A sliding barn door would be fairly rare, but sliding glass doors (framed) have been around forever. The extent of any water leakage would be a factor of the size of your shower. How long, from wall to wall, and how wide? And where would the door fall relative to your standing positions? Imagine waving your arms around a bit and the trajectory of the water.

jeff2718, The Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Cary, NC has absolutely beautiful "barndoors" in their Governors Room. Although the term "barndoors" is very misleading in this case. I can email you the pics I took, if you like (I haven't figured out how to post pics on GW yet). Their doors are very formal with leaded glass in the upper half and solid panelled wood on the bottom half. I even took pics of the track they are on in hopes of being able to find them. Then I went to a local building supply company and they were showing me just their regular interior doors and I noticed that all those doors were mounted on the same type of track on the ceiling allowing each individual door to slide out to be shown then slide it back in place when done! Basically with this type of track its just a pocket door track mounted to the ceiling on the exterior side of the finished wall (vs. between the sheetrock) There are rollers mounted to the top of the door that fit in the track. Then you simply mount your trim in front of the track so it's hidden from view and voila, you've got a formal, unobstrusive sliding door that's beautiful whether open or closed.

Thanks so much! These are such great ideas! I think I am down to white to match the wall or walnut, but keep the wall piece against the rock. I would like to do a pocket door, but there is electric in the wall, so it could get pricey...although moving the electric might overall be cheaper with a pocket door than installing a barn door with the expensive hardware. The door was actually moved before I bought the house. In the pics above, it was where the clocks and chairs are. I do like it where it is now. There are two living rooms, so it makes it seem like the living room is an extension of the master, almost loft like, except with 8 ft. ceilings. :( robotropolis, I love those pics! Beatuiful homes! I guess I will need to see about a pocket door and how expensive it might be to move the electrical. Is that your bathroom? I love it! yillimuh, the interior doors are all birch, but stained to match the kitchen cabs., so they look walnut. They look nice against the wall paint colors. Pamplisest, I really like your ideas for the door jamb, if I remove the vertical drywall. kswl, thanks for the compliments! I will post more pics of the home...maybe you all can give me some design ideas! I think this is more complicated than I thought. Perhaps I should wait until I finish the house to install the door. I was thinking this is one thing I can do now. But the house still needs a lot of work, plus tile (almost 4000 sq. ft. of it) plus a possible master addition (since there's not enough room to do what I want). Because of this, I was thinking to wait and do everything at once in 1-2 yrs., but go ahead and do the door and window coverings now.

I wrote Johnson, asked a few questions, here's the reply: How much bigger of a door would be needed to cover the doorframe when closed? Your door would need to be 1 1/4" bigger than the finished opening. Can a lock be installed if desired? Yes, you would need to build out the jamb on the side that the door is closing into. Then, the door would lock into the jamb using a pocket door lock. Is there a gap between the door and the frame when closed, and if so, how much, or is there a way you would be able to conceal a gap? Approximately 1/2" or less depending on the thickness of the door. I think you are talking about the distance between the door and the wall? It is not noticeable at all, and when the door is closed (being 1 1/4" wider than the opening), you won't be able to see into the bathroom. I was thinking, if the 1/2" or less she mentions above, and that the door covers the doorway 3/4" on each side, if there is a sound issue, why couldn't one put some type of a "buffer" - I thought about something like that furry strip on a window that slides up and down??? I actually don't think I'd be losing anything along the wall this door would slide on, it's only 3' wide as it is, and the only thing on there is a towel bar and in-wall heater, which is going to be removed when we re-tile. I figured, I could just mount the towel bar on the back of the door, I wouldn't be losing anything. Maybe put a recessed storage cabinet in between a couple studs and actually gain some space. The vanity in there now is 42"wx22"d, I think going with one that's 36"wx18"d will just give me more floorspace, but I'm thinking all the time and not jumping the gun on this. I saw an interesting vanity that makes me wonder if I can possibly keep with a 42" but have it smaller in depth on the left side against the shower wall. See the link below for what I saw. It's just mind-boggling on how expensive some of this vanities are! Thanks to all - this is not going to be an easy decision on what to do, once I think I know, something I see changes my concept. I appreciate all the info and replies. Here is a link that might be useful: