A little fabric and some new hardware are all you need. If you’ve ever lived or stayed in a rental, chances are you’ve come across those standard-issue, folding closet doors with the little vents. As a renter, you’re likely not willing to spring for a new set of high-end doors, but those basic bi-folds tend to make a room look, well, a little cheap.
Choose your fabric
The great thing about upholstery? There are near infinite options of fabric to choose from. In Turner’s case, she selected a gray linen. “We intentionally selected the same fabric as our drapery panels in this bedroom for an elegant and sophisticated look,” the designer explains. “Using the same nubby linen fabric for soft goods like draperies and then repeating it on upholstery can give a room a cohesive, cozy and elevated vibe.”
Prep the doors
“First, we removed any existing hardware, then we removed the doors from the hinges,” Turner explains. This can be done with a Phillips head screwdriver or a drill. “Next, we separated each bi-fold door individually and laid the door panels on a flat work surface.” Don’t think you need a fancy work table either—here, Turner’s surface was the floor.
Upholster the panels
Next step: upholstery. For a more high-end look, Turner used quilt batting to give the doors a bit of padding, attaching it with adhesive (“you can use staples, too,” she adds). Pro tip: “Be sure not to add batting to the sides or the bi-folds won’t close flat once doors are reassembled,” Turner advises.
Next, she measured the fabric. “We measured the length and width of the padded doors allowing for the extra loft of the batting,” she explains. “We took this measurement adding a few extra inches to be used either as a folded hem or to wrap around the sides.”
Once the fabric was cut, Turner wrapped it around the doors and secured it to the back with a staple gun—just as you’d do in a furniture upholstery project.
As an alternative, you could finish the upholstery at the front edge of the door, the designer suggests. “If you don’t want to wrap the fabric around the sides you can paint the edges of the door to match the most prominent color in your fabric,” she suggests. “In this case, you would create a 1″ to 2” folded pressed hem around all sides of each fabric panel, then align the folded fabric edges with the door edges, stapling the fabric around the perimeter of the door in even intervals. To finish off the edges and hide the staples, you could apply nailhead trim, passementerie braiding, or decorative taping.”
Replace hardware
Once the upholstery is secure, replace the door hinges and knobs. For an additional customization option, consider swapping in new knobs. In this case, Turner says, “we discarded the old knobs and replaced them with these extra large white knobs to give the doors a bit of Parisian flair.” In fact, the new knobs aren’t even knobs at all: “They were drapery finials we fashioned into knobs,” Turner reveals. Talk about creative customization!
