What Would You Do? A Door Situation
You know those ugly places in your home that just seem to disappear after awhile? They are still there – you just stop seeing them.
We have a LOT of those in our old ranch. When we first moved in, I could not deal with the ugly. And everything that could be taken care of easily was out of there within a week. The swinging doors in the bathroom – gone. The “stained glass” light fixture in the dining room – out of there. The huge stainless steel smoke detectors – done.
But the stuff that wasn’t so quick and easy to rip out lingered. And lingered. Until I saw it so many times, I just didn’t see it anymore.
Lately, I have been working to see things with fresh eyes – and actually do something about all of that lingering ugly. Case in point: last winter I shared this eye sore. A big intercom system and 8 track player right in the middle of the family room wall.
And finally, I have contained the ugly as much as possible without completely removing the intercom which I’m just not ready to do. And even though it is very clearly still there, it’s soooo much better!
Well, probably the worst “ugly” of all is lingering in our master bedroom. The hideous accordion door separating the bedroom from the master bath.
And I have decided it’s time has come.
The problem is I am struggling to figure out how exactly to fix it!
The doorway is in the corner of the bedroom right up against the wall. And in the same corner is a huge sliding glass door leading onto the screened porch – which presents quite the challenge. Since you all had some great input into the whole intercom situation, I’m hoping you can help me make some decisions about the door as well. And I figured some pictures of the different possibilities wouldn’t hurt either.
Traditional Door
Of course, the most obvious solution is just to hang a regular old door. But it can’t swing into the bathroom because the bathroom itself is teeny tiny and the door would hit the toilet. If the door swings out, it is going to be blocking the sliding glass doors whenever it is open. We could just plan to always keep the bathroom door closed but that seems extremely impractical.
Pocket Door
A pocket door would be a great solution because it wouldn’t take up any floor space in either room. However, I’m pretty sure it would be way beyond our DIY abilities. Plus, it would mean moving the bathroom light switch pretty far away from the door – not good.
Bi-fold Door
Another space saving possibility is a bi-fold door. Like the kind on a lot of closets. The problem here is that most bi-fold doors aren’t particularly stylish so I’m not sure it would be that much of an upgrade from the current situation. Although the door I used in the photo above really doesn’t look bad at all. But I do think it would make the bathroom look like a closet.
Sliding Barn Door
Which brings us to my favorite option – a sliding barn door. A sliding door would be awesome because it wouldn’t take up any floor space and would definitely be DIY-able. I would have to do some rearranging of the gallery wall but that is no big deal. At first it seems like the perfect solution, but there are still some issues.
Most sliding barn doors really highlight the hardware – and I love that about them! The thing that is tripping me up is the curtain rod over the adjacent sliding glass doors. The rod goes right into the corner and would be right next to the potential barn door hardware. With traditional, attention grabbing barn door hardware, there would be an awful lot going on in that corner.
Which led me to wonder about making the hardware very unobtrusive.
Or maybe painting the curtain rods to blend into the wall a bit more?
But then, should the barn door hardware be at the same height as the curtain rods or just above the door frame? So many decisions?
What would you do? Would you go for a barn door and if so what would you do about the hardware situation? Would you just look for a stylish bi-fold door? Other great ideas?
Update! The accordion door has been banished! Check out our solution here.
You could paint/ stencil/ decoupage the accordian door. Or do a curtain or even the kind that pulls up from the bottom ( dunno what those are called). That could be a privacy issue. Otherwise, my vote is for the sliding door. And just make it work to your liking:)
Thanks for the input Alexie! A curtain could definitely be a privacy issue. (And I get little enough privacy as it is with a two year old following my every move!)
I love the sliding barn door, however, I would have one with frosted glass to lightened up that area. Also hang it the same height as the curtain rods on the sliding glass doors.
Thanks Paula! Frosted glass is a good idea that I haven’t really seen.
While I also like the barn doors with the unobtrusive hardware, remember that if you move the hardware higher, the door has to be longer, so you don’t have a gap at the bottom. If the hardware is unobtrusive, maybe you don’t need to worry about the height matching the curtain rod.
Some other ideas — what about getting ceiling mounted track hardware for the window treatment? Less obtrusive, so you can do whatever you like with the barn door.
Or, how about taking apart a set of bi-fold doors and mounting each one to either edge of the door frame? They’d open like saloon doors, so they might not hit the toilet. You could also leave just one closed and still give a peek into the bathroom (which would have the added benefit of partially obscuring the toilet from view). If you could find a bifold french door (the kind with mullions and glass) you could frost the glass to let in light but maintain privacy .
Last (and this is definitely not for everyone, I admit) would be to mount a luxurious full fabric panel, on the inside of the bathroom, right above the door frame. You could have a metal knob or tieback holder mounted on the bathroom wall (to the left as you look through from the bedroom) so you could sweep it back to give that glimpse into the room you seem to want to avoid having it look like a closet. I would match the fabric as close to the wall color as possible so it isn’t a n eye-catching feature, but more like a textural element (if that makes sense). You could easily try this out to see if it works using a sheet or tablecoth and some thumbtacks.
Anywho, back to my own completely unfinished home — I’m great at telling other people what to do, not so good at taking my own advice. Good luck and keep us posted!
Laura, Thanks so much for all of the suggestions! I don’t know if I am brave enough to go for a curtain for the bathroom, but I love the idea of a set of doors that open like french doors. Sounds potentially very pretty, though I would definitely have to make sure the double doors didn’t take up too much of the door frame space – it isn’t super wide to begin with.
Along the lines of the bifold door “split” in half to open like French doors–I ordered 1/2 of a solid wood bifold door from Home Depot (“Pinecroft”) that has glass panes inset, and we split them, filled the hinge places w/putty, and hung them just like (European) french doors on a 32″ doorway between my music room and dining room. They are beautiful when open and beautiful when closed, and don’t take up much room. My contractor put in a simple kind of latch at the top of the door that “snaps” them shut when you close them, and I found some antique-y looking knobs for both sides. You could paint or use the privacy film liner you can get for the glass, or put lace curtains (with top and bottom rods) on one side. Here’s a link to the door if it helps: http://www.homedepot.com/s/pinecroft%2520bifold?NCNI-5
Best,
Anne
Anne, that sounds beautiful. I like the idea of the doors with glass panels to let in some light. And I was wondering how to ‘latch’ doors like this so I’m glad you mentioned how you did it.
Definitely a tough choice!
I think I like the option for the first barn door best, but I see what you mean about the curtain rods. You could pant the curtain rod, but the paint would probably scratch over time if the curtains are on rings… So if you go with this option, it would probably make most sense to just replace the whole rod. (Which means more cost, ugh!).
It probably makes most sense to keep the hardware and curtain rod at the same level, but since you’re working with a door, it may be easier to adjust the height of the curtain rod and hem the curtains if necessary.
I’ll look forward to seeing what you decide. I’m sure it will look great!
Thanks Kim – so many choices!
I agree, I like the pocket door idea the best, but that would definitely be the most work. Sliding barn door is a close second though! I would go with that if I were you! Good luck!
Thanks Colette – I’m thinking maybe I need to do a bit more research into the pocket door option.
I like the pocket door idea which I would like to do with my bath door especially since it’s the main bath in a home less than 800 sq.ft. and the one and only bath is just shy of 5×7.5. I searched how to make a pocket door. Bob Villa has a video, HGTV, diy.net and how to install pocket dorr for Dummies is listed.
Depending if the door would swing in or pull to open, I really like a glass door maybe with the tinted green or clear ridged glass. This would also create extra light and may not look too bad if kept closed.
I like barn doors but in my opinion does not match you decor especially if that’s not changing. However if the barn door is your fave, the unobtrusive choice looks better to me. I would match the height of curtain rod possibly creating a matching cornice in size of header creating a seamless look. I like the high rods to make a room look larger but yes, you would need a longer door.
I love how you’re redoing your home on a budget and know how creative you are so I am interested what you do with this. Good luck and can’t wait to see results.
Thanks Kathleen. I will definitely have to check out some of those resources you mentioned on diy-ing a pocket door. And you are right – as much as I love a barn door, it really doesn’t fit the style of my house. I could make it work but worry it would look forced and would look dated too quickly.
okay i have looked and looked at your pics and you are between a rock and a hard place…. the first thing i thought of was just painting the ugly door the same as your walls … then the only other thing i could think of that was different then what you have already was… move the curtain rod back to the end of the sliding door and paint it the wall color to make it disappear then you could have your sliding door hardware showing or you could even paint it the turquoise to make it really stand out??? i would also put a different kind of square molding on it so it doesn’t look like a barn door something decorative like your gorgeous mirror too bad the mirror wouldn’t fit on it xx good luck hon
Thanks Chris, I had thought about just painting the door to make it blend in as well. But I don’t know if that is going to be the best solution – especially when we eventually want to sell our house. And it is totally too bad the mirror wouldn’t fit over the door – how amazing would that be!
I guess I’m old-fashioned, but I don’t think a barn door would lend to the kind of privacy I myself like in the bathroom! I think I would probably go with the pocket door, which will probably be more appealing to the future owners of your home.
However, if you have your heart set on the barn door, I like the idea of changing up your curtain rod to a ceiling track rod. Maybe you could even do a track rod sort of thing for the bathroom door, too.
Kathi – great point that a pocket door would probably be more appealing to future home owners. Definitely something to consider.
Me again — the pocket door is the best solution, but it requires you to rip out and re-frame the wall. The door has to slide in between your bathroom wall sheet rock and your bedroom wall sheet rock, but the framing for the existing door is in the way. You have to remove the framing for the door, then re-frame and make the wall deeper to accommodate the framing that goes around the pocket door, then re-sheet rock, trim, etc. You also have to be sure there are no waste or water pipes or electrical lines in the wall where the door will slide. Re-routing those will be expensive, especially if you can’t DIY it. Take a look at some videos and you’ll see what I mean. It’s a big undertaking, so make sure you’re up to the challenge before going this route, but yes, you would be happy with the result
I saw on a blog called “hitting my stride” the husband took apart the bi-fold doors, so they were two seperate pieces, then attached each side with hinges to the door opened from the middle of the bi-folds… thus hung on either side.
Also… if do the barn door… Could you move the current rod up to the ceiling and get another inch or tw ? Would that help. Of course you would need to some how lengthen your curtains….
Thanks Andrea, I will have to look up that door idea – a couple of other people suggested the split door thing and I think it could be really great.
I would go with a barn door, if my toilet was in it’s own room. How often do you close that door? Do one of you get up earlier than the other and close it so as not to disturb? The barn door is not a solid seal, so if you don’t want to hear what’s going on in the bathroom, or be disturbed by the light coming thru. I say go for the pocket door, but check for pipes and electric in that wall first.
My contractor guy build us a barn door and the hardware and installed it for about $300. Much less than the hardware you can buy. Talk to the guys at home depot. They are creative!
Thanks Susan! We close the door but light and sound aren’t really a problem. I am the one who gets up earlier and my husband could sleep through anything. Plus, not surprisingly our current door is terrible for light and sound anyway. As for the pocket door, the biggest problem is there is a light switch in the way and no good place to move it to. Definitely still considering a barn door too. And if we go that route – you are right, we will certainly figure out a cheaper hardware situation. The stuff you buy is so expensive!
Two considerations – we have a couple sets of light switches in incomprehensible places, and solved it by getting remote control light switches that you can mount to the wall anywhere with glue or 3-M command strips. So even if you have to move that light switch for a pocket door, you may be able to still have a switch by the door. Or move the switch and replace it with a switch that includes a motion sensor, so you don’t have to ever touch it anyway.
I’d say the barn door is your second best option. But I see you have a lot of art on that wall already. Your photo doesn’t show the other end of that wall. What if, instead of treating it like an inconvenient doorway, you treated it as a large piece of art on a track? Make a virtue out of necessity and make the door a large bold frame and hang art (firmly) on it, and mount a visually parallel frame of the same size on the other end of the room for balance? Then arrange pleasing groupings of art or art and text, and with the door closed, nobody will know there’s a room there.
Again, making a virtue of a necessity, choose that less obtrusive mounting hardware version (the one you show in white) and treat that white bar as a graphic element that’s pointing to something. Do a similar extension bar coming from the other frame and put a pair of matched ornaments at the ends – could be scrollwork, or wall text in a border, or just arrowheads.
That could also solve your “the black hardware fights with the window curtain rod” even if you did choose the big black hardware – put a big finial on the end toward the middle of the wall, wall mount a non-functional matching piece of hardware with the matching finial over the new frame at the other end of the room, and instead of “a lot going on in that one corner” you’ll have extended the “bold black iron hardware” look across two walls for balance.
If the height difference bothers you, dropping the window curtain rod to match and hemming the curtains a few inches shouldn’t be that hard, but it probably won’t look odd, since the door would be balanced.
Wow, these are a lot of great ideas to consider. First, I hadn’t really considered remote control light switches or motion sensor lights – both could be great options.
I also like the possibility of working the sliding door right into the art wall. A door disguised as art sounds potentially amazing.
I might do barn door style, but make the door wider to accommodate that cool mirror.
I think my kids would ruin a barn door, so it’s hard to say!
Hmmm, good point. My toddler often tries to walk right through the closed accordion door now and hasn’t managed to do any real damage so here’s hoping for continued good luck for us!