Building and Installing a “Very Pretty” Barn Door

I just finished installing a barn door to cap off a bar area of a basement remodel. During its construction everyone visiting the shop talked about how pretty it was, and I agree. It’s weird because I didn’t imagine I would like it so much or get so wrapped up in terms like “pretty”, especially since I prefer to use the word “cute”.

Originally, we thought we might add some color to the individual boards, like maybe some washes of blue to go with the cabinets, but it turned out to be unnecessary. We wrangled up some wood in the shop from several different barns, and all of them stood on their own with no paint necessary. They were different enough that Tom, who built the door, even named them to keep them separated. The most textured gray pieces, which were sycamore, he called “dragon skin” and the smoother brown ones he named “Douggie Fir”. I think getting to know the wood really helped Tom pass the time at the chop saw.

The door is extra wide and turned out to be quite heavy, with two layers of hardwoods and a core of 1/2″ thick MDF, which required the wall hardware to be custom made and beefed up a bit. I got to visit one of my favorite places, Shapiro Metal Supply, to get the material and browse for a bit. The video below was shot just days before their recent fire.

While I did need extra muscle to get the door in the house (luckily they had a walkout basement), I was able to hang the door on my own. Click on the video below to see how it came together and see just how “pretty” it is.