Elphaba, I'm in Houston. We have completely gutted our "new" house and are in the process of rebuilding. Throughout the house, we have installed pockets for 4 pocket doors. One of those is in the master bath. I am really excited to be getting those doors out of the way. I can share my experience. We have 3 pocket doors in our office here, and we have not had any problems. The office is on a slab, and the thermostat is only kept at a comfortable level 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. This means that it gets fairly humid in there on the weekends. The office pocket doors are rarely used, but when I do use them, they work just fine. They were installed about 3 years ago without any problems. It's true that it is humid outside, but I wouldn't think with central air that it would be any more humid than anyplace else on the inside of your house. Of course a bathroom is more humid than other rooms, but if your cabinet hardware isn't sticking or rusting, I would think that the pocket door would behave in the same way. At least that's what I'm hoping since we just installed 4!!! My vote is for the pocket door. Best of luck with your project! Enduring, that's great info on the pocket doors. Thank you for sharing. This post was edited by TXBluebonnet11 on Fri, Jun 21, 13 at 3:13

I was looking to do this conversion a few months ago, and was surprised how ridiculous the hardware prices were. You could go with a heavy duty one from tractor supply and have it refinished into whatever you'd like (painted, chromed, nickel electroplated) once the galvanization is removed. I built wood covers to go over the doors I converted and painted them to match the trim.

Just be careful, because the cheap stuff bends. Ask me how I know. Good barn doors are heavy, and so if you've got a "good" barn door on your hands, bite the bullet and buy good quality hardware. Otherwise you can end up with a very pretty barn door that won't slide open/closed. Again, ask me how I know.....

I love barn doors. But my style is more rustic glam/pottery barn. And I have cows. However, a barn door is a terrible choice as a bedroom door. It should go in a space where leaving the door open is fine. You don't really want your bedroom door open and you aren't going to slide the barn door all the time. For example, in my flip home (barn doors will still be in style when I sell next year!), I am putting a barn door between the main living space in the basement and the spare room/office. The door would normally be left open and the spot calls for it. In my new home, I am wanting to put one inside my master bedroom as a way to cover up my "coffee/wine bar" that is inset into the wall. Normally the barn door will be left open, but if I wanted to close it to hide the coffee bar, I could.