My wife loves to remind me that "we don't live in a barn" every time I leave a door open longer than 0.267 seconds. But there must be something deep inside my soul that wishes I did, because I love everything farmhouse style and décor! I've always wanted a sliding barn door in my house, and after renovating our kids bathroom, I finally had the perfect place to put one. To make the kids bathroom bigger, we stole a closet from the master bedroom and what remained was a big, boring, blank wall. Not to mention the master bathroom has never had a door on it so there was absolutely no privacy when our two toddlers were on the prowl. Solution? Sliding barn door! Woohoo!
With the help of a 4 year old assistant, I was able to build the door in a couple of hours using 1x6's and 1x4's. Next came staining (I chose special walnut), and sealing. Sealing took the longest because I opted for 4 coats on both sides of the door, since it can get rather humid in the bathroom due to hot showers.
Then came the big challenge (queue climactic music). Hanging the door! I considered DIY hardware, but I prefer working with wood vs metal, so I was able to find what I needed down at the local hardware store and secured it to the wall. Easy peasy right? But nooooo... I have to live in an older home with floors that aren't perfectly level. So, while the rail and door were level, the door ended up hitting the floor at one end (despite having almost 2 inches clearance on the other end). So, a minor adjustment had to be made, and all was well again.
And we love the door! It really adds some warmth and beauty to our bedroom and adds some much needed privacy to our bathroom. Reaction on social media has been very positive as well, including a few requests from friends to make another door for them.
A couple things I learned from this project: Don't assume anything (like the floor being level). Also, this was my first project using wood pre-conditioner prior to staining, and man oh man does it make a difference. I'll definitely be using that every time from now on.
My wife loves to remind me that "we don't live in a barn" every time I leave a door open longer than 0.267 seconds. But there must be something deep inside my soul that wishes I did, because I love everything farmhouse style and décor! I've always wanted a sliding barn door in my house, and after renovating our kids bathroom, I finally had the perfect place to put one. To make the kids bathroom bigger, we stole a closet from the master bedroom and what remained was a big, boring, blank wall. Not to mention the master bathroom has never had a door on it so there was absolutely no privacy when our two toddlers were on the prowl. Solution? Sliding barn door! Woohoo! With the help of a 4 year old assistant, I was able to build the door in a couple of hours using 1x6's and 1x4's. Next came staining (I chose special walnut), and sealing. Sealing took the longest because I opted for 4 coats on both sides of the door, since it can get rather humid in the bathroom due to hot showers. Then came the big challenge (queue climactic music). Hanging the door! I considered DIY hardware, but I prefer working with wood vs metal, so I was able to find what I needed down at the local hardware store and secured it to the wall. Easy peasy right? But nooooo... I have to live in an older home with floors that aren't perfectly level. So, while the rail and door were level, the door ended up hitting the floor at one end (despite having almost 2 inches clearance on the other end). So, a minor adjustment had to be made, and all was well again. And we love the door! It really adds some warmth and beauty to our bedroom and adds some much needed privacy to our bathroom. Reaction on social media has been very positive as well, including a few requests from friends to make another door for them. A couple things I learned from this project: Don't assume anything (like the floor being level). Also, this was my first project using wood pre-conditioner prior to staining, and man oh man does it make a difference. I'll definitely be using that every time from now on.
