Saloon no more!

A week or so ago I bought replacement doors for the guest bedroom (a.k.a Mum and Dad's room) at the cottage. We didn't get a chance to install them last weekend, so we (the royal we again) got to work on them this weekend.

Here's what the doors used to look like, for reference:

It was a good weekend for getting things done. Right after we arrived a severe thunderstorm rolled through. It scared the pants off me! I'm pretty sure lightning struck the island, it was so loud. You could hear the hissing before the massive crack of thunder.

Anywho. After the thunderstorm the temperatures dropped like a stone. It was overcast, cool, and breezy for the rest of the weekend. We were perfectly content to hide out indoors and get some things done.

First the old doors had to come out and the new doors had to be unpacked. We opted to go with hinged bifold doors (with the hinges removed) again. Why?

A: because everything in this cottage is unhinged already, so why break with tradition?!
B: because a full door would open too far into the hallway would be an impediment. The room would get too hot if the door had to stay shut all the time.

So, I bought a 30" bifold (track included - even though we didn't use it) for about $48, I think. New, at Lowes. The six-panel style matched the door on our room across the hall.

Once the doors were roughly fit into the opening (and I say "roughly". Nothing about that door jamb is square or even straight, for that matter.), Dad marked the location for the hinges, and set about chiseling out a spot for the hinge on the side of the door.

Then they hung it up.

With both doors hung we realized they wouldn't close! Although the opening is 30" top and bottom, there's a wow in the door-jamb about halfway down that narrows the opening. Dad had to take one of the doors out to the deck and carve off 1/8" down the length of it with the skil saw.

The doors fit well after that, and closed properly. They still look wonky, because the door jamb is so darned crooked. But, they look better than the saloon doors, are more private, and the hallway looks tidier.

We still need to pick up more/better handles because the the screws for the current ones are too short (we knew they would be - they're meant for thinner cabinet doors) and we forgot to account for having handles both inside the doors, and out. Looks better, no?