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On the Right Track

OUR 2nd HOUSE

Does a project in your house ever seem to drag on and gives you more cringeworthy moments than watching Miley Cyrus Bangerz tour on repeat?

I hope so.  I mean…I hope NOT but also I hope so….because nobody likes to be alone.

So that’s my segway into this laundry door situation.  See that room in the photo below?  The room with the blue ombre walls?  That’s my laundry room and for the love of all dirty clothes, we freakin’ need a door.

We removed the original door because it swung open.  Yup.  Right into the laundry room wall creating a tight space for the washer door and my hiney to fit.  Too tight.  It was as uncomfortable as a front wedgie.  So we removed it completely.  But the problem is that we still liked to hide our laundry room.  It tends to have loads of mess and a door would be the quickest solution.  Obviously actually WASHING the clothes would also be a solution but who are we kidding….I have trouble washing my hair much less the many pairs of dirty boy jeans that seem to procreate on their own.

After a lot of thought, we decided that the best way to tackle the ‘no door’ situation would be to install a door but put it on sliding hardware so that it could live wide open but when we were having guests over, we could safely close it and our friends would think we are sufficiently on top of our household chores.

I found a bunch of options on Pinterest for DIY versions but in the end both Jeremy and I decided that our attempts at building hardware would be a lot of time and probably not look quite as finished as what we could buy online.  And let’s face it….in the ten hours we would have spent trying to figure it all out and buy the materials, we could have earned enough to just buy it from Ebay.  So that’s what we did back in January.

When we got it, we immediately fell in love with it and then tucked it away in the rarely-used dining room.  Come March, I was in full “get-it-done-before-the-baby-arrives-mode” and insisted that we install it.  Since the wall wasn’t quite 6.6 ft, we had to do a little metal cutting on the long bar but Jer soon had it in the wall above the laundry room door.

The thing is…I told him about seven times that it wouldn’t have enough clearance but Jeremy shook his head and said that he didn’t understand what I was saying.  I tried to explain but my hormones were crazy raging (overdue Katie = cranky and hangry) and so I ended up just telling him that I would explain later after it was installed so that I didn’t kill him.  Here’s a tip for you…it’s always better to have an alive Honey if your Honey-do list is a priority.

Of course after he saw that the bar didn’t sit far enough out for proper clearance of the door around the door molding, it was completely clear.  Since there was only three bolts, it wasn’t that much time lost…but a boyfriend saved 🙂  I saw a photo in a Pottery Barn magazine (I call them magazines, not catalogs because I hoard them like I paid a subscription) of a barn door that was sitting on a piece of wood, so I showed it to him explaining that a 1×3 piece of wood would be our ticket to barn door heaven.  He had already marked the studs so that made the job way quicker.

After screwing the wood into the studs, I painted it and then Jer reinstalled the door track in place.

Then we decided to do a test run with the old door.  Jer installed the rolling hardware and we hung it up.

When it was in the open position, it looked ok.  It was obviously the wrong size but it wasn’t as noticeable because the floor trim blended it in.  But we liked the look of it in general so we knew we were on the right track.  Get it?  🙂

But when it was closed, it was laughable.  Not only was it completely the wrong size for the hole, it didn’t really block the mess or the light.  It just looked like a capri-pants-door.  Or the sheer white t-shirt over the black bra.  Or the pantyhose are leggings look.  It’s just all sorts of wrong.

Cringeworthy, right?!

And that’s basically when I went into beast mode and decided that I would need to build a custom door.

Spoiler alert…I’m not sharing that door right now.  I don’t have any photos of it hung.  Plus, Weston knocked it over when it was drying and now it has a couple dents that I have to fix.

But I will show you our inspiration for the door…it’s beautiful by the way….

Yup.  We scoured pinterest and found a door that we felt would look right with our house’s style.  Since the house has so many moldings and such European lines, we didn’t think that a true rustic barn door felt like the right fit.  We needed a ritzy version of a barn door.  And that one above was something both Jeremy and I loved.  We sketched up some plans and got to work…

And that’s where I leave you.  At a door.  It’s coming soon.  I promise.  I just gotta find that Bondo and sandpaper and some paint and my camera and the connection cord so that I can upload the photos….and maybe a snack because this sounds like a lot more work than I had scheduled for my Tuesday afternoon….

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Comments

  1. I want to do this in our master bedroom, so I’m extra-excited to see how you finish it off! I’m ready to steal some ideas 🙂

  3. Wow, that’s one seriously big project. You’re lucky you’ve got a guy who is good at those things!

    Homeownership seriously costs money doesn’t it!! It seems like we live in a beautiful version of The Money Pit. Always something to be done. At the end of it all, I’m just grateful to have a home to live in and call my own.

    You’re home is beautiful, with or without the sliding door…but I do love the sliding door…

    V @ Life+1
    New Post: July in Georgia

  4. I rarely comment but I wanted to take a minute to commend you on how great your blog has been since LJ’s birth. Rather than use having three little kids as an excuse (and it’s a good one) to let things go, you have done the opposite! I remember a post from a few years ago where you wrote about feeling like a hermit. I’ve also noticed the successful effort you have made to socialize and surround yourself with friends and always like your entertaining/event posts as well as the decorating ones. The past six months I have really tired of DIY blogs in general. I see very little ingenuity. While other blogs seem to be doing downhill, you are doing exactly the opposite. Well done! Keep up the good work, Katie. You have talent.

  5. OH KB — you TEASE!!!!

    That is one beautiful, fancy barn door!! I can’t wait to see what you guys have done!!

    Why do these boys always do the one thing that you would never expect them to do!!! I always tell my Luke ( 1 month younger than Weston) that — Of all the things in this room, I never expected you to go there/do or touch that!!!! I really need to work on my “thinking ahead of baby/toddler”, don’t I!!

    Oh – Also — I know I don’t expect you to get this done today — But I AM expecting a post on Thursday – Bright and Early with that gorgeous new BARN DOOR!!! so –plenty of time! LOL!

  6. I think we might be handwriting twins…. which is kinda like hand twins, which means we should definitely have a Vegas show together.

  9. Thanks but it helps to have a great partner in crime…gotta give Jer mad props for supporting me!
    xo – kb

  10. A segway is one of those two wheel scooters that mall cops ride around on, kind of like Paul Blart Mall Cop 🙂

  11. Absolutely! Cheers to your husband! Taste and Execution are a powerful combo. I appreciate the balance you have between budget friendly and quality.

  13. I love where you’re going with this, and I love even more that you probably saved me time and frustration (by repeating your door-turned-capri-pants project), as we have similar doors in our home (laundry room and pantry). I would love to add pocket doors, but I think it could end up being pricier than what I want to spend, and this is such a great look. Can’t wait to see what you pull together! 🙂

  15. Love the idea of the sliding barn door. I’m sure your custom door is going to look amazing and I can’t wait to see the final product!

  17. Haha…but I am sure they will finish before me! They get it done…where as everything takes me forever!
    xo – kb

  20. I actually laughed out loud at how the door looked closed. Can’t wait to see the finished product. I have no area in my house where a sliding door would work and it is killing me in a long slow death.

  22. Could you do (or have you done) a post on your girl gatherings, like your Wine & Cheese night?

  23. I just finished building two doors for my master closet and bathroom. I’m looking at hardware. So far, do you like the track that you purchased?

  25. I can’t wait see the door you come up with!
    As for projects that are never done…..my house is loaded with them! I think we have the worlds longest kitchen remodel going on here. 6 years ago we bought everything for the kitchen like appliances and ordered all the wood to make the cabinets and trim. We tore out the kitchen in 2011. And now it’s 2014 and hubby still hasn’t gotten around to building the cabinet doors, drawers, shelves or making any of the trim. I guess that is what happens when he does this stuff for other people all the time. I joke that by the time the kitchen is done all the appliances will need replacing again!

  26. ‘The hallway of many random doors’. Looking forward to seeing if there’s any sort of sense or cohesion.

  27. Hi! Quick and random question: where’s your the light fixture from in this hallway? Can’t wait to see the outcome. I have been thinking of a similar fix for our laundry room entry and hadn’t gotten past the issue with the molding clearance. You.so.smart.

    PS I am super glad you are sharing about your 100 year old house adventure. I was so saddened by the experience you had and had been thinking about it for awhile.

  28. I totally relate to the whole door knob in the back irritation. Putting the barn door in this space is ingenious. Its a small space to have three doorways, how are you going to make a marriage between these three different doors?

  29. I am so excited to see this post. We have a tiny hallway bathroom and this looks like a great solution to our problem of having no room in there. I am looking forward to seeing your door installed.

  31. We love the track. It was easy for us to install (um twice) and it is a very very smooth and silent track.
    xo – kb

  34. Katie, you got a really good giggle out of me with “Capri pants door” — you are hilarious! Thanks so much for keeping it real on here. We are all right there with ya!

  35. Thank you for making this mistake before we did and sharing about it! We have a folding metal door (seriously) between our master and sitting room. I think the sliding barn door is our solution and I’m glad to have evidence (otherwise husband would give me an eye roll) that we need to do a custom door from the outset. Well, I may still get an eye roll or two.

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