Beauty meets Practicality
Sometimes we move into a home that works perfectly for our lifestyles, but more often than not there are small tweaks that could be made to better fit you and your family. Maybe a fresh coat of paint makes your space feel like home, or maybe it is a larger renovation. My home is lovely, but there have been small projects we have worked on to make the space better suited to us. If you have been around for a while you have read about our fireplace and nursery DIY projects. Recently we decided to add barn doors to our hallway.
We live in a “ranch-style” home which means all parts of the home are on one level- bedrooms, living room, kitchen, etc. I love our home, but we ran into some issues having the bedrooms so close to the living space. We have an infant daughter, and sound would carry when we wanted to entertain, we don’t have central air in our home and wanted to keep just the bedrooms cooler in the summer with a window unit, and we wanted to keep the bedrooms warmer at night in the winter. All of these problems, plus the awkward size of the hallway made the solution for our space boil down to barn doors. Now, I am not the biggest fan of barn doors, simply since my design style is more minimalist and Scandinavian. I don’t love the trend of adding a barn door just to have one, but rather think they should be used as a solution- like for a space too tall, wide, or awkwardly shaped for a traditional door size. All this to say if you have them instead of a door do not feel bad! You ultimately should have what you love in your home even if it goes against my opinion.
We added the doors to the hallway- the space was too wide for one door and too narrow for two “normal” sized doors. It also didn’t have a threshold or space filled in by the ceiling. So after lots of research and conversations, we landed on barn doors. If this is a similar situation that you find yourself in, or just love barn doors follow along for a step-by-step process of how we accomplished this beautiful look.
Not great quality since this was taken from a video of Andrew explaining the plan. Just wanted to show the hallway “before” with no framing over the top
We began ordering all the parts we would need for this project. We tried to plan out as much as possible up front so that once the parts came in we would just have to assemble. To help with soundproofing for our little babe’s sleep we decided to order solid core doors. They are more expensive, but we wanted to invest properly into the solution. Having solid core doors also allowed us to recreate the design on the rest of the doors in the home, creating continuity. We ordered two doors that were two feet by 8 feet (We planned the size so that when they were installed there would be a slight overlap onto the wall). I didn’t want the look of just 1 larger door for this space, since it was so prominent in our common space. So we opted for two smaller doors for a more symmetrical and balanced look. We also choose the hardware for the doors- a mat black metal track system that had the least exposed hardware and two handles. My husband also wanted them to be soft closing so that they would not bang when our little grows up and flings the doors open.
Once the order was placed, my husband began to build out the ceiling. Our hallway went straight to the ceiling so there would not be any support for the barn door track, and the weight of the doors. He began by cutting back the drywall on either side of the opening so that there was space for a 2x6- even cutting into the studs slightly so that the addition wouldn’t stick out from the wall. He secured another 2x6 to the back of that one, but the second was only the length of the opening to give the backing more support.
3. Andrew then got 8-inch trim so that we could wrap the wood and finish it off nicely. He cut the trim going across the opening long enough so that the rod would be centered on top of the trim, though this went past what we had cut out of the drywall. In some ways I had wished we had just drywalled on top of the wood, but we couldn’t have a 2x6 with enough strength integrity and cut back into the studs that far since that might compromise the house. This was our solution, but if you do it in your home you might be able to work around that. Since I love the seamless look Andrew tapered off the sides of the trim so that it would be less of a harsh transition.
4. Before painting the doors Andrew cut a pattern into the doors that matched the rest of the doors in the home. He did so well- you would never be able to tell all the doors didn’t come with the others when the house was built. Then my amazing sister-in-law caulked all the joints and painted everything for us. She painted the doors the same color as the rest of the doors in the house, and the trim the same color as the wall, so that it would feel more intentional in the space.
5. We then put everything up! This stage was pretty straightforward since we had planned so much on the front end. Andrew made sure to line up the hardware properly so that a bit of the door was always covering the corner of the wall. So that when the doors were open the inside corner of the door overlapped ever so slightly with the wall and when they were closed the doors had about an inch that was still covering the wall. He also installed the soft closers at this stage and secured everything into place.
6. Finally, we finished off the doors with some weather strips to further create soundproofing. Andrew got some that were 1 inch expanding and put them on the inside of the wall in the corner that would always be covered by the doors and on the very back of the doors. This would help stop the doors as they came together as well.
We have had our doors up for about 3 months now, and we love them. We find they are amazing for filtering sound so that whenever we have people over our daughter sleeps soundly. They have also been so beneficial when we have guests staying over to give a bit of privacy. Something I don’t think I can emphasize enough about this project is to plan plan plan plan. We planned the project for about a month before even ordering anything. We talked and redesigned a few times, trying to problem solve and have a beautiful product. We found how important it was to have the end goal in mind when starting the planning process so that we had doors wide enough to have the weather strips for soundproofing. If you attempt this project and need some clarification please don’t hesitate to reach out!
Overall if you have a space that cannot support traditional doors, and you don’t have the space for large swinging doors, consider a barn door ;)
