Barn doors in the home are so on trend right now- and like the rest of the world, we LOVE them! Whether you prefer ordering a pre-made barn door, or building your own, they are a beautiful addition to just about any space. Not only do they make a great statement piece, but they are also functional! Win, win! We are so excited to share our version of a DIY Barn Door we built for my kitchen. After trying a few different things in this spot of my kitchen (see HERE and HERE,) it finally dawned on us that a barn door would be perfect. AND this is the simplest barn door ever!
Here’s what you need:
- 1 x 6 boards
- Saw
- Wood glue
- Nail gun
- Paint
This barn door is 7 feet high by about 39 inches wide. We used eight 1 x 6 boards: 7 for the vertical slats and one that we cut for the cross boards. Of course, you’ll want to measure your space and build a door to fit. That’s one of the perks to building one yourself-it’s be custom to your space!
Step One: Measure the boards to the length needed. In our case: 84 inches (7 feet).
Step Two: Cut the boards.
Step Three: Lay the boards side by side making sure to match them up at the ends. You may want to place something long and straight against at least one of the ends to keep the boards lined up. We used a long level, you can see it in the picture with the pallet, a few pictures down. 
Step Four: Measure and mark where the cross boards will go. We came in from the ends 16 inches.
Step Five: Use wood glue on the cross board and place it along your marked line.
Step Six: Nail the cross boards down; a nail gun is best, but some small nails and a hammer could do the trick too.
Put some weight on the board while the glue dries. 
Step Seven: Beat it up! We wanted a good distressed look, so we literally handed the 6 year old a hammer and told her she could hit the wood. Her eyes about popped out of her head when I told her what to do. She triple checked that I was serious and then she went to town! The end result, a dinged up barn door.
Step eight: Paint. We just used spray paint and applied 3 coats. 
Step 9: Add a handle and hang.
The sliding track is a whole other story. My husband built ours because we couldn’t spend the $180-$250 ready made tracks we found. So in an upcoming post we’ll do our best to show how he made this track for only $30! 
We LOVE this door! 
What do you think? Totally do-able right? It’s the perfect pop of color to my otherwise neutral kitchen.
Linking up to some of these parties:
This is awsome barn door project. We were planning to build similar type of barn door for our closet room. This project would help us a lot.
Hi Nikki! Thanks for your comment! Yes-it was Valspar spray paint, the color is called Golden Maize. 🙂
Awesome door and great tutorial. By chance, do you remember the color and brand of spray paint you applied?
Hi Stephanie! Yes that two cross boards are holding the vertical boards together. 🙂
Hello! Just wondering- are your vertical boards not fastened together at all? Is the cross piece the only thing holding them together?
My husband built the track. Here is the link to that tutorial, or just search ‘barn door track’ on our site. I hope it helps! I know the tracks can be so expensive, so making it yourself is a great option! 🙂
What kind of track did you use for the barn door…i am in the process of making 2 doors but am looking at how to make the tracks
my dad wants the same barn door which have been shown in the pic. will definitely buy the same door.
Hi Melanie! I never saw an email from you — let me know if you sent it and I’ll check all of my folders again! Thanks!
Awesome tutorial! I love the sunny yellow color you used! Thanks for sharing at Best of the Weekend! 🙂
WOW great job, this looks totally legit!
What a unique idea! It adds so much interest to that space.
Saw this featured at Home Stories A to Z, and LOVE IT!! Wish our kitchen could fit a barn door 🙂
Thanks so much Lorene! We just linked up the barn door to the link party. In hopes that we get the hardware post done, we’ll send it to you later tonight; hopefully early enough that you can still include it in the round-up. We are thrilled to be part of the fun door themed week! Thanks again!!
I really love this door. I would like to make it for my tiny bathroom. But first, I really, really, need the instructions for the track. Hope it’s coming soon. (I would’ve said, really, really, really soon, but I’ve already used that word so many times here. lol)
This is amazing! I love the track you made too! I’m sending to the hubs right now! 🙂 Thanks for sharing at the Link Party Palooza!!
Thanks so much Terri! We are working on our barn door hardware post, hoping to get it up in the next week or so. We have to pin my husband down to help write the instructions since he came up that whole part of the project. 🙂
Thank you, thank you Lacie! We are so happy you found the tutorial helpful:)
Thanks so much Kris!!
Oh….my! Thank you so much for this post! This is a project we want to do next! We had to remove a closet unit and a door to get our broken dryer out of the room it was in! And this is exactly it! We also can’t really afford the price for hardware, so would really love to hear what he used! Thanks for being a life saver! Looking forward to the hardware info too!
My mom wants a barn door on her new house and this is a great tutorial! Pinning this one for my mom! Thanks for sharing the step by step pics!
Love your door – it turned out great. Barn door is actually the next project on my list! Great job!!
Kris
Hi Melanie! I love love LOVE your door! I keep scheming to see if I can find a place in my house for a sliding barn door. Can’t wait to see the details of the hardware, too — $30 is pretty unbeatable!
Speaking of which, I work behind the scenes over at Remodelaholic and we are doing a huge door-themed week next week — including a round-up of barn door hardware options and a doors link party. So we’d love to have you link up for sure (the party will open Monday morning and run all week). If you’ll be posting your door track details before our round-up goes live (Tuesday AM) we would love to include it in our post (just a photo and link back) — just email me a link if that’s something you’d be interested in! We also have a non-themed Remodelaholics Anonymous link party that we’d love to have you link up anytime, too 🙂
Thanks!
Lorene
Thanks Amanda! We have to convince our husbands a lot too:). Good luck! 😉
Thanks so much Jessy!
Thanks Gilly! We love yellow too!
Love this! PInning it for later!
I want a barn door sooo bad! This project turned out great. Pinning for later, when I can convince my boyfriend to let me have one. lol
Love it. Looks really nice. I wish I had a door like this
What an awesome project- I wish I had a place for that kind of door in our home- it’s so cute! Thanks for sharing!
I stopped by from Whimsy Wednesdays.
I love this door, mainly because you painted it my favourite colour! But it looks beautiful none the less.
Thanks so much Kara! 🙂
Totally love this! You’re right, it is just perfect in that space. Can’t wait to see how you made the track!