I would rip it all out, including 8" wall between them, and start over

OR

Do nothing at all.

No halfway options just for looks. If I am going to touch it, then it needs to be to increase closet space and improve organization.

I totally agree this is rip out and start over design an actual space that gets you what you need .The shoert space can have drawers at the bottom and some short hanging space or even shelving then with thta middle wall removed the other side designed for what you have

agree with starting over, Barn doors NO.

Clean it all up and edit. make the space a nice built in hanging on top, drawers on the bottom.

Barn doors are for barns.

Just curious, is this a house in California?

The basement header issue cannot be changed.

Of course the rip out would be my preference but, as only one project of many towards renovating my home - the budget isn't there.

Thus, my question was particularly about the solution I had come up with.

I only needed help with the sizing and operating details.

I am NOT a barn door fan either but, unless I am given another solution - such is life!

Anna, I am not in California.

Easiest solution to solve this visually would be to paint the doors and trim the same colour as the walls. Slightly more work, add trim to the left side that matches the trim on the right. Slightly more work again, remove the horizontal trim piece currently at the bottom of the short door.

https://www.bhg.com/doors-and-walls-painted-same-color-8652222

If you still feel someone might see this, add a piece of eye-catching wall art nearby.

It's not the perfect solution but "Perfection is the enemy of progress."

I asked about California because i had seen very similar in a few houses. one was in a rental my son had some years back and another was when I was house hunting. We were sort of shocked to see the same closet configuration but since moving to California I hate to say this but I’m seeing a lot of “head scratching” home design.

Can you show us the insides of the closets? Might help with a solution.

This is reminiscent of cabinet cupboards in older homes with sloped ceilings or closets built over stairs. Until $$$ renovation go with the matching paint color on doors and trim.

What about a bifold barn door?

Or hidden track sliding door?

I saw a picture once of a double door that was covering the opening of a pantry but not set into a door jam. They were surface mounted on the wall. I wonder if that is possible?

With double bypass barn door hardware

I would remove the bottom trim from the shorter door and run new side trim all the way down. Then just paint everything the wall color.

@Debbi Washburn @lisedv Yes, I have found these options - and I asked for advice on them. Are you able to reread my post? All the info is in there. I can probably figure out the best drieciton - I was just hoping for some info to help. Thanks for not telling me to to rip it out though! :)

I really like @katinparadise's suggestion. And now that I've seen @lisedv's mockup, I like it even more.

Apart from my personal dislike of barn doors, which of course doesn't matter if you like them, I don't think they're a practical choice for this application. You'd never be able to have access to both closets at the same time. What you have now lets you open both doors fully. It may even allow for adding storage to the backs of the doors, which can be useful, depending on your storage needs.

What if you remove the doors, build a frame around the whole area and hang standard doors on the frame.? It would look like a standrd reach in closet.

What do you think of the idea of simply using paint? So simple, and if you want a more complicated solution in the future you can always do that.

We hung barn doors from the ceiling in between our dining and family room. It solved a problem and works well but it’s not bypass.

Rather than searching for the right size I made the doors. It wasn't that hard but it is important to find out how much weight your hardware is rated for to keep under that limit.

@auntthelma

That's what I had done in my 1st mockup minus the bump-out at the bottom on the left side.

With the bump-out:

Just painting them to blend in would be easiest, and could be an interim solution while you ponder.Barn doors also seem like a sensible solution. I did personally think the bifold barn doors looked awkward, and using them would possibly also be awkward. Building the wall out enough to install two proper doors would look really nice, but would be a big project.

Thanks for mocking that up @lisedv! It seems to me to be the simplest and least expensive solution. If there was room on either side of the closets, bypass barn doors would be a good solution but IMO, they're heavy and very expensive. I think the next best solution is what lisedv proposed-building a frame in front of the whole thing and hanging new matching doors.

I am going with the idea that @Debbi Washburn showed in her pic. This not only covers up the two different sized doors, but also visually unifies the two separate closets as one. Thank you for all your ideas much appreciated!