I would not replace the original doors, unless they were hanging on by splinters. Period.
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