How to Build a Custom DIY Sliding Barn Door

This weekend we tackled another big project in our quest to finish up this house. It took us most of the weekend to finish, but we now have functioning sliding barn doors for the mud room and den/flex space. The process was fairly straight forward, but a little time consuming. We used sheets of 1/2" veneer plywood as the base and tacked on the trim in a pattern to somewhat match our other doors in the house. We tried buying these doors from Jeld-Wen to completely match our existing doors in the house, but the largest they come in is 36" and we needed 39" for the mudroom and 49" for the den/flex space. Our ceilings are just over 8' high so a normal 4x8 sheet of plywood worked for us. We also used baseboard trim for our stiles/rails as it was wider than anything else we could find and also the thickness was just right at 9/16". This did require using our table saw to rip off the milled edge to give us two squared edges.

Materials:
- 1/2" veneer 4'x8' plywood
- 6" floor trim (ripped to cut off the milled edge)
- wood glue
- 1 1/4" plus 3/4" 18 gauge nails
- Track hardware from http://hangingdoorhardware.com/pocketdoors/industrial_door_track.htm. We used the 290 style tracks since our doors were definitely going to be under 400lbs. I highly recommend this site for tracks and hardware as they are very reasonably priced and have fast/cheap shipping.
- band-aids (for when you shoot a nail through your finger)

Tools:
- air nailer
- chop saw/miter saw
- table saw
- circular saw with guide for ripping 8' sheets of plywood (or a very steady hand)

We pre-primed and sanded our veneer plywood to make it easier to finish paint. Cut to size, ready for trim.

Figuring out the layout of the trim. 

Close up of the trim we used after we ripped off the decorative part.

We need an extra inch on the sides plus I wanted to get rid of the plywood edge so we added a 1/2 filler strip.

First stile trim added - glued and nailed.

Fitting in the rails - glued and nailed again. I tried to get as tight a fit as possible so plan to trim each piece carefully multiple times if necessary.

Coming along.

First side done! The angle was a pain. I used an angle finder and then used a scrap piece to find the perfect fit.

Back side of the den door. I wanted the door to slide over the existing baseboard trim so I left a 5 1/2" gap at the bottom.

Back side done with the added gap for the baseboard trim. 

Working on the smaller mudroom door. 

Side one of mudroom door complete. 

Backside of mudroom door with the same 5 1/2" gap for the baseboard trim. 

Dry fitting doors before putting on hardware. Almost a perfect fit!

Adding sliding hardware. 

Mudroom door installed.

Close up of the gap I left to slide by the existing base trim. 

Den door installed and sliding.

Both doors installed and closed. All that's left is some sanding and finish paint.

Finishing Touches

Brian has continued to work on the mudroom, putting our various tools to good use (the chop saw, table saw, and brad nailer are figuring heavily into his work these days) as he trimmed out the cubbies and built the window seat.  The trim has made a huge difference - it all looks like built-in furniture now.  It's just the look I was hoping for when we first started thinking about doing a mudroom so I'm really pleased with the result.  For the cubbies, we used 1 x 2 trim for most of the areas, although we had to custom rip a number of the pieces.  On the sides, we added shoe molding on the inside to give it a little extra detail and then put crown molding on top to make it look more like a piece of furniture.  On the window seat, we used 1 x 3 trim for a chunkier look.  We'll attach the top of the window seat with piano hinges so there will be extra storage under the seat.  We also still need to putty the nail holes, finish caulking, and give everything a coat of paint but it's nearly done...and I'm really happy with the way it's all turned out.  See for yourself...

Trimming the legs of the bench/cubbies

More trim in progress

And...done! 

Window seat space

Box built, trim in progress

Just need to add the top and we're done here!

Cubby Construction

We started working on the mudroom this weekend, planning and building a bench, cubbies, and storage.  The planning part of this project took as long, or possibly longer, than the actual building part.  We had a rough idea of the general dimensions and layout that we wanted but actually putting pencil to paper and making decisions took quite some time.  And, consulting the internet just led to even more opinions and options then we had when we first started.  But we finally buckled down and just started ripping 3/4" ply to build a nice big bench.  We had a new tool to try out as well - the Kreg Rip Cut.  It's not the easiest thing to use but it is easier than trying to rip 4' x 8' pieces of 3/4" ply with a table saw and, given how many cuts we had to make, we were glad to have it.  We also did a little prep work beforehand, priming and sanding the plywood before we started making cuts.  Hopefully that will pay off in the end when it's time to paint.

Once we made some decisions, we started by building the bench which, for anyone who is interested (and to add to the cacophony of information out there), is 79 3/4" wide.  That somewhat odd measurement breaks down into four 19" wide cubbies plus 3/4" of ply in between.  The bench height is 18 1/2" which, I might add, does not look nearly high enough when you mark it on the wall but turns out to be very comfortable once the bench is built.  Finally, the bench has a depth of 18".  We probably could have made it more shallow but we have the space and it gives the bench a nice chunky look.  From there, we built the cubbies, which are 52" high by 5 1/4", which will create 6" deep dividers once we install the trim.  They are really intended just to give some definition to the space, rather than provide a real divide.  If we didn't have the window in the mudroom, we might have made more distinct lockers, with deeper sides, but this way, we have dividers without blocking any sunlight.  Lastly, we added the storage shelves above the cubbies, which are 9" high by 11" deep to accommodate the storage baskets.  We still have quite a bit of trim to add, plus caulk and paint to finish the cubbies, and then we'll build a window seat between the closets...so there's still a lot of work to come but we're on our way to having another room finished up.

Mudroom before

Step one - build bench

Step two - add cubbies

Step three - add overhead storage shelves.  Trim, paint, hooks, etc. still to come...

Lawn Lessons Learned

We took the weekend off from construction to host friends but we've been working over the past few weeks on helping the lawn to recover from some early errors.  Back in June, we installed sod in the yard and for the first couple of months, it looked great.  We watered consistently and everything was green and pretty.  Then, we made a rookie mistake of fertilizing right before a heat wave hit and we got a bad case of brown patch disease.  Three fungus treatments later and things were recovering...and then we neglected to water the lawn and drought hit.  All of this made for a tough start for our grass and three weeks ago, it was looking very sad as evidenced below.  But, we refocused and got out the sprinklers to start watering and then overseeded two weeks ago and now it's looking so much better, also evidenced below.  We'll try to keep it healthy through the fall so that we'll be in good shape next spring!  

Three weeks ago...not looking good

And today...much improved!

Finishing the Beams

It's a strange feeling to have so few transformative projects left these days.  While there's still no shortage of work to do, so much of it is in the realm of finish/detail work that there aren't great day to day changes in the house anymore.  This weekend, though, we tackled one of the remaining big impact projects on the list - staining the beams.  As regular blog visitors will recall, we installed glulam beams to open up the first floor way back in December (because what better way to spend a holiday break than removing walls?).  Now that we have walls and trim up and flooring down, the last thing to do before we could start moving furniture back into the first floor was to stain the beams.  We were sort of dreading the project to be honest - we thought it would be one of those dusty, smelly projects that would disrupt the house for the entire weekend.  But, happily, it turned out not to be such a hassle after all.  It was one of those jobs where having the right tools went a long way.  We used our Dewalt orbital sander, removed the little dust collection bag, and duct taped the hose of the shop vac to it instead.  This  little maneuver worked wonders for keeping the dust down and I highly recommend it for anyone doing a similar sanding project.  It still took a couple of hours to get the beams all cleaned and sanded and then a couple more hours to get the stain applied but all in all, it wasn't bad for a day's work.  For the stain, we mixed two colors - kona and dark walnut to get a really nice dark brown color.  It actually turned out rather darker than we expected but we're happy with the result...a good thing since there's no undoing a dark stain!  I think the color really pops against the walls and also ties in nicely with the dark front door and espresso kitchen cabinets.  We had originally planned to finish the beams with a matte poly but looking at them now, we may just leave them as is.  Either way, it's a good job to check off the list and makes a big difference in the appearance of the house.  Other than that, we've continued to organize, sort, clean, and donate various and sundry household goods.  It only took three plus years but we're finally getting this house organized.  Next up, decorating and furnishing...

Beam, pre-sanding (note the paint on the beam)

Another "pre" picture

Post-sanding, pre-stain

More post-sand, pre-stain

And another post-sand, pre-stain

Stained beam!

Same beam, but looking into the kitchen

More post-stain beams

Close-up of the den beam to show the grain

Storage Galore

There's absolutely no reason for our long absence from the blog.  We've been here, we've been working, we've just, well, not been posting.  One possible excuse is that we've been doing much of the same stuff (painting, trim, and finish work) and one thing I can say for sure as a result - this house no longer has any shortage of storage space.  When we first moved in, it had typical tiny 1950s closets and very few of them.  A small entry closet fit a dozen coats on a good day, each bedroom had one tiny reach-in closet, and the less said about the galley kitchen and its complete lack of storage space, the better.  Now, however, it could not be more different.  We have a total of eleven closets throughout the house, with half of them oversized and a pantry in the kitchen to supplement the already numerous cabinets.  While I am, in general, completely happy with the storage situation, it's been a bit of a push to get them all finished.  We took advantage of the Container Store's Elfa sale this month to get shelving, which was much quicker than the custom built-ins we did for each of the three bedrooms on the second floor, and installed all the hardware yesterday.  Then, I missed a great photo op today when we unpacked roughly a dozen boxes of kitchen dishes and appliances that have been packed up for, ahem, three years now and spent the day washing, organizing, and storing all of our goods.  We should have gone through an editing process before we packed them up in the first place as there's quite a bit of stuff that will be finding a new home soon but it was really satisfying to unpack our cooking things again and have a place to put them.  It'll be time to start entertaining again soon!  

Kitchen pantry with shelving

Another view

Just one of many new closets

And another

Yep, another closet

View from the living room into mudroom (on the right) and den (on the left)
with tracks for sliding barn doors installed.  Next task, build the doors!

Another 600 sq. ft.

We've opened up a new floor for living space!  The basement carpet was installed on Saturday and it looks great.  We shopped around a bit but ultimately went with a Home Depot carpet and are happy with the final product.  We chose a carpet called "Royalty" (so fancy!), in Intriguing II, which has a slight pattern to it, in the color Hazelnut.  It's slightly darker than we expected but works well with the walls (also painted in Sherwin-William's Worldly Gray, as is the first floor).  We'll add some color with furniture and accessories later but for now, it's great to have some additional finished living space.  And, Brian already hooked up our new 60" tv and our new speakers so we're looking forward to movie nights soon.  At some point, we'll build a custom console for the speakers and other electronic items but everything is up and working as of this evening and we've moved our sofa downstairs, thereby also freeing up the first floor for more trim and painting.  This is approximately the sixth time we've relocated our living room area/sofa in the past year or so so I'm hoping it can stay put for a few months at least.  We also made a good deal of progress on the tiling this weekend, grouting the first floor tub surround and installing the bathroom floor, and installing the marble tile on the fireplace surround.  More finished pictures of those spaces soon!

Basement with carpet!

Not sure what's happening with the color in this picture...a professional photographer, I am not.

This picture doesn't do the scale justice but that is one very large television

More progress on the fireplace surround - marble tiles installed, ready for new insert, trim and custom-made mantel