Projects

Our Barn-Style Door Part 2 | It’s hung!

September 12, 2014

We believe we should all love where we live.

We’re a couple of homebodies, working to uncover the home our home wants to be. And we’re so happy to have you here. 

Portfolio

Projects

Design

We're Chris + Julia

read more

What we're                   right now

Loving

browse the shop

Befores, afters, mood boards, plans, failures, wins. We’ve done a lot of projects, and they’re all here. 

We have a long-standing relationship with DIY, and love rolling our sleeves up and making it happen. 

Even when you don’t want to rip down a wall, you can make that space in your home better. Right now.

browse all

browse all

browse all

02

01

03

Popular Posts

1.

2.

3.

Top Categories

To catch you up, we found 2 of these large (two!) solid oak doors next to the dumpster–you can read the rest right here. We hung up our barn door this week and have a slew of photos to show you and probably too many words about the process, too!

IMG_7495

We never really wanted a barn door that looked like a barn door, ya know? We wanted something a little more modern and industrial (I think I just realized this week my style might be modern farmhouse–still looking into it!) and we really feel like we hit the jackpot here. So this set up isn’t done done, but we couldn’t wait another minute to show it to you, hung. I couldn’t even wait for a sunnier day, I guess. (Sorry about the lighting!)

IMG_7457

IMG_7461

Aaaand closed. So yes. This is one area that still needs fixed. The door is so tall. 89″ to be exact, so it is much taller than our doorways. When we renovate that back area into a mudroom/laundry, we’ll tackle raising that header. Luckily the door is open 95% of the time so it isn’t as noticeable. We also plan to frost the glass in the coming week. I already bought some window frosting (sounds delicious?) but we wanted to hang it first just to double check that we absolutely wanted to frost it. And, yes. Yes we do. Especially once that is part laundry room part mudroom. In my mind it will be so functional and gorgeous it will always be neat–but I am also trying to be realistic. Maybe I’ll wait to frost it until that renovation is done. I’m torn.

We got the hanging hardware from NW Artisan Hardware. They have been just amazing to work with. Ugh, I can’t say enough good things. The hardware is well made and beautiful, and the customer service is just as brag-worthy. Isn’t that the best? We ordered vintage horseshoe hardware (that was amazing!) to fit our DIY door initially, but it didn’t feel like it went with this door. We really wanted the door to be the star and they were so good about letting us exchange it for this classic top mount after we found this door.

IMG_7287

The prep on this door was kind of a doozy. We decided not to touch the wood itself, and I gave the backplate a quick shine, but left enough so it still felt vintage-y (although in these photos the light on is making it look extra shiny!!). The main task was removing the hinges and prepping the door for hanging.

IMG_7419

After we removed the hinges, we were naturally left with big indents and screw holes in the wood. Luckily the door was solid wood so instead of filling the gouges, we planed off a little over 1/8″ so it was smooth again. And then filled the holes with wood filler.

IMG_7427

We sanded it smooth after that dried which left hardly any evidence that hinges ever existed!

IMG_7432

Before Chris planed it, I shaved off a piece of wood to bring to the hardware store with me so I could get a matching stain.

photo

English Chestnut was the winner and a seamless match. Here’s a shot of that side of the door…that also shows off the hardware a little better.

IMG_7490

The top sliding rail is secured into 5 studs and the rolling mechanism is attached to the door 3 times on each side. It is so secure! To keep the bottom from swaying out and the whole door steady, the hardware came with, basically, a 2 inch L-bracket (I can’t believe I didn’t take a photo!) that we screwed into the tile floor–which maybe was the hardest part of this whole thing. The L-bracket slides through a groove that Chris sawed through the bottom of the door with a circular saw.

IMG_7436

All the hardware together makes moving this 150+ lb door easy. In fact, even Greta can do it. And she does, quite frequently.

IMG_7475

IMG_7494

IMG_7498

The door has transformed our great room once again and inched us closer to making this home feel more like us. I wish you could all see it in person–the pictures just don’t do it justice. It feels so grand and massive and really makes the room feel taller. Have the best weekend, you guys! We’ll be working on Greta’s room some more and enjoying the fall weather, too. Yesterday it was in the 50s here!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

What do you think?

  1. angie says:

    and it looks amazing!!!

  2. angie says:

    I am considering doing one of these doors for a bathroom, a question i have been thinking about is, did you also put a handle or something of the sort on the inside?
    thank you

    • Julia says:

      The inside of the door has a backplate but no handle. However, the door glides really easily on the track–a little push on the backplate does the trick for us.

      • Noelle says:

        Julia – what do you mean by back plate – I had the same question. We are considering these for an addition that is not all that well insulated and makes the rest of the house COOOLD! I’d like to be able to close it off from the rest of the house. Good to know that the door also hugs the trim closely (that was one of my other concerns).

  3. Jennifer says:

    looks great! I too wondered about hardware on the other side of the door. Will you have some kind of handle on that side to make it easy to open from the closed position and close it from that side?

  4. B says:

    Love the door!

    Is there something weird going on with your site when you open it on iphone? Every time I open your site on my iphone for the last week, it automatically pops over to the App Store and opens a page for a random app.

  5. Kimber says:

    If you’re not sure about frosting the glass, there’s a product at Home Depot that is basically a giant window cling. It’s printed with different designs (like stained glass, landscape) or frosted glass. We used it on one of our windows that looks out on the neighbors house. It’s great because it looks like the window is actually frosted but the film is completely removable! You could try out the film and if you don’t like it you can just remove it :)

  6. Gorgeous. Dumb question: are you putting hardware on the other side of the door to open it form that side?

    Was trying to figure out where it’d go if you were going to.

    Totally want one for myself now!

    Justynn

  7. Britney says:

    I love this so much. Great work, it really changes the look of the whole space!

  8. Lauren says:

    Hi Julia,
    Looks great! Just an idea, but when you mentioned frosting the glass, I pictured leaving about 1/4″ of clear glass exposed all around the edges. Something about that seems more authentic with the style of the door. I could be way off here, but just a thought.

  9. qs777 says:

    It looks great! We are looking to do something similar for our master bath.

    When you get a chance, I hope you can take a picture of the bottom floor guide. I don’t get how those work and it is hard to find pictures since the money shots are the actual doors. Thx!

  10. Sherri says:

    This door is just drop-dead gorgeous. And to think how it came into your possession is such a blessing! I am anxious for the frosting application. I want to do this, so I will rely on your expertise for instruction. And Greta the Great is also the star. Her long pretty curls and her stylish dress- adorable!

  11. Bethany says:

    Have you done laundry since the door’s been hung? Does the sliding door muffle the noise the same way your old door did? I’m thinking about installing a barn-style sliding door in the doorway between our mud/laundry room and kitchen/family room, also, but I can’t tell from photographs how flush the doors actually sit against the walls, and I’m worried that we’ll get a lot more noise from the laundry machines.

    • Julia says:

      That’s a good question! This door is solid as opposed to our hollow-core door that used to be here. So, it actually muffles the sound more. It does sit nearly 1″ away from the wall when open, but when it is closed, it hugs the trim closely. We do plan on moving the laundry over to where the 4th bathroom is now (to the right of this doorway), so time will tell for sure.

  12. looks GREAT! I think the icing (frosting) on the cake will really be raising that door opening and the frosting of the panes. Can’t wait to see those – love how this is turning out. It brings such a warmth and character to the space :)

  13. I love how that looks! Can’t wait to see if frosted. I also love that your dog didn’t move at all for any of these pictures lol

  14. Amanda says:

    Love this! I think the window frosting is going to make the door look even better.

    And wow, 50 degrees?! We’re excited down here because an upcoming “cool” front is going to drop our temperatuers to the lower 80s lol. Weather in the south :)

  15. Exquisite! I love this door. The wood tone you chose is great. Nice find!

  16. Cindy says:

    Hooray! It looks gorgeous. Beautiful work, everyone.

    We have a barn door in our bedroom and although I love how it looks, one thing I didn’t anticipate was how much I would love the SOUND. The sound of a barn door rolling on its wheels is so rich and solid, isn’t it? I love it so much.

  17. It’s so good. I’m so happy you won the keep-the-original-wood-tone debate with Chris!

  18. Jessica says:

    Charly is the star of this story. Oh you are taking photos and closing the door. No probs I’ll just keep laying here!!
    Reminds me of my family dog!

  19. Jordan says:

    Just love it!

  20. Haley says:

    I’m normally not a fan of sliding doors, but I’m loving this one. It looks great in your space. Are you going to frost the whole glass panels? Or do a pattern?

  21. Meagan Briggs says:

    Really warms up that wall. Love it! Good work!!

  22. We are thinking about doing a sliding door for our master bedroom. This one looks so solid and strong, and I can’t believe you found it next to a dumpster! Really nice alternative to a classic barn door look.

  23. Cami says:

    Love it! I’m having some serious door envy right now.

all the latest

We believe we should all love where we live.

We’re a couple of homebodies, working to uncover the home our home wants to be. And we’re so happy to have you here. 

HI! We're Chris + Julia

read more

Load More

Reader Faves

SHop all

What We're                     Right Now

What We're                 Right Now

Looking for our favorite things? A place to shop our home room by room, or just catch up on what Julia's wearing / loving right now? Browse the CLJ shop. 

Loving

looking for inspiration? 

A reader recently asked me if I’m starting to fully embrace traditional style and whether we still consider our house to be a “modern Colonial” and why. It was a really great question and so timely — I had really just been thinking about my approach to this home and how my style has changed […]

Can We Send You Our Love Letter?

Another way for us to stay in touch! Joining our weekly newsletter gives you access to exclusive content, never-before-seen photos, your questions answered, and our favorite DIYs. Sign up below!

Follow Along on Instagram

Welcome to our online community where we've posted home, DIY, style, renovations, and family since '09. Renovating our #cljmoderncottage in Idaho and headed for new adventures in Raleigh, NC. #cljfam #cljtransformations

@chrislovesjulia