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How To Make An Elegant Barn Door DIY

In this post you’ll learn how to make an elegant barn door diy that is perfect for a bathroom or bedroom. With a mirror and beautiful gold hardware it takes the word “barn door” up to new heights in décor!

elegant barn door diy

This is a paid post in behalf of Spectrum Brands but the opinions expressed here are my own.

We designed the large master bedroom suite as an addition to our home years ago. After having a dedicated dressing area in our starter home, I knew that I wanted one in this home as well. It’s where I sit and put on my makeup. The drawers hold not only all of my makeup but jewelry as well. Plus I will sometimes grab a cup of coffee and my laptop and work here because it’s quiet! BUT, here’s the before our elegant barn door diy project began…

elegant barn door diy tutorial before

Walking in from the ensuite master bedroom, this is the view above. It’s a long hallway with his and hers walk-in closets on the left. On the right is the master bathroom that we recently remodeled (see it HERE). There is one window, but the room is still rather dark since it’s on the north side of the house. The floors were redone about 10 years ago with bamboo click-lock flooring that we still love!

before barn door installation

The ball was definitely dropped in putting doors on the closets when the room was built. My husband and I just couldn’t agree on doors! Oh…by the way, see my recent pergola project with Spectrum Brands/National Hardware in THIS POST!

Elegant Barn Door Diy Reveal

mirrored elegant barn door diy

Don’t you love it?!! I sure do and the best part is being able to close the doors to hide closet messes! It’s simply part of every day life that closets hold a lot of stuff, so why not hide it away with a barn door. I’m so proud that WE BUILT THESE from a couple of plain prefab panel doors! We used the BEST BARN DOOR KIT that we’ve seen! Don’t forget, we have owned a home remodeling business for several decades and have seen OODLES of barn doors. This is the kit that we used from National HardwareDESIGNER INTERIOR BARN DOOR KIT.

spectrum brands elegant barn door diy

Tips On The National Hardware Barn Door Kits

  • You have a choice of a variety of styles, finishes and sizes. I chose the brushed gold for a modern look and it’s GORGEOUS! See more of the kits here – Barn Door Kits
  • We found the quality of these barn door hanging kits to be excellent.
  • The instruction manual is extremely well written and easy to follow. That’s HUGE, especially for those of you who never have hung a barn door before!

national hardware barn doors

instruction manual for hanging a barn door

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How To Make This Elegant Barn Door – Diy

Measure your openings or the area that you want your barn door to cover.

measuring for barn doors

Now that you have an idea of the size door you will need you can determine what type of door you’ll want. There are plenty of ready-made barn doors that you can find on-line or at your local big box hardware store. There are also plenty of tutorials for building barn doors for every sort of look and aesthetic. I haven’t seen one like our elegant barn door diy before, but I had this idea and it worked! We purchased a pair of pre-primed single panel doors from a supplier that we use in our construction business. Normally you’d use these as an interior door to a room and they are readily available. The primed coat was great and we didn’t feel the need to paint the doors.

single panel door

We purchased two inexpensive ($8 each) 13″ x 49″ framed door mirrors in white. Using small tack nails we attached one mirror to each door panel, a little more than half way up the door. We decided to add the hangers to the doors next, before adding the decorative moulding. Isn’t this brushed gold finish amazing!! You can find all of the instructions detailed HERE on the kit that we used from National Hardware.

Installing The Hangers

National Hardware thought of everything with this kit! There is a template enclosed for marking where the holes should be on your door. You simply mark for the holes and drill holes where marked. Then install the supplied fasteners.

Customizing The Doors With Overlays

Once the hangers were installed we began to add the trim. We worked with MyOverlays for the product and couldn’t be happier! They made our order quickly and with the diamond shape it would have been impossible to do otherwise! The overlays were large and each came in two pieces. We measured and then cut them to size which was very easy to do. Then we used some clear silicone caulk to glue each in place and let dry for about an hour before hanging.

overlays for the elegant barn door diy project

Adding The Door Pulls

Next we added the beautiful 12″ MADISON PULLS that we were supplied with in brushed gold. They really add that modern touch and coordinate beautifully with the National Hardware tracks! There are other styles as well that you’ll find HERE. We measured and determined where to place the handles correctly on the doors and marked them.

madison pull national hardware barn door

Then we drilled through the door for the hardware that attaches the pulls through the back. Now the barn doors are ready for installation!

Installing The Elegant Barn Doors DIY

*NOTE* – For safety, it is ALWAYS recommended that you add a header track (wood piece) first for weight stability of the door!

We measured for where the barn doors should be installed and added the wood header track.

installing barn doors

IMPORTANT! Make sure that your header track is level before installing the barn door track.

Pre-drill the header for the supplied hardware to attach the rail to the wall.

Attach the rail to the wall with a socket wrench.

Our elegant barn door diy is almost finished! Here we have hung the doors and are adding stops to the ends. There is also additional hardware in the kit to add stops, soft closures etc. Some beauty shots below…because well, they are beautiful!!

Now I can sit here and close the door and not have to look at the black hole of my closet, haha!

The left door in position over my husband’s closet.

The master bathroom behind is reflected in the elegant barn door diy mirrors. Although I lost the use of the French dressing mirror that we had to remove, these work fine for checking my outfit of the day! The French mirror will probably go somewhere in our bedroom (no worries). I’m so happy with the look of these mirrored barn doors and they make this room look so much larger!

For greater depth of barn door installation, head to this link at – National Hardware and see where to buy HERE!

before after barn door

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58 Comments

    1. Thank you so much Anita!

  1. Hi Janet,
    Love the doors!! So elegant! We just replaced all our closet doors with louvered doors. It makes such a difference. Our house is under contract so we needed to spiff our closet doors up. Yours are beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

    1. Thanks Babette and good luck with your future home plans!

  2. Beautiful and fresh looking. I’m envious of your seating area and enough drawers to put makeup etc away. No dust bunnies here!

    1. Thanks Linda! It really is nice to be able to tuck all of the “stuff” out of sight!

  3. These are beautiful Janet. I love the gold, it make it so elegant.
    Beautiful addition to your room.

    1. Hi Judy! Thank you so much…they definitely are my style! xo

  4. Carolyn W. says:

    While normally not a fan of “barn doors,” these are beautiful! It literally makes me wish I had a place for this elegant door solution.

    1. Thank you so much Carolyn…and I feel the same about the typical barn door

  5. Susan Pussilano says:

    Beautiful as always……fresh and classy! Can you share what flooring you used in that space? Color and brand? I love it!
    I am in the process of redecorating the whole house and changing things up as well. So exciting!
    Thanks so much.

  6. We love barn doors and this one is so beautiful. Great job! Can I come and write in that spot? Looks perfect, love when a project from thought to finished product blows you away. Enjoy your new space.

    1. Thanks Brooke! We are really loving this area now!

  7. Lovely ,love the cozy corner the pretty doors .

    1. Thank you so much Cindy!

  8. Barns doors are such a great solution, the simplicity especially in small spaces is what caught my attention years ago. Love that handle – clean lines are classic..

    1. Thanks Carole…they work well in this area!

    1. Thank you for the kind words Linda!

  9. Pamela Milligan says:

    Good job, you guys!!

    1. Thanks Pamela…a great team effort on this project!

  10. Miche Ortega says:

    Just gorgeous, Janet. You all did a fabulous job. Enjoy that wonderful space.

    1. Thank you so much!! xo…Janet

  11. Too elegant to call it a barn door anymore!!!! Super nice.

    1. Definitely fancy barn doors!

  12. My goodness. These could not be any more perfect in this space. Elegance and practicality all in one project.
    Thank you for the tips and tricks.
    The gorgeous details like the handles and rails make all the difference.

    1. Thank you Meegan…I’m so glad that you like them! xo

  13. Wow never would have thought from the initial picture that was a barn door! The hardware is gorgeous!

    1. Thanks Maria…they really serve a great function and I was happy to make them in my own style!

  14. Barbara Clark says:

    The doors are beautiful. We are now full-time RVes, but we may give t up in the near future in Texas. Only God knows our future. I am saving your emails to hopefully use in a new small home.

    1. Barbara…enjoy your travels and I hope to continue to inspire! Stay safe out there!

  15. Chris glynn says:

    Love this project Janet!!! Well done! ❤

    1. Thanks Chris…they are a bit different and really work well in that area! xoxo

  16. One of the prettiest advertisements I’ve seen in awhile.

    1. Wow…that makes me so happy Clara! Enjoy your week ahead

  17. Hi Janet!
    I love your Barn Doors. They are so elegant!! ❤️

    1. Carol…I thank you so much!

  18. Wowza, those are some fancy doors, I think I have to hold my pinky finger out to read this post! Timely too as we have a chaotic mess at our house with remodels going on, one will be barn doors on what was a formal living room (no pinky finger needed) turned office. I will check out National Hardware for sure.

    1. Barn doors outside the normal and typical are my jam! Check them out!

    1. Thanks Lizzy…those tracks make a beautiful statement for sure! Have a great week ahead!

  19. linda of no.cal. says:

    They are THE prettiest barn doors I have ever seen!!!
    hugs🍂linda of no.cal.

    1. Awww, thank you so much Linda. Hope all is well with you out there!

  20. I never thought a barn door could look elegant until now. Wow, the gold hardware takes it to a whole new level of gorgeousness and I love those mirrors. Stunning

    1. Thank you so much Michelle…so kind of you to say so!

  21. Ruth Newton says:

    This is stunning. Our set up is very much the same as yours. I have a vanity outside our bathroom and always wanted to install a barn door. This is incredibly elegant and would be perfect in our room as well. Thanks so much for the inspiration.

    1. I’m so happy to inspire you Ruth…thanks for stopping by!

  22. Thank you for this post as I am looking to install a barn door in my bathroom area. The doors are lovely!

  23. Beautiful and stunning elegant! You are very creative!

  24. Just in time for my bathroom remodel project! I want to use a barn door going in because three doors butt each other – too close – bad design – door going in, left door to toilet, right door to linen closet. After remodeling expense, I deducted the barn door installation by the remodeling team and need to do it myself. Your in-depth instructions are superb and perfect timing! Thanks so much!

  25. Susan Krauss says:

    So beautiful and certainly the most elegant and upscale version of barn doors that I’ve ever seen!

    1. Thank you so much Susan! You know I’m not a farmhouse type of person, so had to think of a way to glam up the look for this room!

  26. What a wonderful way to
    Make a more elegant barn door! They are beautiful and such an inspiration to make things dressier instead of farmhouse look. Great job!

  27. Beautiful. My daughter and son-in-law built a sliding bathroom barn door and bathroom vanity that I really liked–even though I am not a big farmhouse fan, but I really love the elegance of yours! I’m not a big farmhouse fan either!

    1. I really love having these doors because we had nothing before! Had to come up with something creative of course Kathy!

  28. Everything looks absolutely gorgeous. You did a great job. Light and elegant.

    1. I appreciate that Suzanne. Thank you!