Friday, January 9, 2015

A barn door for our bedroom

Hi everyone, on this sultry Friday evening. I've had a spinning head and cold all day so am taking it easy this evening and the kids are practicing snorkeling in the knee deep blow up pool that we have while the builders are on holidays so I thought I'd share a little project that we will be doing soon for our renovation. Our bedroom is at the top of the staircase and the doorway to the bedroom is in the centre of the bedroom wall. It's not ideal but it was unavoidable with our house parameters. Anyway when Sam asked me which way I wanted the bedroom door to swing - left or right, I realised that I didn't want either. 



If the door hinges on the left, the open door will block the view of the harbour bridge out the windows (and you can't do that can you!) and also I want a little console on the wall behind where to door would open. If it hinged on the right then it would open over the ensuite door and it all was a bit busy, I suggested to Sam that the door opened outwards onto the hallway wall and Sam looked at me as though I were mental and said we'd never be able to sell the house :)

Sam suggested he could a cavity slider door and I threw up in my mouth a little ;) as I really, really hate them. But then I remembered barn doors and that you can buy the tracks quite affordably. The door will slide open across the stairwell wall which will add some interest to that huge wall. It worked beautifully actually as the bottom floor wall is double brick an the top floor wall is timber frame so we were able to make the wall step in so the door actually is sliding along something rather than just handing midair.



Then came the decision on what to use as the actual door. We wanted sometime much bigger than the actual door opening. We have a lot of beautiful old cedar that we have salvaged out of the old roof but then I suggested the antique walnut french doors I bought at auction last year.



I bought them fairly cheaply and thought that they would make amazing bedheads but no one was interested so I popped them aside knowing that I'd find a use for them eventually. 


This is the stairwell void and the bedroom doorway in the photo below. Hard angle to see but I just popped up the ladder with my spinning head and this is the best I can do. The cornice upstairs is Sydney from the Boral Collection. Very affordable and paper backed so easy to hang and paint. The windows are Trend Aluminium with thicker than standard glass. (and that's scaffolding in the bottom left hand corner of the photo)


The huge chandelier I bought from the guy who imports them from Egypt hangs from that rose above.


So we will be finding a way to stitch them together or frame them and turn them into a barn door.  It's probably quite involved to turn these into a usable door as they are short and require framing to make them the proper height but because I bought them cheaply I think it will all balance out but, hey, I'll have a salvaged antique French door in my house so that's cool.

have a lovely weekend
Fiona xx

4 comments:

  1. Hi Fiona,
    As I'm thinking of a barn door thingy too, where can you buy the fittings for the top? 've looked around and don't seem to be able to find a supplier.
    Thanks, Liz.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Liz stay tuned. I have a great supplier.

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    2. Thanks Fiona. Not sure if you've seen Kristi's blog, Addicted 2 Decorating, but if not, check it out as it may help you with your framing of the doors. That woman is incredible! If you search her blog with 'barn door' you'll see how she framed out her doors so they were larger. Amazing job! Can't wait to see what you'll do.... and hear about the supplier! I've been looking for the fittings for months! :) Have a great day.

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    3. thanks for that Liz, i'll check it out.

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Thanks for taking the time to comment! Sorry if you have trouble commenting, you can always email me at lilyfieldlife@bigpond.com