In our last tiny house we got to put a barn door between the kitchen and bathroom.

Because the barn door slides neatly out of the way, we could do all sorts of fun stuff with the area, without worrying about the door getting in the way.

Most notable - being able to slide the kitchen cabinet under the window into the bathroom to reveal a hiding place in the kitchen corner for a washer dryer combo unit.  

These barn doors can be miracle solution to offering privacy in a space saving way.

So I wanted to take a minute today and share with you a few details on our most recent barn door build.

How We Built Our Barn Door

We used kiln dried very straight 1x6 tonge and groove boards.  We put the boards together and nailed and glued, then ripped the end boards on the table saw down to size, so the planks are evenly placed.  The door is slightly larger than the opening.

From there, we used 1x boards to create a frame and nail it to the tongue and groove.  

The cross support we scribed in place by setting on top, and marking with a pencil, then cutting.  Then we just nailed the cross support to the door with 1-1/4" nails and glue.

Hardware for the Barn Door

There are lots of options for hardware, but since we had used the box rail heavy duty hardware in several other places throughout the tiny house, we decide to use it again on the barn door for design continuity.

I also love how the hardware is easy to install, very durable and heavy duty, and slides smoothly and easily.

There are three basic parts ot this barn door hardware system -

The box rail can be cut to length or comes in standard lengths of 6, 8, 10, 12 feet (an longer).  Six feet is about $30.

The box rail needs hangers to hang on the wall.  Two hangers are about $10.  If you are hanging the box rail on to a ceiling (or another use like our elevator bed), you can skip the hangers and just screw through the back.

Once you have the box rail hung, you need rollers to hang the doors in the box rail.  A pack of two runs about $30.

I especially love this barn door hardware system because of it's strength.  We've used it to roll much more than doors - everything from elevator beds to moving closets.

You can see this barn door in action in our Open Concept Modern Tiny House Tour video -

Do share if you build!  Would love to see how yours turns out (and what crazy color you paint it).

XO Ana