How to Install a Barn Door (+ Week 5 One Room Challenge Update)

There’s only one week left until our master bedroom makeover has to be completed for the One Room Challenge! My hubby and I have been working away on the final stages of our room design, and this week we scratched one more large project off of the list: the barn door installation. Let me give you a peek at our master bedroom progress, plus I’ll show you how we installed our beautiful barn door.

I’ve always thought the wall between our bedroom and our master bathroom needed something. Originally, we didn’t plan to have a door between the two rooms because we have a pocket door on the little sliding toilet room in our bathroom. However, I thought it would add extra functionality and a ton of style to put a sliding barn door between the two rooms. I’m so glad we decided to do it as part of our master bedroom makeover!

The wheels are (literally!) turning in my brain for this Fall’s #oneroomchallenge! I have the room picked out and can’t wait to work with these gorgeous barn door wheels from one of my fab sponsors – @leevalleytools! Are you planning on participating in the #orc this season?!

A photo posted by Christina, The DIY Mommy® (@thediymommy) on Sep 14, 2016 at 6:39pm PDT

I started with this stunning barn door hardware from Lee Valley Tools (the “Artisan” kit). Whenever I’m looking for unique hardware or tools, Lee Valley Tools is the place I go! They have the most unique options and when I first set eyes on this barn door hardware with the dark wood accents, I was hooked.

The hardest part about hanging a barn style door is ensuring that the track is secure above your door. We were very lucky because my hubby put headers above all of our doorways when he built. So, there is a solid piece of wood beneath the drywall above our doors on which to securely mount things. In most cases, however, you’ll need to install a piece of trim or backing of some sort over your door way so that you can safely mount a metal barn door track. Option C is that the holes in your barn door track will land over the studs in your walls, so you can use a stud finder to check if that’s the case.

The track mounts to the wall with large bolts. We measured where we needed the door track to be, marked the holes for the bolts, and then pre-drilled the holes into the wall above the door. Next, we attached the track to the wall with the large bolts and a drill.

Attaching the rollers to the door was pretty straight forward. We used some wood screws and a drill, and fasted the rollers about an inch away from each side of the door.

We happened to have one last “oopsie” door left from our house build (from when we ordered a few of the wrong sizes of doors), so I decided it would be perfect to use as our bedroom barn door. It’s the same style as the rest of the doors in our home, and I like that it’s simple so that the barn door hardware steals the show.

The door had a knob hole, so I covered that with a piece of trim that I glued on the door. Then, I found a unique iron handle at my local antique shop and screwed that onto the trim and the door. I think it adds a pretty touch!

The last step is to hang the door onto the rail. This is pretty simple if you’re tall (like my hubby), or if you have a ladder. The rollers simply slide right over the barn door track. In this kit, there are stoppers you attach at each end of the track to keep the door from sliding off.

I’m really thrilled with how our barn door turned out. I think it adds just the perfect amount of detail to this side of the bedroom, and it’s great to have the option of closing our bathroom off from the bedroom if we want.

The barn door hardware we used is not only beautiful, but it’s straight forward to install. I’d definitely recommend checking out Lee Valley Tools if you’re looking for some door hardware. And they always have the most gorgeous cupboard hardware, too!

I can’t wait to share our final room with you. I hope you’ll pop by next Wednesday to see it! Meanwhile, please make sure to visit all of the other One Room Challenge makeovers right here.

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Lee Valley Tools. As always, all of the opinions here are my own. I only recommend companies that I use and love myself.