Installing Pocket Doors in the Closet

Our closet has been a really fun project, and something that added tangible value to our home, both in square footage and utility. But ever since the room was created, we haven't had functioning doors. Until this week!

Pocket doors are actually really simple to hang, once the frame is in  place. The frame is the hard part and takes a lot of planning ahead. The frame is the part inside the wall and there are a few types. There are kits that include a whole frame that you just set in place, and it matches the standard thickness of an interior wall; though you do need to make sure you choose a kit that matches the size of your door. There are also kits that just include the tracks, and you can build your own frame. This is the direction we went because it allows you to build out the wall a bit more and get some extra rigidity. Our frame was built with 2x4s, set on the narrow. You can see the sideways 2x4 in this photo:

Hanging the doors was a lot more straight forward. The pocket door kit comes with the slides and brackets you need - simply attach the bracket to the top of the door with the included screws, attach them to the slides, and lock the hardware in place.

The real tricky part is the hardware/handle. We ordered our doors from Simpson Door Company  (8'x2' 84642 Bravo Collection with Ovolo sticking and a raised panel - though Simpson didn't sponsor the project they did send us the doors), and they came as just slab doors with no frame or holes for hardware. This was on purpose because every set of pocket door hardware is different - there's no standard like there is with door knobs.

Jules found some beautiful polished nickel hardware by Emtek that we both loved. It came with this helpful, detailed template that we used to mark our drilling locations both on the edge and face of the door. We started with the edge hole, picking a drill bit that matched the width of the marked area, drilling pilot holes, then using a chisel to finish the rest.

The face holes were the scary ones. We used a key-hole saw that matched the size of the template to get the perfect round at the and bottom of the handle location, then cut the rest with an oscillating tool.

Once the doors and hardware were in place, we framed out the door jamb with primed pine 1x4s, and painted everything the same Lamp Room Grey to match the inside of our closet and the trim in our bedroom.

We love it so much. It just feels so nice to finally have doors to this room, and the 8ft height, mirroring the doors out to our new balcony, makes everything feel so grand.

Doors are so common in a home, often easy to ignore or look past. But these feel like an actual fixture. A deliberate design decision (which they were) to create a new vibe for the main bedroom suite in this home. Doors where once was a wall, framing out a closet where once was nothing. It's so motivating, and really builds our confidence to rethink even more areas of our home.

We're waiting for a few final touches to the closet and then will share all of THOSE before and afters!!

SOURCES

Pocket Doors
Pocket Door Track Kit
Pocket Door Hardware
Paint Color: Farrow & Ball Lamp Room Gray
Vanity
Vanity Chair
Lamp
Chandelier
Leather Ottoman