New Project – DIY Sliding/Rolling Doors
Y’all, I have become absolutely obsessed with a particular idea over the last few days. I can’t get it out of my mind, and I’ve spent every spare moment over the last three days researching possibilities online. I’ve been like a dog with a bone. Here’s what I’m talking about…
Ever since I posted those repurposed doors projects on Tuesday, I haven’t been able to get this idea for sliding “barn style” doors out of my mind for my home.
For a very long time now, I’ve dreamed of being able to put French doors on these two doorways…
The doorway between the entryway and music room doesn’t exist yet, but hopefully it will in the next couple of months. The doorway between the music room and the sunroom is there now, and it’s just a roughed in doorway (i.e., no jambs, or casings, just 2 x 4’s). It used to have a sliding glass door there, but Matt’s dad removed that when he was here in February (Matt had an impossible time with that door and couldn’t open it and get through it), so it has looked like this ever since.
I haven’t wanted to do anything with it until I came up with a definite plan for that doorway and the other one that I’ll be building. And can you see the hollow core door lying on its side? That’s what I use as a gate to keep our dog Boo in the back room when I don’t want him following me around like a shadow during the day, and to keep him back there during the night. That sunroom is basically Boo’s room for now.
The problem with French doors that swing open is that we really don’t have the room for them. If we just left them open all the time, I could make that work. But what’s the point of having French doors that can’t actually be closed? Plus, trying to open and close French doors that swing open would really be difficult for Matt.
I could do pocket French doors on the doorway that I’ll be building between the entryway and the music room. But the other doorway is an original exterior wall, and it’s carrying a very heavy load. (That back wall and the front wall of the house carry the load from the rafters.) The last thing I want to do is rework that wall (or pay someone to do that) to accommodate pocket doors. So that idea is a no go.
But rolling doors? That I could do!
Once I realized that, that’s where the obsessive research kicked in. I think I’ve visited every single site there is online that sells sliding barn door hardware. While the pieces that attach to the doors come in all kinds of styles, the actual track basically comes in two styles, regardless of the company that sells them. The first style is the flat track, which is a flat piece of metal up on end, and the pulley wheels track along the edge of that piece of metal.
And then there’s the tubular kind that looks like this…
I definitely like the tubular kind better for my house because it has a cleaner, less industrial look. So I priced them out for the size I would need.
For each door, the price came to just over $550, and that doesn’t include shipping. So for my two doorways, I’d be paying over $1100 just for the hardware. That doesn’t even include the doors.
I’ll be very honest. For a short time, I considered contacting these companies to see if one of them would be willing to furnish the hardware for free in exchange for the publicity on my blog. But after giving that some thought, I decided not to. I decided that sliding door hardware that is that expensive really doesn’t fit into my goal of sharing ideas for decorating a house on a budget. I can’t imagine that there are many DIYers out there who are on strict budgets who would be able or willing to pay that kind of money for something like that. So I scratched that idea.
Then that led me to searching for DIY barn door hardware. There really are lots of great tutorials online for making your own sliding barn door hardware for a fraction of the cost. Probably the best and clearest one that I came across was this tutorial from Epbot.
After reading that tutorial, I knew that was something I could do.
The problem is that I just really don’t like the look of these rolling barn door tracks for my own home. I love how they look in homes that are more industrial, or cottage style, or farmhouse style. It seems perfect for those styles of interiors. But my house is none of those things.
So my search continued, and I finally came across this DIY rolling door from Crisp Interiors, featured in Country Living.
This is completely different. There are not big, bulky pulley wheels across the top track. They put casters on the bottom of the doors instead. And the track is just less invasive looking. With this design, the doors get the attention rather than a big huge track with pulley wheels and straps at the top.
And can you tell what it’s made of? It’s galvanized conduit with 90-degree elbows and flanges that attach to the wall. The things holding the doors to the conduit are simply large eye screws. It’s a brilliant and very simple design.
So I’m basically going to start with this idea, but I’m going to make one design change. The one thing I don’t like about that design is the eye screws. While the other barn door hardware all seems way too bulky for my taste, the eye screws on this design don’t quite seem substantial enough. I wanted something in between. So I racked my brain trying to come up with an idea that would work. And finally yesterday afternoon it hit me. This is what I needed…
This is a galvanized malleable iron tee, and you can find it right there by the conduit and all of the fittings that go with conduit in the hardware store.
Once I found my solution, I could not get in my car and drive to Home Depot fast enough to see for myself if my idea would work. And I do believe it will.
I purchased 1/2-inch conduit, and then I bought two 3/4-inch tees for each door. The 3/4-inch tee fits right over the 1/2-inch pipe almost perfectly and slides very easily. In order to connect these to the doors, I purchased the shortest nipples available. It will screw into the bottom of the tee, and then fit into a hole that I’ll drill on the top edge of the door. Since these won’t actually be carrying any weight (the doors will be on casters), and their only job is to hold the doors upright, I think this design will work beautifully.
I AM SO STINKING EXCITED TO DO THIS!!! I mean, I’m giddy about it. I will be elated if it turns out like it looks in my brain and actually works.
Oh, and the best part is that I think I can use some of my doors for this project. If that works out, I won’t have any need to buy new doors! (Because I can never find matching doors at ReStore, so I’m certain that finding four matching in the right size would be next to impossible.)
My tentative plan is to use the four 30-inch doors that I’ll have available once I replace my interior doors. I want to strip all of the layers of paint off of them, and then cut out the entire section with the top four recessed panels. So I want to remove this whole section…
…and replace it with glass.
The only thing I haven’t decided is how I want to paint/finish the doors. Do they need to be painted black to match all of the other interior doors? Or could I do something special/different with these since they’re clearly going to be different…and special…anyway?
I haven’t been this excited about a project in a very long time. And honestly, all of the issues with the kitchen lately have had me very discouraged over the last couple of weeks, and really not wanting to work on my house at all. So I’m glad to have a project that I can actually get excited about again. I can’t wait to get started on this!
And for those of you who keep asking about the kitchen, no you didn’t miss the big reveal. I’m kind of at a standstill until I get the replacement doors and drawer fronts (since I ruined the originals by leaving them in the rain) and my hardware from Pottery Barn. Once I get that stuff, I can finish up my kitchen. Until then, all I can do is wait. 🙂
Helpful sources and products:
If you missed my post showing different ways to repurpose old wood doors, you can see that here…
Update:
I made the DIY barn door hardware! Click here to see it…
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
Are you worried about the bottom casters scratching your wood floors? Or are the doors light enough that it shouldn’t be an issue or are there casters out that that will not mark the floors?
I can’t wait to see what you build, you are so creative.
I was thinking the same thing. I think there are castors on the market that have a more rubberized wheel over the metal that we are used to seeing – that would take care of that problem.
The doors are relatively lightweight. They’re old, and they’re all wood, but they’re also hollow core. They’re very different from the molded MDF hollow core 6-panel doors that you find in home improvement stores today. The casters that I bought have very small rubber wheels on them. I don’t anticipate them being a problem at all. But if they do leave marks, I’ll just chalk it up to “character” and pretend like the doors have been there for decades and the wear marks are just part of the charm of the old sliding doors. LOL
Your brain amazes me! LOL I am excited to see how this turns out and I love your idea of using doors you already have. I also love the idea of painting them black. The glass will be the lighten them and keep them from looking too heavy. I also had a thought. If the hardware still looks too harsh after you are done, perhaps making a pelmet/valance out of wood would look nice and cover the hardware. You could paint it white and copy the trim design you are using around the other doors. I have felt your saddness? or maybe frustration in your last few posts. I am so glad your creative sole has something to do while you wait for your supplies to finish the kitchen. It is odd to care so much about someone I have never met! LOL But you have a whole lot of people you don’t even know rooting for you every day! Have a lovely and productive weekend! And give those furbabys some love!
Sheila
Sadness, frustration, discouragement…you name it, I’ve felt it over the last few days. But now I feel like the fog is lifting. 🙂
The finished doors will look gorgeous, no matter what color you’ll choose. I just wonder if the sound of the iron tees moving along the conduit wouldn’t be quite irritating.
Oh, I’ve already thought of that and I have a solution. 😉 I’ll share after I try it and know for sure it’ll work. 😀
http://www.vintagerevivals.com/2014/06/how-to-build-a-lightweight-sliding-barn-door.html
Kristi — you might want to look at this one if you haven’t already. Same principle as you are going with.
I LOVE THIS BLOG! Carla THANK YOU so much for posting the link to the tutorial for a lightweight version of the sliding barn doors. I have looked at the same doors Kristi looked at but ruled them out because the hardware was so expensive or the doors were too heavy/massive looking. While Kristi is phenomenal in all that she does, her readers are just as phenomenal with their feedback. Thank you again for posting!
Will the doors not swing back and forth a bit? I do love the idea but think a finished look on old doors would be nicer instead of the shabby look. You amaze me with your talent. Go for free when it works for sharing the company’s products.
I considered this option for my house, but I had the same concern as above about the double sliding doors swinging out at the bottom, especially with small kids in the house. Seems like you’d be able to just push on the doors when closed and they would swing., Love the look though!
I can’t imagine that they’ll swing. They won’t be hanging. They’ll actually be sitting on the floor on casters, so their own weight will keep them from swinging. They’re not solid wood doors (they definitely have hollow areas), but they’re all wood and they’re more substantial and heavier than the molded hollow core six-panel doors sold today.
If the doors swing out any, “Sawdust Girl” had a solution for her doors…. http://sawdustgirl.com/2014/06/09/barn-door-installation/
Kristi, I love the idea and know you will pull it off beautifully!
Thanks for posting this link. I just read thru it…… Great visuals and info.
Great ideas, Kristi. I was also thinking about the bottom of the doors swinging out, and I think if you use fixed wheels (and not the kind that roll around) that are mounted so that they roll in only two directions (left and right), that will solve the problem. Ummmmm, is this clear?
Yep, that’s the kind I bought. 🙂 I don’t expect there to be any problems with them swinging out since they’ll only roll open and closed.
Kristi the 30″ doors are beautiful. Taking out the center to open up for windows will look great. Have you thought about just removing the 4 recessed panels and putting the glass in those spaces? That way the beauty of the craftsmanship of the door is not so dramatically altered. All your research has given me some great ideas for my own home. Thanks!
I actually did consider that. I looked at so many pictures of doors over the last few days, and when I decided to remake mine, my first thought was just to remove the panels and insert glass. So I searched for pictures of that design specifically, and I really wasn’t crazy about the look. :-/
Interesting. I didn’t realize that when I remarked a little bit ago. I actually thought you WERE going take just the panels out (like in the first picture). I’m sure it’ll look great that way too. (But I DO still like the doors in first picture 🙂
I like your solution a lot. However, you got me thinking about a less-industrial look and the thought popped into my head that you could buy much less expensive track hardware used for closet doors, mount it to the outside of the frame instead of the inside, and then box out a small cornice with trim to cover it. The trim could match the rest of the interior trim. I know most of them are dual-track (for bypass doors), but maybe they make single-track ones or you could use the tracks they sell for bi-fold doors, which are single-track.
What a great idea. Just. Great!
Kristi,
Everytime I read your blog I am so inspired. You are unbelievably creative. I think your idea for the sliding doors is super smart. I had no idea that the hardware was so costly. So thank you for sharing a great solution. I was noticing from the look of your floorplan it looks like your only option is placing the doors on the inside of the music room…or maybe you have more wall space than the plans show. Either way I can’t wait for the reveal.
My floor plan isn’t exactly to scale. 🙂 There will actually be room on the entryway side of the wall for the doors, and then on the doorway between the music room and the sunroom, the doors will go on the music room side of the wall.
Got it. I can’t wait to see the reveal. Hahaha…..the pressure is on. All of us (your fans) are going to be anxiously awaiting this newest project. Hahaha…..does your mind ever rest? I need to start taking whatever it is you take.
Brilliant!!!
What a great idea! I can’t wait to see how they turn out.
http://www.bowerpowerblog.com/2014/07/dude-i-built-a-door/
Katie Bower built her own door for a barn door project.
I like the idea of casters … it will make it easy for Matt to navigate them. Is there enough room on either side of the door or will the doors extend into the doorway when open? Will that look funny with glass inserts? Just something that popped in my head. Ignore me and carry on with your awesome project!
I’ve looked at sooooo many pictures of sliding doors over the last few days, and the ones with glass are my favorite. When they’re open, they have the same effect as swinging French doors when they’re open. And I actually saw several that were exactly the style that my doors will be once I remake them, with two panels at the bottom, and a large rectangle of glass at the top. They looked really pretty, so I hope I can pull it off! 🙂
You are so creative!! True I paid a good amount for the hanging hardware, but I got the doors for $50 each at auction, and they are 8 ft doors.
Anita, that image of your doors has been etched in my brain for days now. 🙂 Your entire house is just absolutely gorgeous, and looks so high end with so many beautiful designer details. Those doors are amazing. I can’t believe you got them or $50 each!! What a find!
Thank you Kristi! I know yours will be beautiful. I think you are going to love having the glass in the doors. As you know, it’s amazing what you can do with old things. I used an old garden post for my stairs newel post. It was NOT expensive either. I am so impressed with all you do!!
Wow! You’re some kind of genius, aren’t ya??
Yes. Yes, I am. 😀 LOL
LMAO!
Oh I’m so excited. I’ve been wanting to do this but the hardware was so expensive that I put idea aside thinking yeah one day. But now I’m going to do it! Yeah for both of us. Cheers.
Wow, I’m excited to see how the doors turn out!
I’d say to paint those doors black as well. Disregarding the other interior door colors, I just think it would look gorgeous. Ultimately, go with whatever finish fits your vision for the music room.
Are you planning on painting the hardware/pipes?
Yes, I’m painting all of the hardware black. I actually bought a black iron conduit pipe (instead of galvanized steel) so that even after it’s painted, if the paint rubs off from the opening and closing of the doors, the rail will still be black.
I’m interested to see how it turns out. Kristi, don’t leave your doors outside… it might rain!!! 😉
Ha! Yeah..no kiddin! 😀 I definitely learned my lesson on that one.
I am so glad you are doing this!! I literally just got done meeting with our architect this morning since we are adding a two story addition on to our house. The bottom floor will be a family room w/murphy bed (so if you ever find any cool murphy bed ideas I would love to see them) for our parents when they visit. We were trying to find a way to close off the room when they visit but we don’t really have room for a regular door and then I saw your blog yesterday. It’s the perfect idea for addition!!!! But then, like you, I saw how crazy expensive the hardware is! Then today to my surprise you are doing a DYI on it, I can’t wait to see how it turns out. I’ll be going to our local ReStore (which is dangerously less than a mile from our house) tomorrow to look for doors now.
Plus, my husband loves you. We don’t really have money to buy all new kitchen cabinets so I’m just going to buy more the same style as our for the few we will need for the addition, add trim and them paint them all to match. You’ve saved us a ton of money!!
Wow! Also having seen the inspiration photo, I was just about to purchase the conduit, wheels, and eye screws to hang this exact configuration for my own door….but now I will wait to see yours! I too wondered whether the eye screws would look out of scale or inappropriate to hang a heavy door, but your solution takes care of that. Thank you! I cannot wait to see the finished door installation!
Oh Kristi, I can’t wait to see what you do here! And THANK YOU for not asking a vendor to provide it for you. I know that in the long run that would be easier for you, but as one of your readers that couldn’t afford it, I THANK YOU for figuring this out for the rest of us!
Kristi,
I love, Love, LOVE this idea! With the glass in the doors it will let light come into the hall and the music room from the sunroom. I think you will love it, too and your hardware idea looks like a winner.
I also loved the example with the stained glass in it – very pretty but not exactly conducive to lightness.
Thank you so much for coming up with a DIY solution to such an expensive project, I have been racking my brain trying to figure out how to close off my massive closet that I just put in . I have always loved this look and now I am going to follow your lead and do the same. Brilliant as ever Kristi!
Wanted to suggest not just plain glass, but some of the decorator type class for the top parts of the doors. For example: http://www.wgsonline.com/glazing/decg.html
Nice! You know, I recently suggested barn style doors as a possibility to one of my clients but I wasn’t gung-ho on such a rustic or industrial style for their particular project. But I liked the basic idea. Now I see that if I’d done a little more research like you did I would have found alternatives to the standard hardware found in the better known companies that sell this stuff. I love what you are going to be doing, wish I’d thought of it first and can’t wait to see the progress! And p.s., imo, your doors can be something other than black.
Ingenious!! I like The way your mind works and I appreciate that you share your ideas with the world!
Shout out to the other Betsy on here!
I would not survive inside your mind – I wouldn’t be able to keep up! I love your DIY version and one night this week on “Fixer Upper” (HGTV) they removed panels from doors & replaced with glass to separate common areas and they were amazing! I really appreciate that you take the time to figure this out for us. As for paint color, my first thought is to go black and create a statement with them.
I did the same thing but built my own sliding doors using 1×4 and 1/4″ paneling. I then built a header to hide the track.
The track was from lowes and cost $14.00 and I aligned the two doors on the same track so the would open like library doors.
I don’t think your cool doors will need to be black…do something Kristi-fun!!!
Blessings,
J
I really like this idea. I could never get into the “music room” idea because to me, it looks like a hallway, a way of getting from one room to another. I have always loving the “sliding barn door” look & think you have hit upon a creative, cost effective way of creating a room, plus giving your house another interesting feature. Well done! I look forward to seeing the real thing!
Perfect! I read the part of your post about the door hardware being too bulky, and I immediately remembered the tutorial that you finally found and are going to use. With your own special Kristi modifications of course! I was rushing to the bottom of the post so I could send you the link, and there it was! Should have known you’d get there before I hauled my butt out of bed and read your post today 😀
Here is a link to a blog that I read a couple weeks ago about a gal putting in a similar door to her laundry room. She at first tried to use a regular size door and ended up having to make one that fit better because the door is hanging so far above the opening, it was too short. I wonder if you could add onto your doors at the bottom in a graceful way. I’m sure you could, you are so good at all this stuff! http://www.bowerpowerblog.com/2014/07/on-the-right-track/
Thanks for the conduit idea! I have some in the garage that used to be a curtain rod. The current bathroom door bangs into the toilet of my 5×8 1950 bathroom. There is a closet on the other side of the wall that I can steal a few inches from so the door has somewhere to go when it’s open. So much less expensive and better for me than the Pintrest I saw using scooter wheels..
I love sliding doors and I love the brainstorming you do. If others want a sliding door but aren’t as handy as you, Layla at the Lettered Cottage found her hardware for only $85 (http://theletteredcottage.net/library-pocket-door-on-sliding-barn-door-hardware/) but if you have more than one door that can add up pretty quickly! I can’t wait to see your solution! 🙂
I think you could color match the doors to each room, and even have either side of the door different colors. These are going to be room dividers, and so it would be the best opportunity to make them transition pieces.
Brilliant problem solving. I could have used that a few month ago for a tricky space iI have in a room.
Can’t wait to see hoe it all turns out
Kristi,
I love that look and think it is going to be beautiful and function wonderfully in your home! I know you’re worried about finding doors that match but I’ve done that with my house by looking on Craigslist, looking at the Habitat stores and other places that like. I live in a suburb to the northeast of Dallas and know a lady here who has a bunch of salvaged doors she is trying to get rid of now, in case you are interested. Contact me by my email and I can give you her name and phone number. I know that that is a drive for you but if you could get doors that match and for the price she is selling them, the drive would be worth it for you. She has some fantastic doors for sale for great prices. Anyway, I’m excited for you and so glad you are feeling better and excited about another project!
WOW!! I couldn’t believe when I opened your blog today!!! I am planning on installing barn doors in my sons apartment but hadn’t yet investigated a DIY……you just did it for me.
Wow! That is going to look so great and I just love that you decided to make the tracks yourself rather than going the sponsored route – I so respect your reason behind that!
Personally I would be a little worried about the possible noises of metal touching metal at the top of the track… So the idea of lining the pipe tee with something like felt popped into my head.
^ Of course after typing all of the above I saw the comment where you said you have something in mind for that. Can’t wait to see it!
You and I obviously think alike, Brynne, because that was my exact idea — lining the inside of the tee with felt. 🙂 I sure hope it works!
Kristi, since you’re a DIYer, you probably know about Rockler.com. They carry two products that might be of help. One is felt tape, sold by the foot: http://www.rockler.com/felt-tape-select-size-needed
The other product is a nylon tape for friction-free movement: http://www.rockler.com/nylo-tape-friction-free-drawer-slide-tape-choose-thickness
The latter is great to use on drawer bottoms when you don’t want to use slides or for repairing old drawers that don’t slide readily.
I have always said that barn doors are the answer to many door problems. I have incorporated them into our new build. The take up no space are so hip these days. Plenty of how to’s and where to buy them on the internet. Like you, we are gerrymandering ours. Find what works and copy of refitted it your purposes. I have always felt that the wheels on the bottom made much more sense. Glad to see that the old thinking cap is back on! Blessings.
I have an idea that would make pocket doors feasible. On the music room side of the former outside wall: build a false wall to sandwich the pocket doors inside.
I like your solution to the hanging door problem–I was thinking like one of the respondents above, and thinking of closet door tracks or some-such. My objection to hanging barn doors is that they look like hanging barn doors–too many giant wheels and wrought iron fittings. I’ve seen quite a few applications of the idea in traditional, contemporary, etc. houses, and to me they just look out of place (and need to go back to Old MacDonald.)
Best wishes on this project.
I’ve been researching how to do barn doors for less as well. I’ve never come across the one that you posted from Crisp Interiors. It’s definitely an interesting idea and I’ll wait to see how you make it work with the different fittings. The cheapest suggestion I found was to actually contact a farm supply company for the rail and the wheels. I’ve been able to source them for a cost of $80 combined in Canada. You’ll have a much easier time of it in the US, for sure!
Oh my goodness!!! I am so excited to see this go from your mind to reality! I love your inspiration from country living and I know yours will be even more awesome!! I truly love how you just go from one project one day to a completly different one the next. It’s why I love your blog–you keep me on my toes! 🙂
Love the idea of the sliding glass paned doors! Do all four doors HAVE to be the same width? Could you use 30″ ones on one doorway and 32″ ones on the other for example? Would doing that allow you to recycle the ones you have? Will you be able to use the same trim design on the sliding doors as on the rest of the doorways?
I’m glad to hear you’ve regained enthusiasm for your home. And, you’re not just sitting around waiting to be able to finish your kitchen, you’re forging onward with other projects! Just consider it a slight vacation from the kitchen.
I think with the panes of glass, painting the doors black would continue the continuity with all the other doors in your home.
Onward and Upward!
I just LOVE your blog. Just bought an old house built between 1860 and 1890 and I know I’ll be looking stuff up here. You do awesome work and you have fantastic ideas. I wish I could afford to have someone come in and give me ideas!
I read this post so eagerly! I have been wanting to put a pair of sliding/barn-style doors between my Kitchen and Dining Room, but I, too, do not like either the look or the price of the hardware available. I’ve seen several tutorials to DIY it, but like you, I didn’t love the look of the track options I’ve seen. But the one you’re going to go with is new to me, and I love it! I’m so excited now to finally have a way to bring my vision to reality!
But I have a question — we have been unable to find an affordable pair of narrow doors to fit the opening (we even thought of using the panels of a bi-fold door, but they’re too short) so I’m wondering if you think it would be feasible to cut a regular, solid, six-panel door in half (top to bottom), finish the cut edges, and use them? Because we have an extra door that’s the right size that matches the others in our home. I’d love to hear if you think it would work!
I think it’ll work fine as long as you’re okay with the recessed panels on each section not being centered on that section. If it’s an extra door, I say try it!
Love, Love, Love the sliding doors. Go for it. You are an inspiration.
Here is a copy of what I put in your facebook feed in case you don’t see the url. We just finished the same thing LAST NIGHT! We got most of our parts at Habitat for Humanity Restores. Price was right and you are reusing hardward, etc someone else was getting rid of. Best wishes to you! BTW, I don’t have rollers on the bottom but they are securely fastened into our studs. https://www.facebook.com/lorigrott.mellen/media_set?set=a.555696291225549.100003555505953&type=3
I’m not able to see it. 🙁 Probably because of your privacy settings on your pictures.
Hmmmm…I have it set to public. I’ll toy around and try again. Thanks Kristi, really wanted you to see the type of thing you are inspiring 🙂
Yes, it is for sure set on public. Are you signed into Addicted to Decorating on facebook? If so, you should be able to see it. I can see all of your posts fine and this album is set up similarly 🙁
Ugh…you know what? I think it was my internet connection. It loaded only the very top of the page and then stopped. :-/
Anyway, I just tried again, and it worked. Ummm…those doors are AMAZING!!! What a great find! I never see stuff that amazing in our Restore. I’m jealous. 🙂 It turned out so amazing
Thank you Kristi…coming from you, I will take that as a compliment! I follow all of our local Restores (within a few counties) on facebook. If something like that pops up…my husband and I get there quick! lol!
World’s. Best. Idea. Ever! You are such a clever lady. As soon as you said “barn doors”, I immediately thought of how perfect they would be for Matt. I’ve had some issues that have made me aware of how difficult it can be to open regular doors and manoeuvre around them. A barn door/sliding door or whatever we want to call them could be just the perfect answer for your openings.
Your brilliant ideas and willingness to share your glorious successes with us in addition to, shall we say “interesting learning experiences” are what keep us coming back here.
Thanks!
Hi
About 10 yrs ago we redid our kitchen in our 1840’s farmhouse. Tore down the ceiling to let the floor joists show and make the ceiling look higher ( my husband is 6’6″). I also tore down all the old plywood cabinets and replaced them with antique cupboards, like the top of secretaries and old desk top with glass doors. I wanted a pantry, but the kitchen is a work only space bc it is so narrow and short- 10’w x 15’l. So we decided to put an opening between the stove and sideboard. The pantry would actually jut into our mud room. Bc there was no room for a pantry door to open, we had to come up with another idea. I had an old door I had purchased from a flea market. I cleaned it up, we bought large strap hinges and decided to hang the door on an old barn rail and sliding wheels….which we just happened to have on the back side of our dairy barn. So my pantry has a sliding old wooden door on the original barn hardware and we did it long before the hgtv people started making them famous. I’d send you pictures if I could.
You have done it again. I LOVE THIS PROJECT. I have one suggestion. The doors are beautiful with the “un” finished look they have now. Perhaps you should bring them in the rooms. Look at them for a day or so before painting them. I love that you reinvent the use of hardware to suit your projects. I have always had to do the same thing in my ‘decorating’. I can’t hold a candle to your work. I love your fearlessness.
Please include detailed details of installing the glass in the door. I have been planning to add glass to the hollow core doors in my bathroom. I ‘think’ I have worked out the problems but will appreciate seeing your treatments. Keep it coming.
Hi Kristi,
Maybe you could do a ceruse finish on the doors.
I love this idea and have been wanting to do barn doors between my family room and dining room for a long time! Please show us step by step directions when you get to that point…lots of us will be making notes and heading to the hardware store!
I am SO excited you are doing this because I would love to do this to block off my kitchen at the front entry of our house. I have searched online for days looking at ideas. I now know once you are done I will have a great example to go by!!! Yay!!!! Can’t wait for you to get this up. I love following your progress. I check your website daily to see what you are up to.
I couldn’t help but think of you this morning when I received an email from Houzz. The title was “5 questions you should ask before installing a barn door”
Love the idea, good luck.
You have great ideas & everything is turning out to be so pretty. I am one who loves mixing different colors, woods and metals but i think black doors with the glass would be absolutely gorgeous!
When I saw the first picture of the doors leading into what looks like an office, I REALLY liked the look. Then when you showed (in your last picture) where you would take the panels out, I thought the “bare” (window) area looked too low, but then I looked at the first picture again, and I think it’ll work great! As to finish, that’s a hard one, I really like the shabbiness of the doors in the first picture, and although I tend to like the idea of shabby chic, I’m never gutsy enough to actually go there (hubby probably wouldn’t be on board anyway . . . .) but I think in this instance it would go with it.
What a cool idea to recreate that expensive hardware with plumbing pipe pieces! Also it’s great you’ll be able to re-purpose your existing doors for the project. Loving the idea of the glass at the tops too, it lets in light with the doors still defining the rooms.
Love all your brainstorms (that’s what my Mom always called hers : ) Can’t wait to see what you come up with for the doors. Are you going to salvage that cutout piece from the doors? That would be an interesting wall hanging in itself….the large cross….with written/painted or stenciled words…yeah…..I know you can come up with something ; )
As interesting as this idea is, I think it’s going to look more like a sliding shoji rice-paper screen than a sliding barn door. Just the fact that you’re going for something lighter kind of redefines the project.
I really love how those sliding doors look. I do agree though that for a DIY project buying some of the more expensive ones is not what most people are looking for. A friend of mine went to a scrap yard and to find something unique to use for her doors.