Barn Door
| September 26, 2011 | Posted by Jessie under Artsy Stuff, Before and After, Dining Room, Wood |
I’m not exactly sure what to call this…art work? shelving? super cool barn door on the wall? Doesn’t matter what we call it, but we love it. It’s the newest addition to our dining room makeover.
Isn’t it awesome? I know it looks a little high in this picture, but we have some wainscoting going in next weekend and we planned the spacing so it would be in centered between the ceiling and top of the wainscoting. It will all make sense soon!
You may remember me talking about the barn door Mike found in a dumpster behind his work about 6 months ago {we used the matching scrap pieces of wood here and here}. I’ve been patiently waiting for the perfect spot for it and came up with this idea to use it as shelving/art work in our dining room.
Here’s what we used to make it:
- barn door
- drill and screws
- shims
- glass from picture frames {8×10}
- white dishes to accessorize
- oil rubbed bronze spray paint
- Special Walnut wood stain
This is what the barn door looked like when we brought it home: I started by cleaning it off. The front side wasn’t as bad but the back was covered in dried mud. I scraped and scrubbed that door until it was nice and clean. 
All of this junk came off with my initial scraping: 
Gross, I know. Once it was clean, we carried it into the house and started the prep process. We wanted it to be centered between the wall and doorway and between the ceiling and top of our nonexistent but future wainscoting so we measured and found our edge points and marked them with chalk on the wall. Then we used the stud finder to find studs along the wall and marked those with masking tape so would know where to screw once it was up. 
Since I’m not the strongest lady around, we used a ladder to help hold up the door in the middle and I held the other end while Mike screwed in the nails. Here he is attaching the last screw: 
Once it was secure, it was time to add the shelving. Like most of our projects, we were trying to keep costs down so we toyed around with a few ideas before making a decision. I originally thought sticking some sheet metal between the slats would be cool. It would give it an industrial feel and mimic the hinges, but sheet metal can be pricey. Not crazy {somewhere around $20} but it would have taken a little more work securing it, cutting, etc. Then I thought glass could maybe do the trick. It would be cheap {because we could buy thrift store/Dollar Tree frames} and wouldn’t take any cutting, screwing, etc. It also has the added bonus of having sort of a floating shelf look which was cool so that’s what we decided to go with in the end.
We purchased five 8×10 frames for $4 at our local Habitat for Humanity Restore to use as shelves. As you can see, the spacing between the boards isn’t quite even, so when we put the glass in, it tilted forward. To keep the glass level, we had to add shims to give the glass a nice, tight fit. 
The only problem with this was the blonde wood stuck out like a sore thumb. Can you spot them below {they aren’t behind every dish}? 
To solve that problem, I grabbed some old stain we had in the garage to make it less noticeable. It doesn’t match the barn wood perfectly but unless you are inspecting behind the dishes, you can’t see it at all!
The final step in finishing the project off was painting the hinges. They were pretty rusty: 
Which was just a little too dirty-looking for me so I scrubbed them down and painted them with some oil rubbed bronze spray paint. 
Since we had already hung the door, and I wasn’t going to spray paint in the house, I took a small plastic cup and sprayed some paint into that: And used a small foam craft brush to paint over the hinges. They look much better now. And because we all love a good before and after…here’s the wall before: And after:
And some more angles for fun:
Total cost: $10. I spent $6 on white dishes and $4 on the picture frames. It’s very versatile too. I put the dishes up for now, but will probably add some fall decor soon {I’m thinking pumpkins, small mums, etc.}. So, what do you think? Would you ever use an old barn door as shelving/art work? Do you love it as much as we do?
I’ll be linking this up here:
DIY Showoff: DIY Project Parade
I Heart Naptime: Sundae Scoop
Skip to My Lou: Made By You Mondays
Today’s Creative Blog: Get Your Craft On
Tip Junkie: Tip Me Tuesday
Home Stories A to Z: Tutorials and Tips Tuesdays
Not Just a Housewife: Shoe Me What Ya Got
Blue Cricket Design: Show and Tell
Shabby Chic Cottage: Transformation Thursday
Miss Mustard Seed: Furniture Feature Friday
CSI Project: Challenge
Remodelaholic: Blog Link Up
Tatertots and Jello: Weekend Wrap-Up
31 Days
I like how you took a plain old door and did something unexpected with the dish display! Can’t wait to see it with the wainscoting!
Just lovely!
What a neat piece! And you spent only $10 on it? NICE!
Thanks for sharing.
Pam
This is beautiful!!!
Love the artsy barn door! And I especially like the way you used the glass to hold up your accessories! Very clever and affordable! Looks great!!
This is gorgeous! What a creative and functional way to repurpose such a cool piece. Way to go!
Thanks, Jen! We were lucky to find it:)
I.LOVE.THIS!!!! What a statement!!! WOW!!!
Thanks, Jessica!
I think it’s fantastic!!
Thanks, Heather!
Love it! Want one!
Start searching in dumpsters:)
I LOVE this piece. It really adds a lot of character to the space! One thing I might do though, find a way to round the corners of the glass. I’ve sliced my finger on those glass inserts before when changing pictures, so someone might get cut if they were to bang into it. And I would hate for you to get hurt and then stop posting great before and afters!
Thanks Courtney! That’s a good suggestions but I’m not sure if we have the tools for that? I’ll have to check with Mike. We pushed the dishes out to the edge of the glass so that you shouldn’t walk into the clear part-it should be pretty noticeable to walk around!
Very creative and gorgeous to boot!
Thanks, Jill!
Great wall shelf…I love the simplicity of it. Your room color is awesome too. Thanks for sharing and inspiring.
Oh, my goodness!! I love that! It adds some serious rustic warmth to your room.
Super cool! I’m so jealous of your barn door artwork. I really like the rustic quality it adds to your room. I’d love it if you’d stop by my blog and check out the giveaway I’m having for a Dremel Saw Max! I think you’d be able to use it in your future projects!
I love it!! Such a statement piece!!
Thanks for linking up to Show & Share!!
I am going to be sharing my version of this piece on my blog on Tuesday. Thanks for the inspiration!!
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