DIY Barn Door {details}

At the back of our house is this shed.

I know.

Can you say EYESORE!?

But one has to look past the ugliness of it and see the potential.

Potential to turn this:

Outside - weather off white

Inside - rough-sawn

Into this:

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you will remember that I shared my 

master bedroom design ideas. I shared 3 different 'barn' doors that I liked but was

undecided which to choose. So, I made one side 'raw'. (I actually was going for a little darker

but it didn't darken like I thought it would.) The other side (inside the bathroom) is

white-washed. I LOVE how it turned out! And the best part is, it cost less than $10.

That's right - track and everything - less than $10.

More on that later....

I will attempt to describe how I built it for anyone interested. I was too focused on getting

the job done to take any 'progress' pictures. 

I wanted the door to measure approximately 34" wide so I headed out to that

eyesore out back and scoped out several boards that I thought would work. Then DH

went in demo-mode and started taking off boards. He pulled off more than I thought I 

needed so I would have some room to 'play'.

The boards were f.i.l.t.h.y. so the first thing I did was give them a good scrubbing.

The shed is original to the homestead; estimated to be built

around the turn of the century. The pictures I show above of the boards are 

after I scrubbed them.

The inside had some sort of paper glued to it. The hose and a scrub brush took care of it

and things were starting to look more promising.

I then cut the boards to 80" length. Three of the widest boards measured 34.5" together. 

Perfect.

I laid them on my sawhorses.

 (sorry, no pics of the building process - I was for getting it done.)

Then I took a narrower board and cut 2 34.5" pieces from it. I laid them across the 

wide boards one foot down from the ends. I was careful to keep all the rough-sawn sides up.

After I was sure everything was square, I just screwed them fast.

For the other side I needed extra thickness at the top for the brackets to attach to so I put 

the cross boards at the very top and bottom. Then to give a 'barn door' look, I added a center

brace to make a 'Z'. (Never mind that my 'Z' is backwards!)

The 'inside' was already weathered off white but it wasn't even. Where the lap boards covered

 it, it was wood colored. 

Also, the white had weathered differently on each of the boards. So, I took

some white paint that I had on hand and watered it down. (About half water and half paint.)

Then I took a sponge brush and just 'white-washed' it on. It still allowed the imperfections

 to show but freshened it up and made it look more uniform.

This is what it looks like close up.

For the rough sawn side, I lightly sanded it and applied Antique Oil Finish. I thought this

would darken it down more than it did but I still like the way it looks. 

Finally, I applied clear wax over the whole thing to seal it.

This post is getting rather long but I want to tell you about the track and rollers yet.

Back when we were painting the room I was searching Craigslist and Ebay for

barn door rollers and track. Every one that I found was WAY out of my price range.

One day DH was talking to his uncle and in the course of conversation

it came up about me wanting barn door track and rollers.

Well, it just happens that Uncle was commissioned to build a new door for a barn.

The old door, rollers, and track were just being junked. So Uncle told DH to 

check it out and see if anything was salvageable. It was all rusty and most of the rollers were

worn out but DH found one roller in fairly good condition and another that is still OK for 

light usage. If you look at the pictures, you can see which one is more worn out. 

It tilts a little.

But for FREE, who's complaining?! NOT ME!

DH sanded them down and primed and painted them for me. He also helped hang the track

on the wall after I nearly knocked myself senseless (wait, maybe I am already) by falling

backward off a stool while attempting to hang it myself.

Cost of project:

Wood - Free

Rollers and track - Free

Paint for rollers and track - <$5

Fasteners - $5

Less than $10 for my 'barn door' bathroom door - I'm loving it!

(Thanks Uncle!!)

See bedroom reveal here.

Linking to:

SNS on Funky Junk Interiors

Best DIY Projects of March on Beneath My Heart

Party on Mondays at Burlap and Denim

DIY Showoff