"Barn Door" for bathroom

 For my Valentine's Day present I asked John, my oldest son, for four hours of his time to get some things done.
The first thing was to FINALLY get around to working on the bathroom door. This project has been going on FOREVER.  But I think that I am putting off finishing it because then what will I have to do?  (HUMMM lets see...caulk and paint the baseboards, finish installing baseboards, touch up paint everywhere, repaint the front door, etc.)

Once again they make it look so EASY on TV.  We started by putting the door my sister and I picked up at the Rebuilding Center here in Portland up to the opening.  Good it covers the door opening.  Then we read the instructions for the door hardware.   He made a mark on the molding where the rail would run...humm.  Then we took the molding down.  The nails in it barely attached to the drywall there was such a large gap between it and the door frame.  Read the instructions, rail needs to be two inches above the opening in the drywall, good thing we took the molding down or we would have been attaching to nothing!  That means the door is going to be too short!

Can you see the next hole at the 16" mark?
Didn't think so.

We decide to go ahead and install the rail then worry about the door.  John starts marking the wall studs then I notice that the holes in the rail are NOT 16 inches on center!

Now back to the instructions...It shows a strip installed horizontally in the framing or attached to the drywall.  Out to the garage and scrap pile to see if we need to make a trip to the store.  Glory be there is a perfect piece, same width as the rail and about 6 inches longer.  Chop, predrill, countersink, level and attach to studs.  (ugly brown wood on the wall now)

Strip required to attach to wall
since you can't hit the studs.

Then put the rail up, mark, level, drill, attach, level, drill, attach, etc.





Then I said even if the door needs work lets hang it then we know how much we will need to add to the bottom to get the right height.

Two + a smidge inches at the bottom for
a perfect fit.

The kit came with bolts in the hanger for a thicker door and a set for the thickness I have.  Measure, mark, remeasure, remark, drill and attach.  Lift the door up and put it on the rails.


TA DA.  It needs about two inches added so we are going to create a tongue and grove in the bottom and on a 2x4 to get the extra length. I think someone cut it down because the bottom wasn't even...it rocked when you stood it up.  And the graffiti needs to be cleaned off the glass.  And it needs to be painted.

Left side too high or right side too low?

It is a little wonky.  One of the hangers is slightly off.  I think that if we loosen the bolts and let the door hang we will be able to correct it since there is a little play in the holes.



I have some glass paint, and some glass film that I can use to obscure some of the panes.  I had some art on the wall that will be behind the door and I think I am going to hang that on the door so it can be seen open and closed.

Oil painting on right by my wonderful
 DIL and  John's wife Cara.

Then he moved on to the second project of getting my security camera to connect wirelessly and set up to record the package and flower pot thieves we have in the neighborhood...which actually turned out to be tougher than the door!  (My large Mexican clay pot was stolen a few weeks ago...the neighbor saw but couldn't get description or license plate.)

Part of a project down and more to go...

Miss V