DIY Hidden Closet Part 2: DIY Slat Wall with Hidden Doors

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A DIY slat wall that’s also functional with hidden doors and custom shelving. Some projects are worth the extra effort, and this all wood slat wall with hidden doors is no exception! When I started this project, I truly had no idea what I was getting myself into. Build custom shelving into this oversized nook and cover it with a giant slat wall with hidden doors? No problem! Well, it only took me 4 months to complete (okay, real time when I was actually home and not sick, probably 2 months, but still…). The fact that I’m finally sharing all the details of this super duper custom slat wall closet thing (do we need to name this wall??) is quite exciting to me! So, let’s get into all the nitty gritty fun of it…

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How to Make a DIY Slat Wall with Hidden Doors

If you read Part 1 of this DIY, then you already know how to build custom shelving into an open nook. So, Part 2 is all about building and mounting the doors, applying the plywood backing, and adding gorgeous wood slats to create a gorgeous wood feature wall with hidden doors!

Tools needed:

Supplies needed:

¼ inch plywood sheets (I used maple from my local lumber mill – Kluttz Lumber Co)
Wooden slats (I had Kluttz Lumber cut ash to a custom size 1/2 inch x 7/8 inch x 10ft and bought plenty extra!)
Hinges
Wood Glue
Pocket Hole 1.5″ Screws
Brad Nails (length will depend on the thickness of your slats)
Wood Repair Paint (optional – used to hide plywood seams)
80/120/220 grit sandpaper
Lint-Free Cloths/Staining Pads
Sanding Sealer / Wood Conditioner (optional)
Wood Stain – I layered Early American and English Chestnut
Wipe-on Polyurethane in Clear Satin (My absolute go to for a flawless wood finish!)

You can save yourself a lot of time by buying pre-fabricated slat wall panels. It’ll cost more, but would save loads of time, especially with not having to sand all those slats!

1. Build Your [Hidden] Doors

Okay, so at this point we are starting with completed shelves and a wall. The next step is to build doors to fit the opening for the shelves. In my case, I chose to have two large openings with two sets of French doors. To build the doors, I measured the total width of each opening. I made sure to measure across at multiple points in case the frame was warped at all. It turned out that my “level” door jamb angled in toward the bottom by about 1/4″, so I built my doors based off of the narrowest part.

For French doors, to measure for the door width, first divide the total opening width in half. Since my total opening was 44.25”, that meant I had 22.125” per door. Next, subtract the space needed for the hinge (approx. 1/4”) and then subtract 1/8” for the opening between the doors. So, for my door: 22.125” – 1/4″ – 1/8” = 21.75” wide per door.

For the door height, I measured the height of the opening, and then subtracted 1/4″ to leave space on the bottom, and 1/4″ to account for the hinge on top. For my door: 8’3” – 1/4″ – 1/4″ = 8’2.5” tall per door. Do yourself a favor, and don’t make it so your doors are taller than 8ft like I did! It will make your life so much easier.

To build my doors, I used 1″ x 3″ x 8′ primed wood boards and attached them using pocket holes. I also added braces across the middle to help keep the door solid. If I were to do this again, I would definitely brace the doors with square aluminum to help keep them from warping.

2. Attach the Hinges and Mount Your Doors

Finding the right hinges for my hidden french doors was quite the task. I bought a total of 10 different sets of hinges before finding something that would support the weight, give the slats the needed clearance, and still be as hidden as possible. Luckily, these hinges are great quality, can support up to 110lbs, and are super affordable!

To mount the hinges, I used a self-centering drill bit – trust me, you need this! First, I attached the hinges to the doors. I drilled and attached one screw to hold it in place, making sure it was lined up perfectly. Then, I drilled and attached the remaining three screws. Do this for both top and bottom, making sure to attach the hinges so they open in the same direction.

Next, I mounted the doors to the frame. This part was a little more difficult, but I found it easiest to shim the bottom to hold the door up to the correct height and then drill and attach the screws. Once all doors are mounted, you can check the fitment and make any adjustments. At this point, I also labeled my doors to make sure I knew where each one belonged.

3. Attach Plywood Panels

For the 1/4″ plywood panels, I measured each space and cut the plywood to size accordingly. Since my ceilings are 9 feet tall, I had to piece together the top portion, but I made sure to keep the wood grain going in the same direction to keep it uniform. If you have seams, make sure to get them as tight as possible and plan any vertical seams to fall underneath a slat if possible.

Once cut, I sanded, stained and sealed the plywood panels. Next, I installed the plywood to the wall using a brad nail gun. For the doors, I thought it was easier to remove the doors and install the plywood with the doors laying flat. I also wanted to add extra strength to the doors, so I glued the plywood on and used pin nails to hold it in place while the glue dried. You can also clamp or add weight on top while the glue cures. Once the glue is fully cured, you can remount your doors!

For the seams between the plywood, as long as they are tight, they won’t be super noticeable once the slats are mounted. However, I did use this wood repair paint to disguise the ones that were more noticeable. It comes with lots of colors which you can also mix, and works surprisingly well!

Depending how you mounted your hinges, you may need to groove out a tiny bit of the plywood to accommodate the portion of the hinge that sticks out past the door. To do this, I just used my Dremel to shave off the tiny amount of wood to clear the hinge. Once the plywood is attached, re-install your doors. This is the point I worried that I just spent all this time to create a very 70’s wood panel wall… Thankfully, the slats completely transformed it into the high-end wood feature wall I envisioned for this room!

4. Cut, Stain & Seal Your Slats

First, you’ll need to determine how tall you need your slats to be. In order to make the wall and doors seamless, I cut all slats to the same length, based on the clearance needed for my doors. I lined the bottom of the slats up with the bottom of the door (1/4” off the ground), and then I left another 1/4″ for clearance to the ceiling. So, for my 9 ft ceilings (108″) I cut my slats to 107.5” long. I checked the fitment after cutting the first one to size to make sure it cleared the floor and ceiling for the full swing of the door. To cut the remaining slats, I created a stop for my miter saw to cut each slat to size without having to measure each one.

Once cut, it’s time to sand all these slats. Now, let me tell you, sanding 70+ tiny slats is no joke! To be fair, my slats were not pre-sanded, so they needed the full 80/120/220 grit treatment on all sides. It was a lot. It took many, many, many hours. This was my least favorite part of this entire project. But also one of the most important as proper sanding makes a big difference on the final finish! Once sanded, I stained each slat and sealed with three coats of wipe-on polyurethane.

5. Install Your Custom Wood Slat Wall with Hidden Doors

This part went SO FAST! The only tricky part here was making sure I had nails short enough to not shoot through the back of the door. To handle this, I used two different size nails – First I installed 1.25 inch brad nails to the portions of the doors that had the door frame behind it (top, middle, and bottom only). Then, once all slats were installed, I used 5/8” pin nails to tack in between. Alternatively, you could glue the slats on, but at this point in this project, that felt it was unnecessary and I didn’t feel like dealing with the inevitable mess.

To install the slats, I used a spacer at the bottom to set the slat at the correct height off the floor. That allowed me to set each slat down and know it was at the same height. I also used a spacer between each slat to keep the spacing even. I found it easiest to attach a few at a time from the top, and then nail in the middle, and the bottom for each one.

The only tricky part was hiding the doors. I planned it so the slats would line up to overlap the gaps between the doors. To do this, I used some scrap pieces to plan out where the slats would land, and adjusted the gaps just slightly to get them to cover the gaps. You can’t tell to the eye that the gaps between the slats vary slightly, and I felt that covering the door seams was more important than having slightly varying spacing between my slats. For the 4 slats that overlapped the gaps, I had to notch out a small part to clear the hinges. I used my jigsaw and my Dremel to notch out the tiniest amount possible. I then painted the raw wood from the notch with my wood repair paint and you can hardly see it!

Stay Tuned for Part 3 where I share all the finishing touches!

Check out the other room transformations on the One Room Challenge Blog!