Barn Door Hardware Transforms UGLY Hallway

2 Materials
$800
4 Weeks
Medium
My hallway was boring, ugly, dark, uninviting – you get the picture. Before we bought the house, the one wall across from the closet had a type of salt wash that made it very rough. I sanded it down and painted before we moved in, but never liked the hallway partly because it was dark and partly due to the bifold doors. Or should I say "bifold door."
The one was off and the other had a doggie door in it. I have no idea why other than I know they had lots of animals, so the animal "stuff" must have been in the closet.
My DH began tearing out the old doors and planned the new ones. We had bought the doors for a great price we wanted a while back and they sat in our garage waiting to be hung. I think they got moved around a dozen times over the past couple of years.
The Process
Step #1 Remove old trim around the closet and add new.
 
Step #2 Fill in nail holes and sand to get the trim ready to paint. To keep the sanding dust from going everywhere, we put up a barrier using tension poles by Zip Wall. I also use these to section off an area in our garage for a spray tent.
Step #3 Measure and plan out the new barn door hardware. We had to figure out how we would have the doors slide out of the way, giving maximum access to the inside of the closet. We had little wiggle room since the closet is on a fairly short wall.
Step #4 Attach the hook strap to the doors. The doors we already had purchased weren't solid core doors as is prescribed in the company's directions, so DH drilled through the door and used longer bolts so he could add a nut on the inside to make them more secure.


Step Attach the flat rail. In this case we had to use two pieces, a 6ft. and 4ft. because of how wide our closet is.
 
Step Router a groove in the bottom of the doors to sit on the floor guides to keep the doors stable.
Step Typically, you'd attach the guides to the floor for the doors to slide on, but we have tile and haven't figured out what we'll do yet since we're considering replacing the tile. 



Step Paint the garage and front doors dark brown.
 
Step Hang the doors & add handles.
Step Paint the walls.
Step #12 Fill in the gaps between the wall and trim with silicone paintable chalk before painting. You can also fill in the joints. This give you a much cleaner, updated look.
 
Step #13 Paint the trim, and use a razor blade to scrape off any paint that wanders outside your trim.
Step Add new switch plates.


Step Decorate. Buy a new rug at Kohls and stencil on the wall using a (afflink) StudioR12 stencil from Amazon.


Custom Service Hardware supplied all of the hardware for our project. They were patient and helpful, and very good to work with. Thanks CSH!


To see more photos and details, visit Love My DIY Home. Come join our 9000+ member Furniture Flipping Forum on Facebook and see what we're up to! To come visit Love My DIY Home and see more great tutorials, visit the link below:
Suggested materials:
  • Barn Door Hardware   (Custom Service Hardware)
  • Wall Paint   (ACE)
Val Frania {Love My DIY Home}
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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 2 comments
  • Als33315341 Als33315341 on Jul 19, 2018

    This project turned out great. Very pretty indeed.

  • Sherry Sherry on Dec 31, 2018

    AWESOME!!! I'm putting one in my small home to remove a door swinging in my tiny office. I'm excited for it to even look HALF as good as this one!!!! Thanks

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