DIY Barn Doors

I'm finally going to share how we made the barn doors for our basement Family Room. 

I've always thought barn doors were awesome and wanted to put them somewhere in our house, but didn't know where. It finally hit me that barn doors over the existing patio doors in the basement would serve two purposes; the first being for privacy and second for security. The barn doors fit over the existing blinds that we have installed on the patio doors, but I am thinking of taking them off because no sun ever hits the windows due to the deck covering the patio just outside.

Mr. Fanatic bought galvanized barn door hardware at Tractor Supply and I spray painted the pieces an oil rubbed bronze, which is almost black.

Here are the 8ft unpainted galvanized box rails.

Mr. Fanatic marked the studs in the wall with tape.

He then marked where the studs were on  the pine 2 x 8  for the left side and then on a 2 x 8 for the right side. The two 2 x 8's were used as a header to hang the rail for the doors on. After marking the headers, Mr. F pre-drilled holes in them.

I stained the two headers with oil based Jacobean stain by Minwax. You can see the pre-drilled holes in the header.

After the stain was dry, Mr. F installed the header. I knew as soon as the header went up that the barn doors were going to look great.

He attached the header to the studs with 1/2" diameter x 5" lag screws (with washers)

He attached a small piece of 2 x 4 (that was my stain sample) to test out how to adjust the hangers.

To make the doors, Mr. Fanatic used eight 2 x 6's, which are roughly each 5 1/2" each, making each door 44". (Each door covers the exterior door plus the width of the width of the molding and the center frame between the two doors).

The eight 2 x 6's were clamped together with pipe clamps and sanded down.

Since 2 x 6's are not all perfect, Mr. F hammered them down so they wouldn't stick up quite so much. He used a wood block so the hammer wouldn't leave marks.

After that, he measured the height that he wanted for the door, then cut the door to length.

He then layed out the 1 x 4's that would hold the  boards together. We chose a Z pattern.

Mr. F used 1 1/2" torx drive screws to hold the boards together.

Once the first door was made, Mr. F. hung the door to make sure it would all work.

After Mr. F made the 2nd door, I stained the first coat on the first side. You can see the 2nd door on the pool table.

I stained each side with two coats of stain and let the stain dry 2 days between each coat.  I did the same for the other sides of the doors.

Mr.F had to change out the cable connector to one that turned 90 degrees and the plugs on the TV to flat plugs (on the left side of the doors and lamp on the right side of the door) in order for the barn doors to open while everything was plugged in.  

Mr. Fanatic still has to the handles, slide bolts, guides, and will add stops to the ends of the rails.

Can't wait to get the handles on.

In the meantime, we can still enjoy the barn doors.

I think they really make the room.

Here's the before:

And After:

Mr. F's next projects include making some coordinating shutters for the little window next to the fireplace and a heavier door to the unfinished part of the basement. 

The projects list for 2013 is getting longer.

Pam
ps: just in case you're wondering, we spent approximately $650 on the doors and all hardware...$550 for what is shown in the last photo. (yep, we splurged on the handles and gate latches & they're bee u tee ful!)

UPDATE: if you'd like to see the fancy hardware we put on the Barn Doors, click here.

We purchased 2 of these from Amazon if you're wondering where to get them:

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Disclaimer: The above post is how we made our barn doors. I don't take any responsibility for any errors or results obtained from using this information. When using power tools, use safety equipment.

If you order from Amazon by clicking the link, I will make a commision on them.