How to make a barn door easy without heavy tools

I found this easy and cheap way of making a barn door. If you are looking for something a little different, this is for you:

How to make a barn door without heavy tools, easy and cheap

 

I always wanted a barn door in my house. Especially since I have been watching HGTV Chip and Joana. They put barn doors in every house they renovate and it looks beautiful.

I like the look and function of a barn door and I like that you can make it the way that it fits any interior style.

My house isn’t rustic looking, more a midcentury modern look, but I like things a little different. And I like to combine different styles too.

All of our doors in the house are not really pretty, so it is a good thing to draw attention to something different,  away from the ordinary.

Of course, I started reading through a lot of tutorials on how to make a barn door and I just got overwhelmed with it. Somehow it seemed pretty complicated to make yourself.

How to make a barn door easy without heavy tools or Get a barn door custom-made?

My head was spinning and I started to see if I could order a barn door.  I checked on how to get one custom-made, but wow, this is expensive.

I gave up on a barn door in our old house.

 

But in our new house, we have this narrow hallway and the door going down to the basement was just ridiculously small.

So here it was, this was my chance of incorporating a barn door I actually needed and it made so much sense too.

The research started again and this is how it looks now:

 

***

Material List for making a barn door:

How to make a barn door easy without heavy tools

 

This is what you need:

• A door slab in the size you need
• Hardware (see below for different options)
• Interior Paint in the color you want to paint the door
• Door knob, a pull, or something fancy?

***

This is how I made the barn door without heavy tools, pretty easily:

I bought a slab door at Lowes. It is called an unfinished wood door. Just a plain and simple door slab, with no pattern or anything fancy on it.

This is exactly what I wanted. And the door is not very heavy, which is good. I paid 19 Dollars for the door size I needed and it fits perfectly.

Here is the link to the door I bought in case you are interested:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/JELD-WEN-Unfinished-Flush-Hollow-Core-Veneer-Slab-Door-36-in-X-80-in-Actual-36-in-x-80-in/4363179

As soon as I got home,  I painted the door, front and back, and the sides of course. I let it dry overnight. (Just use regular interior paint, I normally buy Sherwin Williams paint).

You can also paint it in different colors or add some kind of a design or pattern to it, but I wanted it plain and simple. (Just rethinking this, maybe I will add a stencil on the door).

I was looking for stainless steel hardware to fit the interior of my house.

I found the perfect hardware one at Amazon.

There is actually a lot of different hardware to be found on Amazon.  Also some cheaper options than the one I bought, but I wanted stainless steel. And this one works pretty well.

 

Do you want to get access to my Resource Library with a lot of tutorials, printables, and checklists? Do you want to receive my weekly newsletter with all the updates?

Then leave your e-mail address here and you will receive the password. 

 

 

For your convenience here is the link to the hardware we used:

There are of course more hardware options. We used both of the recommended hardware.

Both were easy to mount and sturdy enough to hang the door on.

Check which design you like best. Just make sure you buy the right size.

***

This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

 

 

***

 

The hardware is actually pretty easy to mount, just follow the instructions then nothing can go wrong.

You do need to drill some holes to screw the hardware into the wall. Don’t have a drill? Check out my review for best drills here.

After the hardware is mounted on the wall,  hang the painted door onto the hardware. Don’t forget to put the stoppers onto the rail and you are almost done.

 

Add a cool-looking door handle to your barn door

What kind of door handle looks good on a barn door?

Instead of using an ordinary door handle, I found this very cool wooden X at Michael’s for 1 Dollar. I bought 2 of them, drilled a hole into the door, and attached the X on both sides of the door.

If you want the barn door to look more rustic, cut plywood stripes and glue a big X from top to bottom of the door. I am sure this will look stunning.

Add a rope or a leather band instead of a door handle and your rustic barn door is done. You don’t even need to paint it if you use tape for the pattern.

 

 

I am sure you have a lot of ideas that will fit your style, send me some pictures, I would love to see your ideas.

 

Get even more creative designing your barn door the easy way

So I started stenciling a couple of months ago and of course, I was stenciling a lot. The blue barn door was a good object to add a stencil and I love it.

It is so easy. Just find the middle of the door, use tape to keep the stencil in place and then use a small paint roller and roll your favorite color over it.  If you want to get all the details on how to add a stencil, here is my easy read. How to add stencils on furniture.

 

And this is how it looks now:

How much does it cost to make a barn door?

Altogether this cute barn door was plus/minus 120 Dollars.

This is not as cheap as I was hoping for,  but mainly because we bought the more expensive hardware to mount the door on.

The stainless steel hardware is pretty sturdy and works well. And this is all that matters.

You can buy hardware starting at 40 Dollars. The black one is cheaper and works very well.

 

Update: The second barn door I made was cheaper.

I used the black hardware and got a door from the RESTORE Shop for 20 $. The paint I needed was leftover paint from a different project. This came to around $ 60.

 

How to distress a door?

The door was in pretty good shape. I painted it white, then I decided to distress it.

What you need to distress a door:

• Two different grey paint colors.
• A brush for each paint color.
• A damp cloth to wipe the paint off.

How to distress a door:

I painted the door white and let it dry.

Then I used the lighter grey and painted it over the white. Does not need to look perfect.

While the grey was still wet, I used the darker grey to add accents on the corner of the door and in the middle.

With the damp cloth, I wiped over the paint to make it look more natural.

 

 

Do you want to get access to my Resource Library with a lot of tutorials, printables and checklists? Do you want to receive my weekly Newsletter with all the updates?

Then leave your e-mail address here and you will receive the password. 

 

Summary on ‘How to make a barn door easy without heavy tools’

It was a very easy project to do and it took only 2 days until it was finished.  I painted the door slab twice and let the paint dry overnight.

The next day we mounted the hardware and it was good to go.

Just make sure that you buy the right size door and of course the matching hardware to the size of the door.

 

I am so glad we did this. You can do it too.

See you next week,

Conny xoxo

 

 

Related articles

If you love to do DIY, check these blog posts out. My absolute favorite DIY project is my little wooden bench. You can see it here:

How to build a bench easy

DIY faux shiplap for first timers

Awesome Bathroom Remodel under 150 Dollars

 

Do you want to remember ‘How to make a barn door easy without power tools’? Pin this picture to your favorite Pinterest board.