Our new black bypass barndoors: a tutorial

 

OMGoodness, I get to show you our new black bypass barndoors today.

Mr Magic made these for me after I priced some barndoors online for $1600 that had to be made to fit our opening. Um, yeah…… no thank you.

So I showed him a pic online and he made these doors with absolutely no plans, a few hours and minimal supplies.

 

Here is the deal. I had to have some privacy because I work from home my friends.

And my “home office” opens up to our entryway on this side and to our dining room on the other.

And we have loud kids.

3 loud, fun, wonderful, wild kids.

So when I recently decided to start a podcast, I began to panic about working from home and podcasting / coaching while the kids are home for spring break and summer vacation.

I told Mr Magic we needed to figure out how to put up barndoors on one side of my office. PRONTO.

Here is the thing with barndoors tho. You gotta have enough room for the door to slide to the other side of the room when open.

Well, we didn’t have that much room. I didn’t want to box in our open staircase and I only wanted to use the barndoor when I am working. So how do we block a big open hole???

With BYPASS BARN DOORS.

I know, I know. You may have never heard of this. 

Me neither.

But they are totally a thing and totally genius!

And I will show you how we made ours!

 This post does contain affiliate links for your shopping convenience!

We started with Mr Magic getting us six 1 x 6 x 8 pieces of whitewood from Lowe’s.

I don’t know what whitewood is, but it’s light and cheap, so that what he selected! They are like $4 each. Awesome!

 

We invested in a Kreg Jig for the project and that’s what anchors each board to each other without seeing nail holes, etc.

 

Here is where we ended up on a Friday night. One door was started and covering 1/2 the opening. I could totally see how 2 of these on a bypass system was going to work!!! (this is also where I began to apologize to him for ever doubting his skills!)

 

Mr Magic added a header, a footer and a diagonal piece thru the middle. These were all 1 x 8 x 8 boards and both for support and for looks!

The slanted pieces were a bit of a booger. We had a few mis-cuts with his miter saw. But thankfully the wood is cheap!

 

Originally we screwed these pieces on like dorks.

Then we got smart and went and bought this nail gun.

We took out the screws and used the nail gun. Way better!

 

I am not big on tools, but Mr Magic insisted I try the nail gun. 

It was half fun and half scary. The “poof” of air is a little intimidating. lol. 

 

So we returned to him nailing and me supervising.

We work best this way.

And then he made a 2nd door in a record time…. 2 hours!!!!

 

This is how they looked. And my hubby is trying to do “Here’s Johnny” from “The Shining”. Lol. He’s a mess.

 

All the interior doors in our home plus this ceiling are painted “Tricorn Black”. This is one of my recommended paint colors on my 50 favorite paint colors list. You can totally get that list by going HERE for free. My gift to you! xoxo

 

We laid the doors upside down on sawhorses to paint them.  We used an interior latex primer tinted to a medium gray. That helps the black to cover easier.  We used  Sherwin Williams “Tricorn Black” in 2 coats of satin latex paint and they were done.

TIP: Always paint the back of something like this FIRST that way the pretty side gets done last and stays pretty (same tip for painting your cabinets. I show in all my diy videos to do the backs FIRST)

Then it was time for the hardware.

 

We worked with Artisan Hardware to pick out the bypass hardware that we needed for the bypass doors. They have designed a genius system!  Artisan Hardware has graciously offered my readers a 15% discount on their hardware if you use the code MAGICBRUSH at checkout!

Mr Magic watched a few of their YouTube videos and we went for it!

 

We installed a header (just a 1 x 8 x 10)  to attach their hardware system to because we wanted to make sure the doors were stable and secure (wild kids, remember?).

And we forced our boys to help. Lol. 

And then in Mr Magic’s excitement he began to install the bypass hardware. 

On the header.

Before I painted it. God bless it.

I am STILL cussing him for that.

 

But at the time I was just tired and anxious to see them up. And yes, supervising again in my pj’s this time.

Here is a closeup of what the hardware looks like attached to the doors at the top.

 

And this is what the bypass hardware looks like from down below.

There was no way we could have engineered that ourselves. Do yourself a favor and purchase the bypass hardware to save your sanity. Lol. Go HERE to purchase. 

 

So here is how the doors look all the way opened and stacked on top of one another. I had Stephanie who paints for me at The Magic Brush paint the header in “Silverplate”… the same color as the wall so that the header would hopefully blend in and “go away”.

 

When rolled to the other side of the room, the barndoors block off the opening to the entry.

So no more legs running down the steps in the background on my videos.

No more shouting at my kids to quit walking thru that area and being loud. I now have a barrier!!!!

 

Opened.

 

Closed. 

Isn’t that cool?

 

And from my entryway, you can’t even see the barndoors when they are open. (Love that ceiling medallion? It’s wall art I repurposed. Read how I did it here. And that awesome gray carpet on my stairs is new too. Read about that project here.)

 

But when they are closed because I am filming or recording,  they look cute too! 

 

I am blown away by Mr Magic’s handiwork. (And if you love those cute curtains: here is how I made them!)

So fun, huh?

I’d love it if you pinned the bypass barndoor graphic below! And for more lovely barndoor ideas for your home, check out my Top Ten Barndoor Tutorials here.

Jen
 

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