Got slats? Repairing a bi-fold door

Last week I shared some of my goals for my home in 2012. I couldn't have picked a better time to take it one room at a time - I've got a cold that's kicking my butt, so making dinner is considered a serious accomplishment.

Yesterday I decided to take on a small project that I've been meaning to finish for months. When we moved in, the closets in our bedroom didn't have any doors. I found them stashed in the garage and decided to revive them with paint and new hardware. There was only one little problem - two of the doors were missing a slat, which meant that even after many, many coats of white paint and some pretty new glass knobs, they looked like this:

Please excuse our floors, refinishing them is on the 'to do' list. The missing slats were nowhere to be found and everything I read online implied that slats are only replaced if the door's frame somehow comes apart and one falls out (in which case you'd still have it), so replacement slats were apparently not going to be easy to come by. Months go by and then while Adam and I were picking up some more supplies for our basement reno this weekend (because apparently we can't accomplish anything without going to Kent and Home Depot 18726318763 times), I checked the mouldings aisle for something that could reasonably mimic a slat. Of course I didn't have any measurements with me, so I just picked out a piece of pine that looked like it would do the job. It turns out it wasn't quite wide enough, so definitely measure before you go to the store (duh). Anyway, I measured the openings when I got home and Adam cut two slats for me.

I painted them, added some wood glue to the edges and gently tapped them into place with a hammer. Then it was just a matter of touching up the paint and waiting for them to dry. As I said before, they're not a perfect match, but I don't think they stand out either.

You can see the difference between the two types of slats in this slightly out-of-focus close-up:

I assume no one will be closely inspecting my closet doors, so it's good enough for me. Did you finally finish any projects this weekend, or are you good about not letting projects get away from you?

In other news, it's my husband's birthday today! We celebrated with friends over the weekend, but I want to wish him a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY here on the ol' blog. Happy 29th!!