Space-saving door ideas

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Hi

In our smallest bedroom we have a built-in cupboard with a doorway measuring 74cm width by 197cm height.

At the moment it's got a normal door on it but we want to put a single bed in front of the cupboard if possible. We can only do this if we can find a new door that doesn't eat into the room space when opened.

The best option we've found so far is something like this:

http://www.argos.co.uk/product/7003220

But it's too wide for our cupboard (and slightly too tall) and as it's made of plastic I'm assuming it can't be cut down to size.

Does anyone have experience of this type of door, or any ideas of how we can solve this annoying conundrum?

Many thanks!
 
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The door can be trimmed to height required , concertina style so fits any width up to dimensions given.
Or fit a curtain.
 
a concertina door will need a few inches into the room when open perhaps 3 or 4
do you have that clearence
 
What is the wall to the side of the door made of, and how much of it is there?
A sliding “pocket door” would be the ultimate solution - but potentially lots of work.
 
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This calls for a photo.
One that shows more than the hole.
 
Hi, thanks very much for the replies. Unfortunately a pocket door wouldn't work as there's no available wall next to it to use. Well, one side is a right-angle wall (the side of the house) and the other side is nothing because it's a built-in cupboard above the stairwell.

I think a concertina door might be the way to go. I've been having a look at other manufacturers and you can get lockable options (to keep our DIY tools safe from our curious toddler). We wouldn't have much space in from of the cupboard for the concertina panels to protrude, however I'm hopeful that we could mount it well enough inside the door frame so that it doesn't stick out much when open.
 
looking at the picture off the door it seems to have 7 full panel sections starting and finishing with a half and as the coverage is up to 840 that makes each section about 100 so half that each side off the track so around 60-75mm would be needed to be fully inside the frame when open
its worth pointing out the door will give no more sideways resistance than a heavy blanket will that be a problem with children and leaning ??
 
Last edited:
Hmm good point about children leaning. I wonder if we could mount a wooden baton on the inside of the cupboard floor to limit how much it could be pushed in from the bottom. Although I am hoping that if it had a bed in front of it, it might not be noticed too much.
 
again it would have to be between 60-75mm back to allow the door to open so in the closed position would give no support untill its pushed back that amount
these doors are very flimsy so wont support any weight
hows about a door in two halves at a point level with the top off the bedding ??
 
I realised after hitting send that the baton idea wouldn't help at all. Sigh. I thought I may have solved it but I'm having second thoughts about the concertina door. When you say these doors are very flimsy, is that based on experience of having owned one? Just curious, as I've never seen one in person before.
We toyed with the idea of a door above bedding level. It's just it would made the bottom chunk of the cupboard very difficult to get to as it would need to be boarded up. With a bed in front of it, there would at least be a little gap between bed and cupboard. And if necessary the bed could be pulled away to access.
I'm going to try and attach a few pics as it's difficult to explain the set-up in words...
 
Door pic 1.jpg
Door pic 2.jpg
Door pic 3.jpg
 
Please ignore the mess inside the cupboard! Part of the new door job is obviously going to be sorting out the cupboard contents!
 
I have had a concertina door before, yes flimsy and a pain in the rear.
The proposed curtain would probably be better.
 
i have fitted two for other people against my recommendation and both lasted less than a year
the sections are hollow plastic the walls are about 1mm thick and from memory about 6-8mm total thickness
and the fact including packaging it only weight 4.2kg tells you its flimsy:D:D
 
Well that's good to know about the flimsy concertina doors - I'm glad we found out now before spending time and money on one. I think we will scrap that option.

I'm now looking at tambour doors, but I'm not sure if they would even work in this scenario and suspect they would be very pricey even if they did.
 

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