Hanging a Sliding Barn Door & Track

This past weekend, the Laird with the help of his father, took on the task to hang the sliding barn door that I built for our bathroom.  I decided having a sliding door would add some interior space to our tiny bathroom.  As it was, the door would hit the curved shower curtain rod, and not completely open all the way.  There is a lot of open space on the hall wall near the bathroom, so a sliding door would not only fit well, but function wonderfully inside and out.

Check out post about building this door.

I purchased all of my barn door hardware off or Amazon.com.  Parts needed:

1- 6 foot Box Rail

2- Box Rail Bracket

2- Box Rail Trolley Hanger (pair)

While building the door, I stained a 1" x 6" pine board to mount the Box Rail.  I lightly sanded and then spray painted all of the metal parts with Rubbed Oil Bronze spray paint.

First, the Laird used a paddle drill to drill holes into the top of the door to attach the trolleys to the top of the door.  Then he measured how high the pine board needed to be hung.  Unfortunately this measurement was not high enough, and it had to be re-done.

 The Laird used a stud finder to locate all of the studs for mounting.  Like the rest of our house, this particular wall was creatively constructed- as it did not have standard stud distances.  We also discovered that the door frame was not level.  Oh the joys of a very old & settled house!  After leveling and securing the mounting board, the laird then attached the Box Rail brackets.  Once that was complete, he slide the box rail track into place.  The track had to be mounted level, but off angle to the board, due to the quirky unlevel door frame.  Once that was done, it was time to hang the door.  Upon hanging the door, we realized that the track/ mounting board were not hung high enough, and the door wouldn't slide along the track- hence round 2 of installing the barn door track.  The second time went much quicker, though the Laird was a little frustrated.  After a few adjustments, we have a functioning sliding barn door for our bathroom and we love it!

We have yet to purchase and hang new door trim & casing.  We also need to attach handles to both the inside and outside of the door.  We love everything about this new door.  I looks amazing!  And gives a cool peak into the bathroom as we come to the top of the stairs.   The bathroom even feels more spacious.  Next task is to update the bathroom!  Will add final photos once handles and trim are installed.  Are you starting to love interior barn doors, as much as I do?  We have a few more to build for the bedrooms.  More to come...

OLD bathroom door:                                       NEW bathroom door:

Building another Barn Door.. and another.. and another

I absolutely loved building my Double Dutch Barn Doors for the laundry closet.  And I am thrilled to finally have lady genevieve's sliding barn door hanging for her bedroom.  I purchased all the materials to build 2 more doors, identical to lady genevieve's door- and then I found a new design as I was looking into more Barn Door track options!  Oh boy- the inspiration of the internet!  This door will be very similar in style and construction to the double dutch doors, except it will be one solid door instead of a dutch door.  It will also be sliding rather than hinged.  It will hang outside of the bathroom, and be one of the first things you see at the top of the stairs.  This was the Door Inspiration I found on google that redirected my door-building plans.

Here's it is:

I measured the door width and height.  Used 1x4 pine boards for the main door body, and 1x6 pine boards for the front frame.  I measured and cut pretty much all of the boards, carved the edges of each board (for a weathered appearance) and screwed it all together in an afternoon.  The 2 diagonal boards were a challenge I saved for the next day- but I got it done and it looks great.  I would probably do it differently next time.  Rather than having 2 cuts, and lining the board up the middle of the corners, I would just line one edge up with the corner and make one cut.  That is somewhat challenging to describe.  Compare my double dutch diagonal boards to this door, and you may be able to see what I mean.

I used the natural method of weathering the wood by using oxidized vinegar and tea- check out the post to learn how.  This is the same staining method I used for lady genevieve's door.  So though the doors will have a different design, they will coordinate based upon the stain/ color.  I am waiting for the weather to get warmer to put a couple layers of Polyurethane on to finish the job.

I purchased all of my barn door hardware from amazon.com, and then spray painted them with Rustoleum Rubbed Oil Bronze.

Pack of 2 trolleys

1 steel box rail

2 box rail hangers

Possible master bedroom door design

I feel pretty fortunate to have the opportunity to build doors with character for our home.  Luckily all the upstairs doors were pretty dated and cheap, and mismatched- so I had a great reason to build doors that I love.  There are many different styles of plank doors.  The one above is a sliding door for the bathroom.  Lady genevieve's room has a "z" support.  I have hopes to make each room door slightly different and unique.

I think I have decided on this one for the master bedroom- a plank door with a 1x6 board at the head and foot of the door.  I am undecided about whether or not to do the "z" cross bar.

To the right and left are other possible designs.  I am undecided on the 3rd bedroom door, which is actually connected to the 2nd bedroom- you have to walk through 2nd to get to 3rd (goofy old farmhouse layout).  I like the idea of making all the doors slightly different and unique.  But I think that I may make the bedroom connecting door match lady genevieve's entry door.

Lady genevieve's entry door 

  I may build 2 closet doors too, but that is undecided at this point.  Maybe build the 2 cross bar for the interior of the 2 bedroom closet doors?

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  Which doors do you like the best for the master bedroom & 3rd bedroom?

Who knew that I would love building doors as much as I do!  It has seriously become one of my favorite projects. The bathroom facelift is coming soon!  Once we finish up a few other projects, we may kick off the bathroom upgrade with hanging this sliding barn door. More photos to come upon completion.  It's truly very exciting to see a transformation happening to Redwoodshire.

Finishing the entry to the "Hobbit Wing"

We finally hung the sliding barn door to the Hobbit Wing (a.k.a. lady genevieve's room)!  We've had all the hardware for sometime, it just took a little outside confidence from a friend and some time to get the job done.

Returning to the story of a door for lady genevieve's room...  I couldn't find a cool one to fit the very small doorway, but saw a cool barn door style and decided I could probably make one myself.  And so I did.  Check out the beginning of this story at Building an entrance to the Hobbit Wing.

Due to the very short ceilings in lady genevieve's room, we were not sure how we were going to accomplish the task.  Initially I had planned to make a normal swinging barn door.  But due to the very small size of the room, I realized that a sliding barn door was an amazing space saving solution to prevent having a door take up half the room when open.  A genius idea!  So I ordered the track and wheels, and waited for a good time to hang it.  We realized that the job may not work, since the rafters were parallel to where the track needed to hang.  Ideally we needed to hang the track perpendicular to the rafters to disperse the weight across them all, rather than stress one rafter with all the weight of the door.  The Laird was very uncertain we could proceed with our plan.  So we put that project on hold, and it wasn't until recently that we asked a friend's advice.  He was completely confident that it was possible, and boosted the Laird's encouragement to proceed with the plans.

This weekend we hung the track and door!  First he attached the wheels to the top of the door.  Then he measured where the track would hang and then drilled a large hole to see what was above the plaster ceiling.  He discovered super thick plaster and then some plywood just above that.  He then traced out the holes to be drilled.  Then he applied a layer of liquid nails for added strength and support.  Screwed the track into place, and allowed it to dry for about 24 hours.  Now the door is hanging and slides wonderfully.  We have yet to add the handles- we waited to attach the handles as we wanted to see how high they should be placed while the door was hanging.  A job for another day.  For now- we are quite pleased with the look and function of this new door.

lady genevieve's sliding barn door

The current bathroom & bedroom doors

Now that we've successfully hung one sliding barn door, I am eager to build 2 more to match- one for the bathroom (sliding) and one for our bedroom (hinged).  Then all 3 upstairs hall doors will all match and also add some character to the hallway.  The Laird says I need to wait until we've finished the Primitive Cabinet, before we start another project!  It is so satisfying to see a project come to completion- especially one that was begun 5 months ago.

In the Midst... of many projects

It's been a bit since my last post, and the reason is that I am busy working on a number of projects.  All of them are on the brink of completion, so there will be a handful of posts coming very soon.

Double Dutch Barn Doors for our laundry closet.  Building, sanding, staining, polyurethane-ing.  The hardware is ordered.  Had a little sanding mishap between poly coats, and had to sand down to raw wood and start over.  The other 3 doors are done.  Waiting for 2nd coat stain to dry, and then application of 2 coats of polyurethane.  Then when the Laird and I have time to hang them, we'll be posting!

Crown Moulding in for kitchen.  Waiting for 2nd coat of paint to dry.  This will be one of the final projects for the kitchen, for a while.

Sliding Barn Door for lady genevieve's bedroom.  Found some aluminum track and trolley rollers online.  2nd coat of Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint is drying.  When we have some time, we'll work on hanging the track and door.  

The making of our littlest lady.  Tomorrow is lady genevieve's first trip to the Sterling Renaissance Festival.  We started a costume for her many months ago, that I was making up a

s I went.  When I tried it on her for size, it seemed like it was going to be too small.  Discouraged I put that project away, until this past week knowing that we'd be going to the festival.  The Laird and I both have costumes, so it would have been sad to not have something fun for lady genevieve to wear.  I started working on it again.   My sister graciously hands down all of my niece's clothes to genevieve- we are so lucky.  There happened to be just the perfect shirt to go under the dress.  I found a simple tutorial to make a ruffled skirt and a simple muffin cap- and now we have a real little lady on our hands!  So excited about how it turned out.  

Keeping very busy, but chipping away at the project list.  Enjoying every minute of it, and getting closer to wrapping up a few big projects.

Building an entry to the "Hobbit Wing" of Redwoodshire- an interior barn door

During the upstairs renovation, we removed all of the doors for ease of carpet installation and painting.  And 8 months later, we've only put the bathroom door back up.  All of the doors that came with the house were cheap, hollow wooden doors that probably came from the 1970's.  On the lower end of the list of things to do, is find some nice old doors with character to fit the very uniquely sized bedroom doorways.  We have 2 salvage/ house parts stores here in town, Historic Houseparts & Re-House.  In the realm of doors, the Laird's top priority for me was to find a door for lady genevieve's room, so that the Laird and I can get a decent nights sleep.   Between both stores, I found 2 doors that could possibly work for her 28 1/4" x 79" doorway- a very short doorway (to go with the very short ceilings).  I didn't really love either of the doors, but was willing to go with one of them over putting the ugly original one back up.  While in one of the stores, seeking an opinion from the Laird on whether or not to purchase one of the doors, he encourage me to wait and keep looking.  As I looked around at the second store, I found a section of doors labeled "Rustic".  There I found a door that I loved, a tongue and groove paneled door.  It didn't have a thumb latch handle, which I love, but nonetheless it was right up my alley of interest.  The only issue was the size.  A little too wide, and possibly a little on the short side.  As I evaluated the simplicity of the door, I convinced myself I could make a door like just it.  So began my online search for how to make a paneled- barn style interior door.  Sure enough, there were a handful of blogs detailing other people's adventures of making and converting doors into barn doors.

Originally, I had plans for a hinged barn door made of tongue and groove pine panels, with a "Z" crossbar for support, and a cute thumb latch handle.  In college, my parents moved into a very old farmhouse in the Northeastern corner of Connecticut.  All of the bedrooms had this style door with thumb latch handles.  Growing up in Southern California, I had never seen such a thing.  But it made such an impression on me, that I have been fond of them ever since.  As I have been searching for hardware online, my idea has transformed.  We decided to make a sliding barn door, instead of a hinged one.  Being a typical old farmhouse, built in the mid-1800's, the rooms are small and the ceilings are low.  And oftentimes, one must walk through one bedroom to get to the next; this is the case in our house.  We had plans to raise and vault all of the upstairs ceilings, however finances caused us to rethink our plan and only do half of the upstairs.  We left the 2 small bedrooms with the original low ceilings.  I call it the "Hobbit Wing" of the house; where the little people (lady genevieve and future siblings) live.  One must walk through lady genevieve's bedroom to get to the second bedroom.  Both bedrooms are very small.  A sliding door is a better fit for such a small space (rather than having an open door cut the already tiny room in half or block the flow of traffic to the second bedroom).

STEP 1:  Measure doorway for door dimensions.  Use saw to cut planks to size.  Our door is 2.5 inches wider than the doorway, which works because it is a sliding door.  If we were making the hinged door, the plank would have to be ripped down to the proper size.  Then cut cross bars to length.  I chose to do a "Z" crossbar support.

STEP 2:  GLUE tongue & groove planks together.  I used a bead of Liquid Nails in the tongue and groove space.  Be sure to get a tight fight between the planks, and secure if necessary.

STEP 3:  Lightly sand with 120 or 220 grit sandpaper.  This lightly roughs the surface, which allows for better penetration of the stain.

STEP 4:  Distress Edges of wood planks (*Optional).  I used a small chisel.  This is an optional step, but I highly recommend it.  It adds the extra worn look- it's all in the minor details.

STEP 5:  STAIN.  Originally, my plan was to assemble the door (attach support "z") and then stain it.  But I stained it first and then assembled.  I used a homemade stain of tea, vinegar & steel wool to give the wood a weathered look.

STEP 6:  ASSEMBLE DOOR.  Originally I had intended to nail the cross supports to the door, as I thought it would look most authentic.  However, in my research and per the Laird's suggestion, I decided to use 1 1/4" drywall screws to attach the "Z" support planks.  Screws attach the wood and secure it much tighter than nails- therefore I sacrificed the look for better function and stability.

STEP 7:  Attach Supporting header (*Optional- for sliding barn door).  If you are doing a hinged door, this step is not necessary.  This will be where the barn door hardware will be attached.

STEP 8:  FINISH.  Apply 2 coats of polyurethane to door for protection.  Lightly sand between coats.

STEP 9:  Hang Barn Door Track on wall or ceiling.  Attach straps/ rollers to door.

STEP 10:  Attach handles to both sides of door.

STEP 11:  Stand back & admire your work!  

The bedroom side of door

The hall side of door

Lady genevieve almost has a door on her bedroom.  The biggest challenge in this project was deciding on a track with which the door could be hung, since the ceilings in this room are so small.  Considering barn door hardware is so expensive, we have to look into other options.  I am too excited about the door, and had to post this before we figure out how to hang it.  So on the list to complete this door is the polyurethane finish, handles, & track/ door installation.  Will update once the door is in place.  I love character & unique-ness, and this door definitely fits the bill.

SNEAK PEAK:  In the midst of this project, I was inspired to make Double Dutch barn doors for our linen closet.  I found a great blog tutorial and am in the process of building them.  Considering one of the current laundry room doors is broken, the other one doesn't slide as well as it should, replacement cost is more than I wish to pay, and it's the first thing you see when you enter our house- it's time for new doors!

Both bottom doors are mostly assembled.  Purchased the wood for upper doors today.  Hopefully, will be hanging these doors in the next couple weeks.  Stay tuned!

Weathering wood- for the classic Barn wood look

Currently in the process of building a door for lady genevieve's bedroom.  There is a more detailed back story to come in the post describing the step-by-step door building process.  As I searched ideas for our barn door, I came across the process of staining wood with tea, vinegar & steel wool for the weathered barn wood look.  Seriously amazed!  I was so excited by this discovery, I couldn't wait to try it out.  

Stretch out steel wool and place in a 1 quart mason jar.  Then fill with vinegar.  I used a mix of apple cider and white distilled vinegar.  Place lid on jar.  Allow to sit for a minimum of 24 hours.  After 48 hours, I used a paint brush to spread vinegar onto a piece of test wood.  It turned the wood a very light grey color.  I wasn't very impressed.  I had read that using tea prior to the vinegar solution helps to bring out the natural tannins of the wood, since tea also has tannins.  Thus resulting in a darker, richer stain.  I boiled 4 cups of water, poured into a 1 quart mason jar and soaked 4 tea bags for 1 hour.  Then I squeezed liquid from tea bags and discarded bags.  Once cooled I decided to test it out on the door (I assumed that if it didn't turn out quite right, I could always paint or stain the door a darker color).  The tea did not change the wood color at all.  Once dry, I then used a paint brush and generously applied the vinegar solution.  Within a minute, the wood started turning a dark grey shade!  I couldn't paint the vinegar on fast enough before the wood had changed color.

Test wood with vinegar only

So simple.  So natural.  No nasty fumes to deal with.  I am thoroughly impressed with this method of weathering wood.  We've been wanting to find some old barn wood for our open shelves in the kitchen, but have yet to find the right wood.  Look no further, we can make it ourselves.

I used 00 grade steel wool (there are 6-7 different grades).  A mix of apple cider vinegar and white distilled vinegar.  Two 1 quart mason jars.  Two paint brushes.  Pine wood.

*Important to apply tea coat and allow to dry.  Then apply vinegar coat and allow to dry. 

Post about the construction of the barn door to come.  Loving the look of it so much, I hope to make matching doors for the bathroom and master bedroom as well.  The Laird encouraged me to wait to see that this first one turns out, before I start building the other doors.  If we can figure out a door track, this first door is going to be a sliding barn door- which is perfect for maximizing the small size of lady genevieve's bedroom.  The bathroom and master bedroom doors will likely be hinged, which will involve replacing the trim.  Since this will involve a bit more work than simply building the door, I am thinking of build some double dutch barn doors for our laundry closet.  I found a beautiful tutorial (single dutch barn door) on a blog and am ready to go out and buy the materials!  The Laird is skeptical since the door opening is so wide, but I have full confidence that it will work out great;)  We will see.

On another note, I finished up the third and final rush seat this past weekend.  Until we find more rush chairs, I am finished with that project.  It's great to have nice sturdy seats to sit on while we eat our meals together.  Not to mention they look sharp.

Hi ho hi ho it's off to work I go...