DIY Barn Door-Style Doors With A Twist

12 Materials

I needed some French door type doors to block off my back sunroom, but because of limited room, and the fact that this wall is an original exterior load-bearing wall, I had few options. French doors wouldn't work because of the limited space, and pocket doors would have taken way too much construction and cost since this is an exterior load bearing wall. So I opted to make some rolling barn door-style doors...with a twist. I'm aiming for an elegant/refined style in my house, so rustic barn doors wouldn't do. So I made some doors that I think fit the look of my house (or will, once my house is finished) much better.

The finished rolling barn door-style doors.

I started with two 30-inch wood doors that were original to my house, but that I no longer needed. I made rolling door hardware out of metal pipes and flanges, and added wheels to the bottom of the doors. This way I could tell exactly how wide I needed to frame out the doorway.

The doors in their original state.

Using my Dremel Multi-Max, I cut the center portions out of the doors.

Center cut out to make way for glass.

And then I cut two decorative inserts for the doors out of MDF using my jigsaw.

Fretwork panels in the making.

I glued and nailed the fretwork panels into place.

Fretwork panels added to the doors.

And then I finished off the doors with lots of decorative trim, black paint, and frosted glass.

The final touch was a pair of whimsical peacock handles that I bought on Ebay.

This was one of the more challenging projects I've taken on, but it was worth it! I use these doors every single day. Not only do I love how they look in my home, and that they let light from the sunroom into the rest of the house, but I also love that I have some pretty unique doors in my home that can't be found at the home improvement store.

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Kristi @ Addicted 2 Decorating
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  • Rosemary Rosemary on Aug 07, 2018

    How did you install the frosted glass to the fret work?

  • Nancy Nancy on Aug 19, 2018

    Do you have up close pictures of the top of your door? I'm really interested in doing this into my master bedrooms bathroom.

  • The art in the center? What did you use? It was easy to cut? Just askng😍😍

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  • E.s33540295 E.s33540295 on Jul 13, 2023

    Hey folks why not check out her BLOG site? This lovely lady has great info on how she did her project. Just click the GO button above. ☝👀

  • Julie Julie on Jul 13, 2023

    Seems like a long piece of galvanized painted black or a piece of black iron pipe. Some type of flange was attached to the tops of the doors - either found one to fit or had one cut to fit. A tee plumbing piece with a larger opening (like 3/4 to 1/2, for example) than the long pipe was attached to the top of the door flange so that the door can slide along the pipe. Pipe fittings attached on either end to attach the long pipe to the wall. Wheels attached to the doors at the bottom.

    Figured this out because I want one like this for the powder room in our house. Not crazy about regular barn door hardware. Forgot to add that I will have my husband add wood on either side of the wheels at the bottom so the wheels are not showing.


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