DIY Sliding {Barn Style} Door

I'm so excited to share this with you!

About a month ago we turned our "formal" unused living room
 into a pool room.   You can read about it here in
A Crazy Idea For A Formal Living Room 
and you can see how we got that baby in here.

Because of that crazy idea we had to make some changes in our den/library.

Twice a month we hold a "home cell" group at our home.  We usually have about 4-5 children that come and we like to have a place where they can play.  (Plus one day... I'll have grandchildren.  Just trying to think ahead...) 
So, we needed to add a door to this room.  We didn't want a swinging door, 
it would just get in the way and we didn't want to pay for a pocket door, 
too much $$.  So, what do I do? Search on Pinterest!  My favorite place!  
That's where the sliding "barn door" idea came from!

WA LA!!

So cool right???

It actually slides behind the bookcase, so it's almost like a pocket door.  
I am in LOVE with it!!

Hubby did A LOT of the work, well... pretty much ALL of the work.  
He's just better at it! 
I painted the door and I had lots of opinions. :D

It was pretty easy to paint, considering the new door already had the plastic covering the window panes. YAY!
Ok, on to the construction...
First, we had to lower the wall to a standard doorway.
Here's what it looked like when we started.
See what I mean?

I really don't remember why we left it so tall when we built the house. I guess we "thought" it was cool??
Anyway...
Hubby got out the 2x4's and framed out that space.

He's not really grumpy... He's just concentrating...
A man on a mission... :D
Easy enough, then add the dry wall.

So far so good.
Next came the messy dusty, messy dusty part!! UGH!
I tried to contain it, but it's virtually impossible!
Mudding and sanding...

That was just the first coat.... I think there were about
 3 more to feather and blend it.
Next, hubby put casing in the doorway.  
We found it easier to just use the primed mdf.

On the inside, we left the extra instead of making it flush with the wall, because we have a chair rail that goes around the room and we didn't want the door to slide against it.

You can see that better in the next picture,

 where we have the door framed out.

Here, you can also see the rail system we used.  We purchased it at Home Depot.  It's a single track rail.  Pretty simple to use.

I'm so happy with the way it turned out!!

Of course, I have some spackling and painting to do, 

but it looks like it's meant to be there! 

Eventually, I'll get to decorating that room....

I just think it's so cool

 how it slides behind the bookcase!

I just love, love, love it!

If you like it PIN it!