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...