Tuesday, November 22, 2011

X one off the Winter List!!!

When its just me and the kids at home it is wonderful having my craft room so close to the kids play room.  Occasionally it is just far to convenient for little fingers having scissors, buttons, thread, fabric, and pins so close at hand.  Especially little visitors who don't know the boundaries as good as my own children do. 
There are also a few times when my creative mess is left out as I haven't completed my project (like every day). 

Back in September I found a solution to this problem but when I presented it to my man his response was, "yah, that would probably be a good one for the winter project list."  In other words, looks good but I'm not interested in helping you with any more of your little projects for quite a while. 


Not being daunted by his less than enthusiastic response I started gathering the wood for this project.  All the rustic, weather worn boards came from my neighbours burn pile.  I dragged all the pieces out of his hazardous pile of garbage into our garage to dry.  Then slowly over time I sanded down every side of each piece collected with 60 grit sandpaper and my handy rigid palm sander.  I think my man finally got the idea that I was moving forward on this project whether I had his help or not. 

The opening for my craft room is 6ft wide by 8 ft high.  We opted to break it into two 3ft doors.  Using 3/4 inch plywood left over from one of his job sites we created 2 doors to use as backing since the wood I had collected was weak and not perfectly straight.  We (as in him) also cut four 4 inch pieces of the 3/4 inch plywood to use as filler pieces on each side as we did not have quite enough rustic wood.


We layed out the rustic wood and nailed it to the plywood.


Yup, some pieces were not even long enough but with the style of door I chose it would be covered up anyway.


Next up was the top and bottom panel cut the same width of the door to cover up all those gaps.


And the side pieces to cover up our plywood filler pieces.


The center cross bar and the 'x'.


We layed the wood out and used a framers square to figure out the angle needed to form our 'x'.


And two completed doors ready for finishing.


I used two coats of minwax dark walnut followed by two coats of polyurethance for the rustic wood.  The plywood I painted with Behr's Bitter Chocolate paint and primer in one.


My man picked up the barn door hardware from our local farm and ranch store 'Peavey Mart' for $130.  Each supporting bracket is screwed into a stud.  Very important as these doors are very heavy.


We attached the rollers to the backside of our doors but they can be attached to either side depending on the look you want.


Then slid the doors onto the rails.


And when I actually have my craft room clean they are great decoration for this long wall.


OFF LIMITS KIDS!


And a close up of how the Bitter Chocolate matches with the Dark Walnut.


And the backside of the doors just in case for some reason you wanted to close yourself into my tiny craft room.  I myself never plan to see this side of the doors.


And a close up of the rollers on the rail.

Once more, OPEN.

And CLOSED.

So, that's one project crossed of the winter list.  I wonder how many other projects I can talk him into before the first day of winter.


17 comments:

  1. that is an amazing DIY - I wish I had a space for barn doors in my house so I could try it! Looks great!

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  2. Love it! Especially the sliding hardware.

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  3. Wow this is awesome! I love love barn doors and it looks great in your home!

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  4. I really love it, to bad I don't have the room right now for this amazing door!

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  5. Now those are awesome craft room doors!! Great job!

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  6. i too jealous for words, i'm not proud, not one bit. i want these in every room in my next house that they work!

    they are amazing, and i'm still jealous!

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  7. oh my stars..
    I love this oh so much... I wish I had a house I could do this to.

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  8. I am completely in love with this. My next house is going to have these doors throughout.

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  9. I am in LOVe with your barn doors. What a great job!

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  10. When I first saw your barn doors I thought you bought them or something - I'm so impressed you saved salvaged wood piece, by piece and made the doors yourself. They look fantastic - open or closed.

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  11. Oh I love them! Great job! So glad you linked up with us!

    Marie
    mylilpinkpocket.blogspot.com

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  12. i featured you!!!

    http://typeadecorating.blogspot.com/2011/11/anything-goes-45-highlights-44.html

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  13. oh my goodness!! I would punch babies in the face for doors like these....Okay no I wouldn't punch babies, lol!

    I'm sooo jealous! These look fabulous!

    Thank you for sharing, your newest follower!

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  14. These doors are gorgeous! I LOVE them! Thank you for the tutorial too! Amazing!

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  15. not enough pics of "your man"!!

    you seem to skip over that bodacious part of the project that has the skill, tools AND ambition to help you out!! :)

    do you hire him out to help with my honey-do list?!! ;)

    BD
    -wade

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  16. I know this is an old post, but I love it!!!! I've been wanting to incorporate barn doors into my home for a couple years now. This is such a great DIY!

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