DIY Barn Door and DIY Barn Door Track That Won’t Break the Bank!

Do you love the look of barn doors but not the price tag? We’ve got a DIY Barn Door and DIY Barn Door Track tutorial – that won’t break the bank!

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Dean and I dreamed about building a sliding barn door for our house for years. But the cost was always a wee bit prohibitive. Have you ever felt the same way? Like you want a barn door but it’s too expensive? Well no more, because we’ve got a DIY tutorial for a barn door AND track that won’t break the bank!

We were initially going to use reclaimed barn boards for this barn door project and tutorial. After all what better project to use barn boards for than a barn door?!

But when we went to look at them at a shop in the city they were about $20 a board and really rough to the touch. I’m talking snag-your-best-sweater-from-a-foot-away kind of rough. Which would sort of hamper the cozy feeling in your home, yes?!

So we decided to go for Plan B. Wood Pallets. 

These can usually be found almost everywhere…the side of the road, big box stores, free exchange sites, etc.

In our case, Dean had a couple of really chunky wood pallets at his work that his company wasn’t using anymore. He dismantled them and chose fifteen of the straightest boards. They were dinged and worn and full of character, but they weren’t all wonky and warped, if you know what I mean.

TIP: When choosing wood for your door try to find the straightest pallet pieces so your door won’t have a wonky “wow” to it.

After you’ve chosen the wood for your barn door, you’ll rails and wheels.

One of the reasons we personally let this project drop to the bottom of the list for so long was figuring out the rail and wheels for the sliding action. Typically buying the barn door hardware from somewhere costs several hundred dollars. But you can always get creative. This time my most talented hubby thought of using two of the kids’ broken scooter wheels minus the rubber and tubing!

Then you need to source the material for the rustic handles.

Since any large rustic handles that can be pre-purchased are rather pricey, we decided to DIY some really large handles using pipe fittings.

So, with that explanation, below you will find the supplies list for this project and links to each stage of the project as well.

PLEASE NOTE: You will need to measure your own doorway and make adjustments to the measurements to fit.

Supplies

• scooter wheels (with rubber removed) or pulley wheels (disassembled pulleys) qty=2
• 1-1/4″ x  1/4″ x 86-1/8″ long steel flat bar qty=2
• 1-1/2″ x 1/4″ x 84″ long steel flat bar qty=1
• 3″ x 1/8″ x 84″ long steel flat bar qty=1
• 1/2″ x 1/16″ x 2″ long steel tubing qty=7
• 2″ x 6″ x 48″ long wood qty=15
• fitting black iron floor flange 1″ qty=4
• fitting black iron 90 degree elbow 1″ qty=4
• black steel pipe nipple 1″ x close qty=4
• black steel pipe nipple 1″ x 16″ long qty=2
• 1/4″ x 1-1/2″ long plated lag bolts qty=60
• 5/16″ x 3-1/2″ long plated lag bolts qty=7
• #12 x 1-1/4″ long screws qty=16
• 5/16″ x 2″ long – 18 thread plated hex bolts qty=2
• 5/16″ – 18 thread plated hex nuts qty=2
• 5/16″ plated flat washers qty=4
• Minwax Dark Walnut stain
• Rust-Oleum Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint
• white or light grey paint
• water
• sandpaper

After gathering your supplies, click on the links below to be taken to each step to build your own DIY Barn Door and DIY Barn Door Track That Won’t Break the Bank!

1. Instructions for Grey Wash Wood Finish 
2. Pipe Fitting Handle Instructions 
3. Sliding Barn Door Plans 

xo,
Shannon


P.S. If you missed it you can click here for our original Upcycled Barn Door Reveal.