After deciding we wanted a sliding modern barn door leading from the kitchen to the future laundry room/mudroom, the search was on! We kept our eyes on Craigslist. We went to a ton of thrift stores and the ReStore. We hunted and hunted and nada. Nothing even close. So, we decided to not waste any more time and just make a door.
To get inspiration, I pulled up a photo from Ebay of a door that I really liked and maybe we could draw our inspiration from it.
Cool, huh? Originally we really wanted glass in the door, but going the DIY route, we just weren't sure how to do that and it would add so much money to the project. Tempered glass is not cheap! We mapped out all the dimensions and decided to add a third row of paneling so our door would be nice and wide. When we went shopping for the supplies, all of the wood came to about $150. Chris and our friend, Preston, worked on making all the cuts for a few nights and then planing the wood and then, two days ago...
We got a text from my mom:
There were two really old large solid oak doors WITH GLASS next to the dumpster! I was in the middle of painting a floor to ceiling eiffel tower on my niece's wall (apparently the eiffel tower is trending among 14 year olds), so Chris drove right over and hauled them home. We had to call a neighbor to help get them in the house because these suckers were heavy at about 125 lbs a piece. The stand about 89" tall and 36" wide and just like that, our barn door plans have changed.
We are thinking one will hang here in the great room and the other might end up in our bedroom. We don't have a door going from our room into our bathroom and have always wanted one--weird, I know. We need to do some work on the doors before we can hang them.
-Remove the hinges and swinging hardware from the top and patch the holes
-Give them a good cleaning
-Polish the backplate on the handle
-Sand and refinish the wood (but keep the vintage charm!)
-Frost the glass
-Possibly raise the door frame up
So, yes, we already spent some money on wood for a different door, but "you gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em" amiright? This is the door our dreams are made of and we can't wait to see her all fixed up and pretty. Did we score or did we score? #dumpsterdivingftw
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Something about that clear glass is really speaking to me. Are you considering at all leaving it clear? Or maybe just test-driving the "frosted" look with a removable film before making it permanent? Granted, I don't know what kind of messiness you're hoping to obscure, but there's just something about it. Just wondering. What a find!
Oh, and while I'm butting in with my own ideas (just sharing!), have you seen this partially-frosted door? http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2014/02/frosted-pattern-privacy-glass-diy.html Maybe one possibility would be frosted pinstripes on the bottom half only? The bottom half of the laundry room is always where all the mess is, anyway! :) (Also, kiddo-fingerprints and puppy-nose-smudges are going to happen on the bottom half of the glass, for sure.)
We love the clear glass. Truly. But, beyond the door is going to be a mudroom and laundry room combination. While we plan to put in a lot of pieces to help us stay organized, it has the potential to get messy. Hence the frosted glass. And I am still trying to figure out the puppy smudges. ;)
Great find!
(BTW, we have a barn door separating our master bedroom from bathroom and love it.)
Who in their right mind would throw that out?! I mean, worse case scenario, sell those suckers! Oh the humanity! A family that dumpster dives together....
Door of my dreams as well! Can't wait to see it transform!
I'd seriously consider not refinishing them, that door looks pretty great as is. I guess you do have two so you could do a test run on one?
We had varying opinions about this, but we have decided to just dust them off and clean them up! :) The color is very rich.
Good find! Doesn't the glass defeat the purpose of the door to hide the laundry/mudroom/pantry?
The door is not so much to "hide" that area, but just to separate it. We have the door open 95% of the time now. Bit, we will be frosting the glass for a little bit of privacy if needed.
Yes ! These are beautiful - SCORE !
However.... I must say it made me VERY sad only because I am trying to convince my husband for the past year to put up a barn door in an open doorway we have from the living room to the garage/laundry room/bathroom little hallway area in our house (yes, thank you complete open floor plan Florida house!) and I was really hoping to be able to use/follow your building plans so he could see that yes, it can be done.... but, that is my selfish side talking !
Can't wait to see what you guys will come up with !
Man, you guys really lucked out! Those are lovely. I actually like the wear on the handle and back plate and think you should leave it as is. The patina adds so much charm!
You're making my job easy! :)
Haha! You guys accomplish so much already. You deserve the break. ;)
You have a lovely collected, old world style and these doors seem to fit right in.
Those are awesome! They look like doors from a school building. Very cool! And jealous! :0)
I LOVE when it all comes together! Especially when you find "that" item sitting next to a dumpster. Can't wait to see it finished!
Score!! They are beautiful!
I still cannot believe it. Go, you!
So cool! The look like old church building doors.
Barn doors are major eye candy!
Dumpster Divers Anonymous: WELCOME Chris and Julia!!!!!!! And your mom too!
We have two dumpster diving successes:
A full on dresser that we have refinished twice AND the window pane that we used for our seating chart for our wedding. We removed the glass and put chicken wire in... after painting and distressing it white obviously.
I cannot wait to see the finished product... especially in your bathroom. #needed
http://houseofbennetts.com/2014/01/27/adventures-in-chalk-paint/
beautiful!
Great find! Could you do sliding barn French doors? It would be a unique look. Oh, and that's an official term, haha.
So funny. We were staring at the wall in the kitchen last night saying that same thing. It would be amazing. But, it would require nixing our future kitchen plans for putting a fridge to the left of the door opening.
Score! You will find another purpose for the other wood that you bought. These were worth grabbing. Also, we copied your fauxdenza idea and it came out great.
Used Abstrakt high-gloss white doors with plywood top/sides like yours. Instead of staining, I watered down left over paints in grey and brown tones and did a few layers of "whitewash" technique with dry brushing and sanding as top layer to make it look like weathered barn wood.
Thanks for the idea!
C
Just got your email. Well done!
Those are GORGEOUS! You've done the The Gambler proud.