Wanna know how projects usually get started around here?
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I see it. I want it. I pin 500 ideas on Pinterest. I create the space in Sims 4. Deny my husbands comments of "Are you building our house in Sims again?". Plant the suggestion of a good idea in his brain. Then I sit and wait. My husband gets overwhelmed by projects really fast, because we work at different speeds. I want the project done now and done at 100%. He's okay with getting projects done, but done a little at a time.
Aaron actually surprised me with this project. He ran to the hardware store one morning and brought back a bunch of wood. When he clued me in on his plans to build a barn door for our laundry room; I lost it with excitement!
Here's a little back story of our space.
The picture below is from our house listing back before we moved in. As you can see, our laundry room is off of our kitchen. The space is about 7ft by 13ft and was probably the key selling feature for me on this house. We moved from a upstairs apartment with no on site laundry. The only problem we ran into after moving in and getting settled in was this door opening. The door opening is just shy of 3 foot wide. When we had guest over for holidays, everyone is gathering in our kitchen/dinning space, and your direct view is our dirty laundry. It wasn't ideal for either of us. We wanted to be able to close this space off if we wanted to, but we didn't want just a door. This is where the idea of a sliding barn door was the perfect idea for this space!
I wish had these super fancy plans all made up for you, but my husband kind of sorta ran with this project on his own. Don't worry! I found a great link for you with building plans and pictures that are very similar to what we did. I'll clue you in with what my husband used too.
Head over to Home Talk to get a free step by step direction on building a barn door. She will provide images and more details with pictures!
You can simply click the image to the left and be taken straight to the blog post! Image is from Home Talk- Wide Barn Door Plans. A materials list is provided at the end of her post.
Step by Step Directions to Build a Barn Door:
Building a Barn Door actually is pretty simple. Probably one of the most simplest of things to build. My husband used 1x8x8 boards to create the "first layer" of the door. This first layer is the main part of the door. Make sure you have the pretty side of the boards facing up, because this is going to be the side you will see most often. * these step by step directions are what my husband did for our door opening of 34 x 80 inches*
Step 1:
Lay out 6 1x8's flat on the floor. Butt them up side by side. Try to push them next to each other as tight as you can get them to prevent gaps. A lending hand from a friend may be useful! My husband used 1x8x8's and trimmed them down so that they were 7ft long. This is your first layer. Remember to have the prettier sides facing up. This side will be the front.
Step 2:
The "frame layer" is next. This will be the top layer and the detailed frame you see on all those gorgeous barn doors.
You make this layer by cutting down a 1x6x8 board to fit the total width of the barn door. Measure from left to right on the bottom and top of the bottom layer boards. Cut your 1x6x8 board to fit this width. You will need two of these- one for the top and one for the bottom. Place your 1x6 board on the top of your bottom layer boards. Make sure everything lines up and is flush with one another. Have a friend help squeeze the bottom layer boards together as you do this next part. Using 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 inch wood screws, drill two screws through the top 1x6 board into the bottom 1x8 boards (per board). You should have 12 screws along the top. Aaron drilled his all in a straight line. Do the same thing with the board for the bottom.
Now your bottom boards should be secured.
Step 3:
Now you need to measure the distance between the bottom of the top frame board and the top of the bottom frame board. Using 1x6x8 boards, cut two boards to fit this gap. Once they are cut and checked to make sure they fit without gapping, go ahead and screw them into the top of your bottom layer. You will do this just like you did in step 2. Your frame is now done. Good job! You can do this! Now to finish it off.
Step 4:
Creating your cross boards. Take a browse through Pinterest, because there are a few different ways you can make this. This is where you can be creative and make the door look however you want it. We decided on a "arrow" look pointing to the right, it's also called a "British Brace". We deciding to have it facing right, because our door would be sliding to the right.
The options you could choose from are:
plank
mid-bar
z brace
x brace
double z brace
double x brace
British brace
half x brace
To make the cross board
look like ours,
you will need to make 3 cuts. The first cut is simple! You will measure the distance between the two frame boards in the center of your door. Cut and drill this board into place. The tricky part for us was cutting the right angle on the next two boards. My husband and I had never done this before ha.
To get the right angle, it can be done by placing the uncut board on top of the board and with a pencil draw the line you need. There are tools out there to help make this extremely easier. But like I said... my husband just kind of ran with this and figured it out as he went. Mark your right angles on both ends on the boards for the upper "box" and the lower "box". Drill your boards into place and you are done! That wasn't too hard, right?
Step 5:
Stain vs Paint. That's totally up to you! Make sure you do this and allow enough time to dry before you attempt to hang it in Step 6. I'm not even sure what color stain my husband used. He doesn't remember what color either or if he had mixed stains. Either way, he stained the door outside and let it dry. We did not put a clear coat or finishing coat on top of it. We left it as is... as we do with most of our wood projects. This is just a personal style choice.
Step 6:
Buying the wood didn't cost much. Building the door took no time at all. The expensive part is buying the barn door track. We did a lot of research to find a track that was going to be sturdy and hold up, but also not cost hundreds of dollars. Thanks to Amazon, we found a super affordable track that weights a ton! The track we choose is made of high quality steel and can hold up a 200lb door.
To get the track we used for this project- you can grab it here:
To Hang Your Barn Door:
You will need to purchase a 1x4x8 board to install the barn door track on, above your door opening if the opening has molding around it.
Otherwise your barn door will scrape against the molding when you attempt to open and close it or it won't slide at all.
A few screws into the studs will hold this board into place. You can tell attach your track to the 1x4x8. Follow the instructions on your barn door track for instillation. Soon enough, you will have a beautiful barn door too!
Material List:
stain or paint of your choice
1 1/4 or 1 1/2 wood screws
drill
saw
90 degree angle tool
1x8x8 boards
1x6x8 boards
1x4x8 board
*This project costs an estimate of $150 to complete*
Notes:
Before you start asking, "Jackie, Why is your door backwards?!"... we did this with a purpose. Normally your track would be installed on the front face of your door. Our barn door was going up on a opening to a laundry room. There was enough room to install a sliding barn door track above the door opening from the "entrance" point in the kitchen. There would of been no room for the door to slide beside the refrigerator.
We didn't like the idea of seeing the back of the barn door from the kitchen, because the side we would see most often would be the view from in the kitchen. Make sense? Therefore, instead of having the pretty side being viewed from inside the laundry room; we flipped it. We installed the track to the back of the door so that the front of the barn door could be seen from in the kitchen. You see the "plank" side from inside the laundry room. To be honest, I love both sides of the door. The only thing we haven't done with this door yet is install a handle of some sort. I'm not sure that we ever will but if you want one, it can easily be done, and makes it look finished while also being functional.
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