How To Repurpose Old Salvaged Doors for Closet

Salvaged doors for closet doors give you the custom look you want without the price tag!

We Started With No Closet Doors

We started with a blank canvas here, no closet doors to hide all the mess. This was a custom-sized opening so instead of reframing the opening for brand new doors, we chose to customize the doors for the opening.

Find Salvaged Doors to use For Closet Doors

I searched all the second-hand stores and sites and found two beautiful doors. Twenty-five dollars for both! My only requirements were that they needed to be taller and wider than my space, allowing for the perfect fit.

The doors got a good sanding and then two coats of primer before we cut anything to size.

Trimming Salvaged Doors Down to Size

I will just preface this by saying double, and triple check your math before you cut, you only have one shot.

The doors that we salvaged were actually old french doors that fit together. So we laid them out on the grass together to take our measurements.

Here is what our math looked like:

calculator and graphpaper with door size dimentions

Closet Opening: 78 ½ x 62 ¼

Door Measurements: 82 ¼ x 67 15/16

Subtract ⅛" Allowance: this allows the door to open and close smoothly

Length = Closet Opening - ¼" (allowance on both sides)

Height = Closet Opening - ¼" (allowance on top and bottom)

Man using table saw to trim down salvaged doors

Mark out your final measurments on the actual door and make your cuts.

Notching Doors For Hinges and Ball Joint

We had to add our own door hinges, these are the ones we used. Be sure to get ones that will support the weight of your door.

We marked our hinges out at 4 ½" down from the top and 7 ½" up from the bottom.

After marking around the hinge with a pencil, keeping the side of the hinge with the gap up to the edge of the door. We notched out the door using a chisel.

door hinge labeled showing gap and no gap side

Adding Ball Catch To Top of Closet Door

Adding this closet door ball catch we found on Amazon, allowed the door more stability. We followed the directions that came with the packaged and it worked perfectly.

The ball catch prevents the doors from swinging too far into the closet and from opening on their own. Holds everything in place just like a belt on your pants 🙂

Installing Doors

The pin on these hinges is not removeable so assembling these doors was a little tricky. We did a lot of measuring and used shims to hold the door ⅛" off the ground.

We also live in an old home with very crooked walls and floors so we did need to shave a little off our doors here and there.

salvaged doors for closet one installed one leaning

Brand New Closet Door Built From Salvaged Doors

salvaged doors for closet installed with doorknobs

Overall, we are very pleased with our $25 solid wood doors! Adding some reclaimed doorknobs to the front added the perfect touch to make them seem they were always this way!