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Design Dilemma entry Storage & Closet

Barn door (small or large)

3 years ago

Hello Houzz family, my husband and I are we building a modern barn door for our coat closet. The opening is 24” wide, with a 30” wide space between the closet and the entry to the kitchen and family room. Keep in mind, our foyal is roughly 7x5. My question is should we build a modern darn door to fit the 24” opening or 54”? My thoughts are to make the darn door more of a art statement. Please help. Thanks.

Comments (6)

Melissa R
3 years ago
I think the only statement it would make is; "dated". I think the barn door thing is over. Use a regular door and get a nice piece of art for the wall space
PRO
HALLETT & Co.
3 years ago
If you make it the width of the opening and the wall you would need a 110” track and the door would block the kitchen entrance when open? That doesn’t make sense. Pictures?
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I don't know the answer to your question but we just decided to move away from a barn door and into a pocket door for our family room ( which opens off the entry hall). Our doors are 8 ft tall so the opening will be apprx 8 x 6 ft. We wanted to put a transom window above to let in light, which we couldn't do with a barn door. The (glass) barn door may have produced more light reflection as the doors were open on either side - light thru the opening plus the reflection of the glass doors against the walls. We were not doing a custom door, which would have involved different issues (nonstandard door sizes). However, our GC said larger doors have more problems with warping or other problems, and repairs can require taking out the wall. Of course you also have to have room on the sides for the full door to close and the track mechanism to fit. Talk to a carpenter or a door installer who does custom work with large doors. If money is no object there are gorgeous doors out there...
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I'm confused. Of the 12'7" room width, how much will be wall and how much will be opening? If it's 100% open, then barn doors don't make sense in my mind, because they don't close the whole gap and thus don't "hide the mess." Plus a 5 foot door would be huge. I suppose you could do a shoji screen type deal, with 4 3' screens that all collapsed into 3' on one end. But then again, I may be misunderstanding your layout plans here.
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Aside from the fact that your rough opening may be manipulated to accommodate a barn door, does the overall style of your home support this door style? Since the show Fixer Upper, I feel like there is a barn door epidemic that really does not relate well to most homes and looks strange and out of place. Aside from the function question, I think the style question also needs to be raised for your space in order to ensure your home remains cohesive as well as functional.
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Save yourself while you still can... But, yes a barn door has to be large enough to cover the door opening. So it becomes an aesthetic question of how important it may be for the barn door to be the same size as other doors or not. Without seeing the plan or the space it's a hard call to make in this discussion. Do you have an architect, designer or builder who is familiar with your project and can advise you?
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live_wire_oak
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
I don’t think you understand barn door sizing or use at all. Barns used them because they were cheap and allowed full opening access, on a big wide structure, where the doors could be stored when open. Narrow spaces in homes are not where barn doors work. Or look good. They mostly look like too much HGTV.
Jeff Smith
3 years ago
Beauty and style is relative...if a door or other house feature is done right, it's often timeless. Barn doors can be useful and certainly make a statement. IMO it depends on hardware, type of door and other factors - it's not enough to simply mount a barn door and expect it to look great. Further, in some locations a barn door is sensible and no other door might work there (see pic below, where we have an opening to a suite that's too wide for a swinging door). That door in pic covers a large opening and is 9 feet tall

You may or may not like that barn door below but the point is, one must carefully designed the parts. We chose a track that is (neutral modern iron color with no wheels visible, The handle hardware carefully picked and sized, and door wood itself (stained select Dougl

as fir) to create the look we wanted.

Yes, pls post pics. Maybe a pocket door would work there??
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
3 years ago
Posting pics is mandatory IMO and what is the reason for this type of door. I also rarely think doors are an art statement unless you spend huge money to make it so.
M Miller
3 years ago
It is dated, but setting that aside, it’s also impractical because of the amount of track needed for what sounds like a small opening. I am not understanding how a barn door can be an art statement because it’s a barn door. Perhaps provide some pics so we can get more what you mean.

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