We love the idea of adding a barn door to a space. Barn doors are made of a thousand different materials and have a host of hardware options. The use of reclaimed wood or mirrors on the doors can add so much visual interest to a room. Sliding barn door hardware has been used as far back as the Roman stables, and has a timeless design.Despite how beautiful they are, there are many factors to consider when deciding to put in a barn door.

Structure: You’d want to check the structural stability of your home, and make sure you have the correct permits to do the work. Barn doors take up a significant amount of wall space and require many holes to be drilled into the wall for the tracking. The door needs to have empty space next to it to slide into when it is open, so it may be tricky to do this in smaller rooms.

Privacy: You would also want to keep in mind that barn doors are not completely flush with the wall like a regular door. If you want absolute privacy in a room (like a bathroom), or a lock for your door, the barn door might not be the best option. Noise from the other side of the door may be an issue.

Aesthetic: The aesthetic matters, so you’d want to pick a material for the door that matches the overall feeling of your home, and choose hardware to match. There are so many different options and you’d want to consider this closely. Say to yourself: Is this what I want my home to feel like?

Cost: Because of the need for a track system to slide the door across the opening, barn doors can be a costly investment. It can also be costly to remove the door and change the opening if you decide you’d like to change back to a regular door down the road. There are DIY hacks to bring down the cost of this, but this is definitely something to keep in mind!

But barn doors can be used in many different ways. They can be used as an attractive way to separate rooms in your home (for example: the kitchen and the dining room).

They can create some privacy between rooms without completely closing off the space. Windows or tinted glass can be added to the doors to create a feeling of openness.

They are also a gorgeous way to enclose a closet or pantry. You could flank your closet with built-ins for even more storage. They can also be used to cover bookcases, or storage areas.

They can add coziness to rooms and create additional space in offices or work areas (as they don’t swing outward).

So is it time to add a barn door to your home?

-Posted by Jennifer Hubbard