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Welcome to week 6 of the Spring 2021 One Room Challenge! This week not only will we share a sneak peek of the bathroom progress, but you’ll also learn how to make an affordable barn door for the bathroom.

If you’re new here, WELCOME! You can learn more about us here. As a reminder you can easily navigate through each week of this coastal inspired bathroom project.

-1st week: The Design Plan

-2nd week: How To Install Shiplap the Easy Way

-3rd week: How To Tile a Shower

-4th week: How To Grout Tile stress free!

-5th week: How To Install a Hexagon Bathroom Floor Tile

-6th week: you are here.

-7th week: How To Confidently Choose Bathroom Vanities

-8th week: Modern Coastal Bathroom REVEAL!

Bathroom Progress Sneak Peeks

installing molding in the bathroom
board and batten for the bathroom
board and batten for the bathroom

Even though this post is mainly focused on how to make an affordable barn door for the bathroom, we thought it would be fun to give a little sneak peek of all the progress.

We’ve also been busy installing all of the trim work and a functional board and batten wall to hang bath towels.

Making Barn Door for the Bathroom in Action

Supplies Needed:

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Making Barn Door for the Bathroom

Old Door Before

old door before it's converted into a barn door

If you’ve been following along for any time at all, you know that we love to use vintage items throughout our homes.

I snagged this old door off the Facebook marketplace for only $5!

Initially I bought it to use for the “dream house” under the stairs, but decided it was the perfect fit for this modern coastal bathroom.

Using an existing door to convert into a barn door is a cheap alternative to buying a new door.

Prep Work

First you’ll need to remove all of the hardware and give the door a light sanding around the hinges and doorknob.

Fill in holes from hardware

use a hole bit to create filler for the door handle hole
attach all circle pieces together

Second, you’ll need to decide how to fill in the holes created by the hardware.

For the doorknob hole, we used a hole bit with our drill to cut a circular shape of wood to fill the majority of the hole.

In all we cut 3 pieces of wood to equal the thickness of the door.

If using multiple pieces of wood be sure to secure them together using wood glue and brads.

secure cirlce pieces into door handle hole
fill in door handle hole with glue around circle wood pieces

Third, after the pieces of wood are joined together, secure them inside the doorknob hole.

First tacking it into place with a brad nailer, then applying plenty of wood glue around the edges.

Creating a smooth surface over the holes

fill in the door handle hole with bondo

Once the wood glue has dried you’ll need to fill in any remaining holes or gaps. To achieve the most durable bond we used bondo.

For best results, carefully follow the mixing and application directions.

fill in the door handle hole with bondo
fill in the hinges grooves with bondo

Working with bondo, you have a short window of 3-4 minutes before it hardens. You’ll also want to mix the bondo with something disposable such as a stir stick.

After the allotted dry time, use coarse sand paper to smooth the bondo creating a flat surface.

Paint Barn Door

painted barn door

Prior to painting, smooth over the entire surface of the door with a fine grit sandpaper. Apply paint of your choice and allow to cure completely.

We’re using Behr cabinet and trim enamel color matched to Hale Navy by Benjamin Moore.

Install Barn Door Hardware

Drill pilot holes for barn door hardware

Barn door hardware can be purchased multiple places from your local home improvement store, Amazon and other online vendors.

Follow specific instructions per the hardware kit you choose.

Use the hardware template provided with the kit, or the hardware itself to accurately mark placement for the bolts.

installing barn door for the bathroom

To hang the barn door for the bathroom, you’ll first need to determine the rail placement on the wall. To aid in this step, we placed scrap wood 1/4″ thick under the door to raise it off the ground. This allowed us to accurately mark the wall for the mounting hardware.

Be sure to secure the lag bolts into wall studs for a secure hold.

Attach a handle if desired and hang the barn door.

What do you do if you want a barn door but don’t have room for a sliding barn door?

That’s the case in Gavin’s bedroom and we found this bifold sliding barn hardware that’s a game changer for small bedroom closets!

barn door finished

Thanks for stopping by! We hope you’ve enjoyed following along as we share our progress for this One Room Challenge.

Be sure to check back in next week to see the progress on our bathroom and the One Room Challenge.

Remember we love hearing from you. Be sure to drop any questions or comments below!

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And as always here at Sunny Side Design

WE HOPE TO BRING YOUR HOME TO THE SUNNY SIDE OF THE STREET!

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