Nice quality bifold doors would look like you are trying to maximize space, which, well, you are. I think the feeling of the free space in the room would more than compensate for the basic cheesiness of bifold doors. I'd suggest the louvered wood or wood-look kind, so as to allow free air flow and minimize cheesiness. Don't forget the potential of just a curtain in a doorway, too. Maybe enough for the library, but I suspect you'd want more than a curtain for the bathroom. Does the library even need a door or curtain at all?

Oooh, just looked at bifold doors at Home Depot. They have ones that have glass! Some that look like miniature French doors, some with a single pane, some frosted and some not. Those might be nice to let some extra light in. In my house I went for no door between the laundry and kitchen/nook, so that light from the back door wouldn't be blocked.

Hi Cathy,

Wow, I'll have to go to Home Depot soon! I was just saying to Joy yesterday that we need to go on a field trip/window shopping excursion to HD to look at ceiling fans, other light fixtures, and to just generally get inspiration. We're maybe 35 minutes from the store, so that's nothing. I hadn't even thought of checking them for bi-fold doors. I really like the idea of the little French doors! Thanks!

I've been kind of stumped on how to make the hallway brighter and maybe even interesting. The hallway starts from the kitchen and goes the whole way down to the bedroom on the end. It's dark and ugly. The first room on the left is the bathroom. Straight across is the (inoperable) back door, which is solid, i.e. no window in it. Immediately after the bathroom are the washer and dryer, with small cabinets above, and the hall gets very narrow. Then comes my little bedroom, and Joy is on the end. There's only one light, which is close to the bathroom, and it doesn't help that the walls are the original fake wood paneling of yore.

SO...a cute bathroom door would be one more idea for turning the hallway from blah to bright!

Other ideas are:

Replace the hideous light fixture with something pretty and add a matching one at the other end of the hall. Add a switch at the bedroom end so lights can be operated from either end.

When replacing the back door, definitely choose something with glass in it so light can come in. (Back door side of house faces north.)

The north side interior wall is a long stretch of nothing except the electrical panel. It will be replaced eventually, but in the meantime, I have an idea. Paint the walls white. On the north side, hang a series of large framed photographs of Cheney and Spokane, including a couple of historic photographs.

I've already found a couple I really love, but they won't be cheap. Light them appropriately. What do you think? I'll try to see if there's a way I can post a couple of the photographs here.

THANK YOU so much for looking at the bi-folds at HD and telling me about them. That was so thoughtful.

Have a great day!

--Debbie

Yeah, that long hallway that single wide homes inevitably feature tends to be dark. My mother painted all the paneling in her Florida retirement MH, using a special primer that made the paint stick without having to sand it. Sanding that fake paneling is usually not a good idea at all. Anyway, the walls came out very nicely, so feel free to paint them, just use the special primer.

Thanks so much for the tip! :-)