Easy DIY Mirrored French Bi-Fold Closet Door Makeover
How we created a vintage style, glamorous solution for our bifold French closet doors on our primary bedroom’s his and her closets.
Bi-fold doors aren’t all that cute. That’s just a fact, or at least it is to me because I’m extra.
But this closet door makeover we did to our bedroom’s bi-fold doors might just be my new favorite DIY project we’ve done.
Beginner Friendly DIY Closet Door Makeover
I LOVE how our French closet doors turned out! If you’re a beginner DIYer, the good news is this is a really simple semi-DIY that you don’t have to build from scratch.
We bought new doors with glass, but I wanted to add a mirror effect to hide the clothing in our closet and reflect some light to make our small bedroom appear bigger.
Adding mirrors is one of many tricks to make a small room look larger. One simple change made a huge difference.
So okay… quick recap before diving into the full tutorial.
Once upon a time there was a bedroom that needed a little bit of love with some bifold closet doors that really needed jazzing up.
Paint (and also Christmas decorations back in December 2017) made things better but Robert and I saw even more potential.
So Paint Job #2 happened and it was 1000% worth it…
Because it turns out that even though black paint seems scary in theory, it friggin’ rocks. Which brings us to the tale of the ugly closet doors.
We were so done with the simple hollow core doors that we originally painted dark charcoal because there was an opportunity there that this room was completely missing to upgrade the look of the room.
And that something was mirrored French closet doors! Ahhhhh! They’re so good!
How to Make Mirrored French Closet Doors
Supplies
- Glass front French bifold doors
- Primer
- Paint (I used the paint color Benjamin Moore Simply White in semigloss)
- Paint brush
- Masking Liquid
- Antique mirror film
- Spray bottle with water
- Xacto knife with sharp blades
- Squeegee or old credit card
- Glass knobs
- Antique brass backplates
We used the same glass insert French bifold doors that we installed in our laundry room a couple of years ago. They’re available at Home Depot, Lowe’s, Amazon, and several other home improvement suppliers.
But since we didn’t want our clothes visible from the outside, and we wanted these doors to reflect some light into this small-ish bedroom, we used our antique mirror film trick again.
Adding window film is one of those small projects that can make a big difference, especially to upgrade bi-fold closet doors.
If you’re sick of seeing this stuff on our projects, I’m sorry but also not sorry. Because it has been the perfect solution for incorporating a little texture while adding light into dark spaces.
Step 1 – Apply Masking Liquid to Prep
For the first step, apply masking liquid to the glass. Like we always do when painting interior doors, we brushed the glass (using our French door paint tricks) with masking liquid.
You can use painter’s tape instead, but it’s a tedious process I avoid.
Step 2 – Apply Primer
For the next step, once the masking liquid was dry after several hours, I applied Kilz 2 All-Purpose primer.
You can brush the whole thing including the glass with coats of paint or primer because the masking liquid allows you to easily peel it all off the glass later.
Step 3 – Apply Paint
Once the primer was dry, I painted on a fresh coat of white paint in the color Benjamin Moore Simply White semigloss on the folding closet doors like the rest of the trim in our house. (1 coat did the trick this time around.)
You can use a paint sprayer if you want a 100% perfect finish, but I prefer brushing on Benjamin Moore Advance which is self-leveling to eliminate brush strokes.
Even though we have dark charcoal doors almost everywhere else, we felt like a creamy white would add balance to the black walls that we painted with Kilz Complete Coat Rebel in satin.
Once the paint was dry, we scored the edges of the dried masking liquid on the glass in a straight line using a utility knife and peeled it away. Like we do on all of our French doors:
Step 4 – Add Door Handles or Knobs
We added these glass knobs with antique brass backplates as our solution to add a little vintage style to the look of the doors.
It’s amazing what a simple change like new handles or hardware can do for an entire room. Use modern hardware, if that’s more your style.
Step 5 – Add Mirror Film
To hide our clothes in the closet behind the glass, we added the mirror film next. The mirror film isn’t all that functional in terms of having a clear reflection like real smaller mirrors would have, but we didn’t want it to be.
It’s just enough to bounce light from the two windows in this room so that we have perfectly balanced lighting to make the room feel cozy, but not closed in.
- I measured the glass panes and cut the mirror film just slightly larger than I needed.
- It’s a good idea to use a spray bottle to spritz a little water on one glass pane and on the sticky back of the mirror film.
- I pressed the wet mirror film to the wet glass pane and smoothed out any air bubbles with an old credit card.
- Using a sharp Xacto knife, I trimmed any edges of the mirror film to fit the glass pane.
- For the final step, squeeze out any remaining air bubbles in the film and let dry.
That’s it!
I’m SO excited at how well it has all come together. It’s one of the easiest DIY closet door ideas ever and is a great upgrade from those builder-grade doors without needing any power tools.
You can choose to turn this bi-fold single door into small French double doors too.
Update: See our final primary bedroom reveal here!
And let me tell ya, with this black paint on the walls, I sleep so much better now. It feels like a cocoon in here at night. The two-tone effect of the white really makes these doors pop.
What do you think? Love? They’re way more glamorous and vintage-y than the bifold closet doors that were here before, that’s for sure.
UPDATE: You can see how we improved the inside of the closets with our DIY IKEA closet makeover using Billy bookcases!
After 5 years, we still love this door design on our bedroom. We now have variations of it in our home office, our friend’s home office, and in our laundry room!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I turn a bifold door into swinging French doors?
What can I use instead of bifold closet doors?
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