We’ve been pluggin’ away, little by little, on the north wall in our master bedroom, and man does it feel good to finally be getting closer to the finish line!
Here’s what it looked like before we painted it Martha’s Stewart’s “Blue Hubbard” (Sherwin Williams)…
…and here’s what it looks like today…
You’ll notice we finally put the bathroom door trim back on, and we managed to attach some more of our 1″ x 4″ MDF boards as crown molding and base boards too. Woo hoo!
Next up, we’ll be building a barn door…
(Note: This is an inspiration drawing, and that is not our actual bathroom.)
…and creating some kind of built-in wall pocket unit for our TV, DVD player, and other little pretties to sit in too…
(Again. Just an inspiration drawing.)
Who knows if we can actually pull it off, or if it’ll look exactly like that, but we’re definitely gonna give it a whirl and see what happens!
I’d like for it to have a small, flip-down door (below the TV) so that we can hide the electronic stuff from view. Kinda like this…
And although we’re fans of the open look, I guess another option would be doors on the upper part of it…
What do you think? Â Doors to cover the TV, or no doors?
Wait! Before you answer, keep in mind we’re still planning to build a two-doored version of this guy on the wall opposite the mirrored closet doors…
It’ll sit to the right of the Blue Hubbard-painted bump out…
In the meantime, we’ll start wrapping our heads around how to build that barn door track for less than the barn door supply companies are selling them for. Wish us luck!
PS– We’re not 100% sure about what color, finish or style the barn door will be…we just threw that blue one in there as an example!
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I am looking forward to see this project … please let me know what you find in the barn door area. I live in Las Vegas and our master suite in HUGE but no door separating the room and the bathroom (I don’t understand it) but we are thinking about using one as well. Good Luck!
just found this post via house of smiths. i love barn doors and have tons of them in my inspiration file on my computer. i can’t wait to see how you build this. i vote no doors over the tv. i like the little flip down door but the other doors take away from the barn door and make things too busy. without the doors seems cleaner and less fussy. in the picture without the doors my eye goes right to the barn door. in the picture with the doors, i find myself looking back and forth between the two sets of doors. ……either way it’s going to be great!
I’d say no doors on the tv cabinet. Personally, in my house the doors would never be shut, plus I think it would look like “why’s that cabinet there.” I LOVE the barn door but have no place to put one in my house. Looking at your photo gave me a thought though. I have a very large/tall bank of window’s in my bedroom and can’t figure out how to put curtains up. I might think about using the barn door to close off the windows on hot summer days but when it’s open it would add interest to the huge wall beside them. My husbands not going to like this! 🙂
Stumbled upon another blog with a DIY post on sliding barn doors! http://www.housetweaking.com/2011/02/10/diy-sliding-barn-door-part-i/
I’m absolutely drooling! I can’t wait for you to post a tutorial on both the door AND the hardware – I would love to do this in my kids room (which is cowboy/western/toy explosion themed…lol), but have no desire to spend $400 on hardware for it! And I live in an old farmhouse (almost 100 years old) so this will be perfect!!!
Lovin the room! Can’t wait to see it finished! 🙂 Btw, I am liking the TV with no doors.
Layla,
sister… i have a barn door at Bradford. i finally just bit the bullet and got the barn door system–it kind of made me sick because, really, must they be so pricey? But, someone recommended Tractor Supply or the Farmer’s Co-op. I looked and they were way too barn-like and less stable-like. But, I bet you and Kevin could take one and make it into something incredible. You should check Tractor Supply!
x,
Amy
Long time reader/1st time commenting:
I love barn doors. We recently had our offer accepted for the 2-story loft we are currently renting. The “bedroom” just off the 2nd story stairwell doesn’t have a door and I’ve been daydreaming about putting a sliding barn door up there for months. Not certain how we’ll do it – or when – once the final paperwork makes the place officially ours I have a slew of things we’ll be working on one at a time. Everyone I’ve told about my plans seems to think I’m crazy – they’ve never thought of an indoor barn-door…I’m thrilled to see someone else has similar plans. (LOL, hoping you’ll do a tutorial before I have to hit that phase…you know, just so I can cheat.)
My 2 cents on the doors for the tv – no doors. Not like the inspiration photo, anyway. I started following you after seeing your work on PW. I Love That Yo Do That. I’ve been messing around with photoshop like that before a major remodel for a couple of years now and everyone looks at me like I’m just anal, but man what a time, and money saver! Yes, it take additional time upfront, but really helps to visualize before you go all the way down the wrong path. I can’t believe more companies don’t use it – siding and roofing, for example, landscaping, the possibilities are endless. Anyway, two thoughts on this. I like the barn door. What if you used that same philosophy and hung one of your beautiful pics of the two of you as a couple (or a family later on down the road) on that same type of mechanism in miniature scale. PS. I’d LOVE to see an in-detail tutorial of that on How To’s day. I’ve been thinking about doing this in our bedroom, but can’t figure it out. We don’t have a built in though, so that would probably help. That would be my first choice, but the other alternative would be to use some sort of glass insert doors. You could do a pretty etching on the glass…
I’ve been in love with this barn door idea for a while, but haven’t been able to figure out where I could use this in my house. Can’t wait to see what you do!
I love the wall color! I don’t know if anyone has mentioned it, but Dana of House*Tweaking recently did a barn door on their bedroom as well. Here’s the link to her post: http://www.housetweaking.com/2011/02/04/pardon-me-your-barn-door-is-open/
Layla,
I read your blog all the time.
You two remind me of my husband and I.
I am very excited for your upcoming adoption.
Now, about this barn door. Can I tell you how excited I am to see this? It’s going to be great!
Thank you for including your inspirations into your post. I always love to see what inspires creative minds.
Love the barn door idea. It doesn’t go with how I’m decorating our new house, but if I had the beachy/casual feel (which I love to look at, by the way) I would totally try this. Yours will look great!
Oh, exposed electronics…the bane of my existence. I like the idea of the drawer! The TV seems to work the way you have it planned, though. The doors feel a little too cupboard-y for me.
I’m sure whatever you choose will look fab. 🙂
Hi , I was going to send you to House Tweaking also, but see someone else mentioned it. I’d spring for good hardware…it will be getting a bunch of use and that’s not a door you want to fall off!
My husband and I just completed our barn door project! We were really happy with the results…even though ours turned out to be a swinging barn door instead of sliding. Check it out here: http://settlingwest.com/?p=1049
I can’t wait to see how you do the barn doors. I want to do one in our house, but we are poor, poor, poor. I can’t wait to see your budget-friendly option. 🙂
The best place to find barn door hardware is craiglist. Two years ago I found the rail system that is now on my barn plus scored the door itself. The door was in too bad of condition to use, but the wood has been used for picture frames and as a mount for my husbands deer head. (FYI: I live in Oklahoma, everyone has deer heads here, we don’t all like them, but we have them) (Sorry Hun)
As for the door on the TV, I did a built in like in your drawing. However, to hide the whole mess I framed the cut out and put a canvas light weight framed picture on a piano hinge, that way it stays open when in use, and closed when TV is off. The Sat. box is still sitting on the dresser, because it is too big for the niche, but that too got covered, I left the back open for heat to be released but put a door on the front to hide the fact that it is a satelite.
The Hubs ask why I went to so much trouble to hide the fact that we have a TV in our bedroom. My reply was, I have a deer head in my living room. End of discussion. I won! Sometimes its best to not ask why.
I just found your site and LOVE it! You are so creative and talented, and a girl after my own heart for sure. We have turned a “burn down” farmhouse into a lovely family home. My next project will be a sliding barn door (and here I thought I would be the only one to think of that), to slide in front of the staircase opening to the attic that is now our master bedroom. My husband, a farmer, thinks a barn door in the house is crazy, but who doesn’t love crazy??!!! Anyways, about the “to door, or not to door”. I think the Tv should be covered. If not doors, maybe shutters, when closed and slide some photos in the slats? Or a piece of art? Or a big framed mirror on hinges? You know those huge ornate frames, maybe insert a chalkboard or fabric, or mirror? From what I have seen of your “look”, i just can’t see an open TV.
Looking very forward to following your projects!!!
I’m still waiting for your idea on the ‘cheaper’ version so I can make mine!!! I did find this site that seems to sell a kit that can be concealed with a picture shelf, which I LOVE and will probably do unless your version is better! Thanks dear! http://www.johnsonhardware.com/photosubmit/Valerie%20McGovern.htm The kit seems to be really affordable unless I am totally reading it wrong! What do you think? Like around $50 for the whole kit for one door, mine will be a double door like the picture for my bathroom and closet door in the master, and I do plan on adding mirrors like you….LOVE it too!
Hi Kevin and Layla
Love this post on your barn doors and I can’t wait to see it when it is finished!
It will add so much character!
We did a barn door on our bathroom remodel and I recently did a post on it.
It looks like a lot of people are interested in this idea, so I hope you don’t mind but I added a link at the bottom of my post to other great posts about barn doors.
Misty
http://notanemptyroom.blogspot.com/2011/03/bathroom-barn-door-and-other-details.html
Just ran across this post on another blog and remembered you are going to build one! Thought I’d pass it along in case you need a little inspiration (not that you EVER seem to be lacking in that department!) 🙂 Here’s a 3 part post about how they built their door and hung it.
Like the barn door idea. Great floor space saver as well. My wife is in residential kitchen & bathroom design and I am in commercial mechanical system design by profession. We are looking at creating our own “industrial grade barn door hardware kit” to bring out our personal creativity and functionality within our home. We plan to utilize re-purposed heavy duty metal pulleys/wheels w/ball bearings along a 1/4″ thick or so plate steel for the track. 3/8″ lag bolts w/ washers and 1/2″ or so dia. SCH 40 pipe cut long enough to hold the door off the wall & trim for the hardware from the local box store should anchor the “rail” to the wall studs at 16″ o.c. We know both inexpensive and expensive kits can easily be found online. However we are not satisfied with the appearance and performance of most of the inexpensive kits, and can’t afford to spend several weeks salary on the expensive kits. Like the idea on re-purposing items from craigslist, garage sales, etc. (within reason.) We hope to construct this soon, and need to locate some authentic barn wood or re-puposed, re-finished old doors like you have pictured that would make this project complete. Best of luck to all of you in your projects.
Tractor supply stores stock the hardware to do interior barn doors for a fraction of the cost….I have two in my house now and they are great….
where did you find your base molding?
Hi Laya, I wee bit late posting this, but I would hide the electronics w/ old exterior shutters 🙂
Your b’room looks fab & my hubby is building barn doors as a divide between our very open plan LR/ kitchen area in our little beach cottage in RI.
Best of luck & excited to see what you come up with!, Philly 🙂