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I can't tell you how good it feels to get finished with a project that you've put your heart and soul into for months! I've always wanted an interior sliding barn door, but I never had the perfect and functional spot for one until we moved. In this 'new to us' home their is an AC unit/storage closet right smack in the middle of the living room… most people would dislike this, but it is THE perfect place for a sliding door since it frees up your home's footprint for foot traffic or furniture!

The Materials - I already had tons of wood pallets so the wood was free. The other materials were hard to come by, making this project take much longer than it should have, but worth the wait. I found some old Cannon Ball Starline rollers on eBay for ridiculously cheap and scoured my town for a track to house the rollers, eventually finding just what I needed at PRO Build. The track, brackets, and handle were $55 bringing my grand total up to $70 so far. I am extremely proud of my thriftiness on this project since barn doors and hardware online can easily reach into the thousands! I also had to buy a piece of 1×6 pine to attach the track brackets to and of course bolts to screw the pine into the wall's studs. I wanted the wood of the barn door to look authentically aged so I oxidized it, well, my oxidizing specialist, aka my 5 year-old, did & he did an amazing job! It's very easy to make using white vinegar and 0000 steel wool that has sat for a few days… more details on how to make your own on my website. When all was said and done the materials were about $96 and the finished project is worth every penny!

The Build - I built just a basic backwards K design barn door (I'm sure that's not the correct term) from images that I saw online, very careful to measure everything twice so that the dimensions would suit our living room and door frame. The most time-consuming part of this project was taking the pallets apart, but two hammers and some elbow grease are all that's needed. I joined biscuits and used wood glue throughout and also randomly nailed to give it a well-loved look. The rollers and track were fairly easy to install and I made sure to secure the red mahogany-stained pine brace to the wall studs perfectly so that it could support the weight of the barn door and track. As an added detail I also painted the barn door pull in my current favorite color, aqua. The door looked a little lonely, so I found an antique four pane window on eBay and printed a picturesque mountain plains view to place inside, giving an expansive feeling when in reality it's just a wall behind the window… so nice to have a mountain view here in Florida! This project makes a huge impact on our space, creating incredibly beautiful and functional Art!

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Comments

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949 Posts
Free wood nice barn door what more could you ask for! Looks Great nice job!
 

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Oh… I forgot to mention Cute helper too!
 

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Neat (& decorative) way to hide a closet!
 

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Beautifully done. Your door is certainly the focus point of the wall and I am sure a great conversation starter.
 

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The word "cheap" in your title caught my eye, that's my way of thinking. Great job on the door, looks really nice.
As long as we're talking cheap, does your finishing apprentice only get minimum wage? Looks like a great helper.
 

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259 Posts
Great looking solution to hide the AC. Like the use of the pallets and the vintage look. Great job on that awesome door and nice to see the great little helper.
 

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Thanks for the kind words everyone!!! Free wood and my adorable little helper made this project a joy to create! Happy building to y'all! :D
 
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