WHEN TO USE A BARN DOOR

I am fairly certain that my love affair with Barn Doors started with these on Miss Patti's dance studio on Gilmore Girls! 

I also love the board and batten on the exterior.

After my post about my mini hallway makeover, quite awhile back, I had several emails asking about our barn door. Now, they are popping up everywhere! It's great because they are such a smart design element that add architectural detail to any space. 

Here are some handsome barn doors used in clever ways.

Image via Pinterest

Image via House Beautiful

Image via Pinterest

What is really great about them is that they can help alleviate doors opening awkwardly into small spaces, which was definitely the case in our bathroom.

Our house, like many old houses, does not have a designated linen closet so I added a large bookcase to function as our main storage unit for bathroom necessities. It had been working out nicely with the only problem being our old door opened into it. Barn door to the rescue! It has added some better functionality, freed up some much needed space and added some nice architectural detail to out little hallway! It doesn't lock like the average bathroom door so we simply abide by a "closed door" policy ... If closed, Do Not Enter! That being said, Fergus, our Bernese Mountain Dog, doesn't seem to understand!

This was the second door of its kind that we constructed as we did one for our little horse barn outside. So, we had a general idea what we needed to do. We built it with the same tongue and groove board used in to hallway. I won't give too many instructions because your door will likely be specific to what type of railing system and the dimensions of the door. If you are interested in building a custom door HERE, HERE, and HERE are some tutorials you might consider looking at first! 

Have  great weekend friends,
Valerie xo