THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. DISCLOSURE
I got a crazy idea that our nursery needed a barn door. I’ve wanted a sliding barn door in our house since the day we bought it, but we literally do not have a single doorway that it would work to have enough wall space to slide it open. So I improvised, and put together this $50 DIY Barn Door.
Originally, I started researching double tracks, but holy expensive. I settled on just having an open closet and trying my best to keep it organized and looking pretty. Then I decided I could have the door as more of an accent to the room, rather than to serve it’s full purpose of hiding the closest completely. I already knew I would have a dresser in the closest, and I figured I would put the door on the other side to hide the ugly stuff. The closet is super deep, and you can literally walk on the other side of the door and not be squished, so it was going to work!
I looked at a few different tutorials, but I couldn’t find a door like I had pictured in my mind, so I drew up my own plans.
BARN DOOR TOOLS
- Miter saw
- Sander
- Square
- Jigsaw
- Air nailer
- Drill
- Tape measure
BARN DOOR MATERIALS
- (2) – 1 X 8 X 8
- (5) – 1 X 4 X 8
- (2) – 1 x 6 x 8
- Box of 1 1/4 inch screws (I used about 12 screws, but we could always use screws at our house for something!)
- Medium grit sandpaper
- Air nails (I used 1 1/16)
STEP ONE
To begin, I sanded all my boards. I usually do this as I’m using them, but it seemed easier this way so I could lay everything out and then just have to sand my cuts as I went.
Cut your 1X8’s and (4) 1X4’s to your desired height. Mine actually ended up measuring 83 inches long for my doorway, so not quite 7 feet. After I cut them to length, I lined them up on my “saw horses” (old folding table) and sanded the edges so they were all even.
STEP TWO
Cut (2) 1X6’s to your desired height for your barn door (again, mine was 83 inches). Lay on top of your 1X8’s. Measure the area between your (2) 1X6’s, and cut to length. Measure each one, because the boards will vary. My top one ended up being 17 1/4 inch, and at the bottom it was actually 17 1/2 inches. Once I had them layed out, I used an air nailer to hold them in place.
STEP THREE
Measure your angled boards. This was a total guessing game for me. I layed my boards where I wanted them, and took my square (I have an adjustable square to measure angles), and I totally eye-balled it. I used my jigsaw to cut the angles, because I did this project solo and I couldn’t remember how to adjust the miter saw for angle cuts.
STEP FOUR
Once I had my second layer how I wanted it, I took my air nailer to hold them in place. If you wanted a rustic look for your barn door, I suppose you could use actual nails and nail them on the front, but I opted for using regular construction screws and putting them on the back where they weren’t visible. The air nails were just to hold it together so I could flip it over and insert the screws.
And the barn door done! Is it perfect? No. Am I a professional carpenter? Also no. I am very please with how it turned out, especially considering that I did it all on my own in a couple of hours on a Saturday morning.
My next dilema was what finish I was going to go with for the barn door. Originally, I thought I should stain it with the same gel stain I used for the top of the dresser and changing table. But I already have so much neutral in the room, and I decided I wanted a pop of color. I took my crib sheets to the hardware store and grabbed a quart of paint (2 quarts of paint, the first one looked like Piglet, so I went back picked up a quart that was more of a dusty rose color) and I couldn’t be more in love with how it turned out. Every little girl’s room should have a pink barn door.
I grabbed this handle and barn door track off Amazon, and the hubby helped me put it up (pregnant mommas, don’t try to do this on your own. The door seriously weighs like 60 pounds).
