We have finally found a solution to the strange door situation in our master bedroom: a modern sliding barn door!
This post contains affiliate links which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission but it won’t cost you a penny more. Click here to see my full disclosure policy.
As I shared several months ago, our small master bathroom was connected to the bedroom with quite the ugly little faux wood accordion door.
The accordion door had to go but figuring out what to replace it with was quite the problem. There was no room for a traditional door to open into the bedroom or into the bathroom. And a pocket door wasn’t going to work because it would have involved moving the light and exhaust fan switches inside the bathroom. Which led me to the only good solution – a sliding barn door.
Sliding barn doors are very hot now but as much as I love the rustic barn door look, nothing rustic was going to work in my 1970s ranch. Luckily, sliding doors do not have to be rustic.
I set out in search of a great door with a bit of character that wouldn’t look out of place. I looked for several weeks on Craigslist, but ended up finding a winner at the Habitat Restore. The door I found was perfect – it was wide enough to completely cover the door opening. It was beautiful and modern. And it had no doorknob hole or hinges.
Once I had the door, the hardware was next. I had originally planned to concoct my own DIY version of sliding door hardware using materials from the hardware store to save money. But after doing some research, I realized that in this case doing my own thing wouldn’t really be worth it. Once I bought all the hardware I would need to get the look I was going for, I wouldn’t really be saving much money at all.
So instead I bought modern sliding door hardware 
from Amazon. Not only is it the modern, clean look I needed, it is also more affordable than most barn door hardware.
And now finally after seven years, the horrid accordion door is gone!
I was concerned about this corner of the room looking busy with the curtains and sliding door right next to each other. And while it may not be perfect, this is definitely something I can live with. Now, if I can just get the bathroom looking as fresh as the bedroom…
cassie says
oh awesomeness! i love it, carrie!
Carrie says
Thanks Cassie! I am so glad to finally have this eye sore taken care of!
chris aka monkey says
carrie it looks lovely xx
Carrie says
Thanks Chris!
Paula Lusk says
That looks great. Thanks for sharing your resources, too.
Carrie says
Thanks Paula! Hopefully if there is anyone else out there dealing with an ugly door situation, this will help.
becky says
Love it! I love this look.
Val @ Home Made Modern says
Love this! And would u mind telling me where u got those beautiful curtains?
Carrie says
Thanks Val! I sewed the curtains myself (Which I never would have thought I could do! I am not a seamstress.) I used premier prints ikat in canal.
liz says
Great solution – love the look. We have a pocket door for our bathroom, but it is always breaking for some reason. Our builder friend has told us the wall needs to be cut open to fix it properly- something I am not comfortable doing. So, your idea is definitely the route we are going – great look, no major construction and best of all, my DH likes it too, now that he sees a barn door doesn’t have to be rustic. Thank you so very much for sharing – another fix it problem I can cross off the to do list!
Carrie says
Liz, Thanks so much! It really has been a great solution for us. My husband was hesitant at first too – he loves the look of barn doors but thought it would look totally out of place in our home. Thankfully, he agrees the door and hardware we ended up using look perfect.
Sarah says
I want to do something similar in our master. I love the design on the door you chose and the more modern look!
Carrie says
Thanks Sarah! We are so happy with how it turned out – it looks like it could have always been there.
K says
Love it! And where did you purchase those awesome curtains?????
Thx!
Carrie says
Thanks! I sewed the curtains using premier prints ikat fabric in canal.
donna martinez says
Love this look. I am trying to figure out something for an overused guest bath. My teenage son has a ton of friends over at all times and the guest bath is right next to our family room. Do you think that this type of door is as soundproof as a regular door? Any thoughts would be appreciated
Carrie says
Hi Donna, in our case I would say our door is not as sound proof as a regular door. The gap at the bottom of our sliding door is a little larger than the gap at the bottom of most normal doors. I think that if you make sure your door is large enough to overlap on each side when closed and also goes as close to the floor as possible, you could probably overcome most sound issues. Turning on the fan in the bathroom is always a good solution, but one that teenage boys might not think of. I will also say, some sliding doors may latch closed somehow but ours does not. I don’t know if I would feel super secure using a bathroom with a non-latching door with a lot of people in the adjoining room. I wonder if a pocket door would be a possibility? It would be a lot more work to install but wouldn’t have the same privacy issues.