Our house has an awkward guest 1/2 bathroom/laundry room on the main floor. These two spaces were divided only by a 1/2 wall, partially concealing the washer and dryer. Our guests got a clear view of all “our dirty laundry” lol. I don’t know about you, but I have 3 boys and a husband, which equates to a massive amount of weekly laundry! My laundry room is only free from baskets of dirty clothes before expected company, haha! I had been trying to think of a way to add some sort of door between these two spaces without taking up a lot of room and it had to have some aesthetic appeal. I really wanted a sliding barn door but ran into some problems with how to hang one due to the half wall. I would have to hang the sliding door mechanism from the ceiling in order for the door to work. I purchased an antique door that I really wanted to use but it was too heavy to hang from the ceiling. My in-laws were visiting when I was trying to mastermind my sliding barn door plan. They told me it “wasn’t possible”. Oh, no!! Those words just make my personality take on a challenge, lol! My husband was shaking his head when he heard them tell me it “wasn’t possible”, lol! Now I was on a mission and needed to figure out a way to build a lightweight barn door myself. I went to local hardware stores several times to peruse wood and lumber before I discovered Pine Plank Paneling! Pine Plank Paneling is also inexpensive ($9 for a package of 6 3.5″ x.8 ft panels). The price was an added bonus!! The plank paneling would work perfectly!
Pine Plank Paneling is super lightweight, you can paint it or stain it any color you want and they interlock like laminate flooring. I measured the size of my doorway and cut the paneling to fit the length and width I needed. I used a nail gun to secure the planks together. Next I needed to add trim to get the barn door look without adding any extra weight to the door. I used lattice for this. Yep, plain old lattice. You can find packages of lattice wood to repair existing lattice at hardware stores.
Then I added some hardware for the door (which I also found at a local hardware store) and stained the door using Minwax Classic Gray Stain. The total for this barn door was around $50 to build. I attached it to the ceiling using plumbing pipes threaded through eye hooks. I got the idea to hang my barn door here: http://theturquoisehome.com/diy-simple-sliding-barn-doors/ But instead, I hung our door from the ceiling rather than the wall.
I love the look of this sliding barn door and it separates our guest 1/2 bath from our laundry room perfectly. We get a lot of compliments on this door and it has withstood the daily use of 3 boys without issue! That’s a sturdy door, Haha! Here is a “before and after” photo of the finished door with stain. What do you think?
Carriage House Interiors- Colorado Springs- 