DIY Easy Barn Door

Hello friends and Happy Monday! I am so excited about today's blog post because if you didn't know, home decor and DIY projects are another passion of mine. It must be yours, too, because I had SO many DM's wanting a tutorial after posting a photo on my stories.  My husband and I have completed so many DIY projects. One that has been on my list since we moved in our current home, is to replace our entryway closet doors. I have hated them since we moved in.   So of course I am going to share because this is the easiest project if you have all the right materials. So, let's get this tutorial started!

First I am going to share the material list. These will be the items you will need to create these super easy barn doors. I also want to point out that I am not going to share any measurements because your closet/doorway will most likely have different measurements than mine. We just pulled our measurements from the existing doors and went from there. You should do the same if you are replacing old doors.

TOOL LIST: 
(Keep in mind, we had all of these items so if you need any of these, it will be more expensive to build.) 

1- Nail Gun
1- Pack of 18 gauge 1 1/8" brad nails
1- Bottle of Wood Glue
1- Miter Saw
1- Pack of 100 Grit Sand Paper
1-  Hand Sander (this is optional because you can just sand with yourself)
1- Tape Measure
1- Impact Power Drill with a Phillips drill bit
1- Wood Pencil
1- Carpenter Square

Material List: 
(This was our material list. Everyone's will vary depending on what size door(s) you need.)

However many wood boards you will need to build your doors. This is why it is important to take your measurements beforehand. For example, we used a variation of 1"x4"x8', 1"x6"x8', and 1"x8"x8' white pine boards. You can get this at your local lumber yard, Menards, Lowes, etc. We like buying ours from our local lumber yard because the wood is in better condition.
1- Sliding door track system if you are doing bypass doors (Hardware should be included)
1- Can of Minwax Wood Finish Stain (I used the color, Special Walnut 224)
1- Old Sock or Stain Brush ( I use an old sock to stain because it goes on smoother and doesn't splatter everywhere)
2- Door Handles ( I bought these and absolutely love) Hardware should be included

Now that you have your tool and material list, it's time to build. Like I said before, you want to pull measurements from your existing doors.

Steps: 
1. Once you have your measurements, you will cut your boards to length using however many boards you need to make the width of your door panel. For example, our overall door frame measures 57" wide and 79.5" tall so we made two barn door panels that measure 29.5" wide and 79" tall. To get our width for a single barn door, we used the combination of 1-1x8 and 4 1x6, with the 1x8 in the middle.
2. Repeat step 1 for second barn door panel.
3. From here, you will cut a 1x6 board to the width of your panel 3x per barn door. For example, we needed six 29.5" 1x6 boards again using the saw to cut to length.
4. Once you have all of your wood cut, you will sand each board til they are smooth to the touch.
5. Now you will need your wood glue and nail gun. On a flat surface (even though we had to build ours inside because we had a foot of snow on the ground), lay the wood that you cut to make one of your barn door panels together with no space in between and flush with one another. Apply your wood glue to one of the six 1x6 boards that you cut and lay across the top, flush, with the top of your panel. Once you have glued, you want to make sure your boards are tight together and flush across the top. From here will use your nail gun to nail the 1x6 board to each board of your panel. We used about 5 nails per vertical board, spaced evenly.  Repeat this for the bottom 1x6 board and middle, ensuring there is no space in between the boards before nailing.
6. Repeat step 5 for second barn door panel.
7. Now your barn door panels are built. We decided to put a design in ours to add more stability using 1x4 boards. There are numerous designs you could use or leave as is.
8. Let your wood glue dry overnight and stain the next day.
9. Once your stain is completely dry, it is time to hang your barn door panels.  If you are replacing existing bypass doors like we did, we used the same track system but new rollers. Now you will need your impact drill to fasten your new rollers to the top, backside of your doors using the hardware that came with the rollers.
10. Now that your doors are hung, you can leave as is or add door handles like we did. I purchased these and love.

YOU'RE DONE! You just built barn doors. Congratulations! Again, your material list will vary depending on the size of the door you are building.

XOXO,

JEN MIRACLE