Interior Double Dutch Barn Doors

The old Laundry Closet doors

We enter the house through the Great Room

As previously mentioned, we needed a new door solution for our laundry room.  The set up of our house is such in that we enter through the back of the house, directly into our Great Room.  Directly across from the door, stands our "laundry closet".  Originally, it had 2 wooden bi-fold doors- though one door was broken, and the other very difficult to open.  Because the laundry closet is often quite cluttered and full, it's quite an eye sore.  In order to maintain some peace in my mind and block my view of the mess, I have had the working door hung and the broken door folded and partially covering the opening- leaning on the door frame.  And it's worked for the time being.

After building a door for lady genevieve's room, I was quite inspired to build a set of doors for the laundry closet.  I love to learn how to do new things, and I love being creative.

I love barn doors, and am discovering there are more styles that I knew existed.  My internet search brought me to a blog of a person who started out building a barn door style baby gate for their stairs.  They eventually built an upper door to match, and ended up with a Dutch barn door.  What a beautiful door and great idea.  Remodelaholic has an excellent step-by-step tutorial of how to build a Dutch Barn door- including materials, tools and lots of diagrams.

My door dimensions were very similar to the one Remodelaholic built.  The materials list was extremely helpful.  I built these doors out of pine boards & drywall screws (same materials suggested by Remodelaholic tutorial). After sanding the assembled doors, I distressed the doors.  I used a hammer to add some ding/ dent marks, scattered on the door surface.  Then I used a screw and poked small holes, in clusters, scattered across the door surface. Then I applied Provincial Miniwax Stain.  I allowed the stain on the frame & "X" supports to stay on longer than the rest of the door, for a two toned look.  The wood stained so beautifully!  The 3 distressing techniques (carved board edges, dings, & small screw clusters), added so much to the character of the door.  Two coats of Miniwax Polyurethane (satin), sanded between coats and the doors were done.

I purchased 8 black gate hinges (3 1/2 inch) and 2 simple, black 6 1/2 inch handles from Amazon.com.   The upper door knobs & door latch both came from Lowes.  I used Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze to give a more rustic look to the door hardware. What an amazing difference!  I love this new view as I enter my home.

Back side of doors

Currently, designing and planning the next project- Entry organization for all those shoes, & bags piled up near the door:  A storage bench & cubby tower.  If you look closely, you can see where I have taped out the tower on the wall near the door.  My inspiration comes from mud room designs.  I imagine this project will be a bit more challenging, so it may take some time to complete.