Our new home has more than its fair share of bi-fold doors. One set divides the future dining room from the main hallway, another closes off the corridor leading to most of the bedrooms (we removed one to squeeze a daybed through on moving day), and there’s a large pair in our bedroom that separates the sink area from the rest of the room.
There’s also a single bi-fold on the closet right next to the bedroom sink, plus three more that close off the other bedroom closets. In short: a lot of them. Many of those doors worked against the open, airy feeling we wanted, so we decided to remove most of them. Now the hallways feel much more spacious without all those folding panels.
Removing the little stub door that led to the back bedrooms helped the flow a lot. We still need to go back and patch and paint where the hardware sat, but the immediate impact on sightlines and light was noticeable right away.
Our master bedroom feels more open as well now that a few of the obstructions are gone. The visual clutter those doors introduced made the space read smaller; without them the room breathes and looks cleaner.
We didn’t remove every bedroom bi-fold immediately. For example, we took the bi-fold off our own closet because we kept bumping into it, but for now we’re leaving the other bedroom closet doors in place. For our closet we’re considering replacing the removed door with a heavy, floor-length curtain. A curtain would be softer visually, easier to move around while carrying a sleeping baby, and it would give us the flexible coverage we want without the tight swing or folding action.
One bi-fold remains between the kitchen and the laundry/mudroom. It’s not our favorite look, so its value is purely practical at the moment: with it in place there isn’t a straight, visible line from the carport into the main kitchen area. Without that barrier, someone at the side door can see directly into where we spend a lot of time.
We quickly learned that the side door to the carport is the one most visitors use. The previous homeowners joked that if someone comes to the front door, they’re probably selling something; typically, guests approach from the side. Because my wife often nurses in common areas like the kitchen table, we’d prefer a little more privacy than a clear glass side door allows.
For now the kitchen-to-mudroom bi-fold is staying put. Our plan is to frost the glass soon so daylight still pours in but views are obscured; once that’s done this door will likely be removed like the rest. It’s a small, practical update rather than a dramatic renovation, but it will make the kitchen feel more private without sacrificing light.
Instead of tossing the discarded doors, we’re donating them to Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore. That way they’ll find new life in another house instead of ending up in a landfill. ReStores are great places for salvaged building materials—old windows, doors, fixtures, and other finds—so it feels right to give these pieces a second home.
On a related note, we recently shared some tips about helping our baby, Clara, adjust to the new house. Moving can be confusing for little ones, so we focused on routines, familiar objects, and small comforts to keep her calm and secure during the transition. Those little steps really helped prevent crankiness and made settling in a lot smoother for all of us.