DIY Sliding barn door

I’m loving this  barn door project submitted by Kara P. of  Life With Fingerprints.  They opened up the footprint of their home but retained the ability to close off that specific room if they need some privacy (or need to hide a mess which would be the case in my home).

We bought a house with far more bedrooms than we needed, but it didn’t have an accessible office. (and I work from home so this was very important!)

I had talked with my husband about my plans to knock a hole in the wall to create an open office out of one of the bedrooms, I just didn’t fully walk through the “when” part of the plan. He came home from work on a long weekend and found I had already started demolition. He had no choice but to chip in and help!

I created a large 6 foot wide opening to really open up the space. My husband is very traditional and automatically thought we would be putting double french doors in – I had a different vision. I built a large “barn door” using 5.5″ wide MDF planks (with a slightly beveled edge, from the depot) with a plywood backing.

I used premium grade pine (1×2) to create a frame around the entire door to hide unfinished edges, and then created a farm style design on top of the planks using a wider pine board. (1×3)

Once the door was finished, I primed and painted. Disliked the color so I repainted. I wasn’t happy with the second finish and sanded down the whole thing and started all over. I hate when the finishing process takes ten times longer than the building process. However, the extra effort was worth it and I absolutely love the final finish. (What I love more is that the backside is a chalkboard that is accessible when the door is shut!)

I ordered the barn door hardware from www.rusticahardware.com and was more than happy with the selection and different options to customize it to fit my needs and space.

To see more details on the project check out my blog at lifewithfingerprints