My aunt had one years ago. It was her only bathroom. The doorway was in the hall between 2 bedrooms, but, if you were sitting on her couch in the living room, the door was visible., and it didnt fit flush, so you could actually see movement inside the bathroom, around the edge of the door. My hubby would make an excuse to run downtown when we visited her. He refused to use that bathroom.

I have one bathroom with a pocket door, and it has a very good latch etc. You would have to open part of a wall, to install, but, it does work very well.

This post was edited by cat_ky on Thu, Oct 2, 14 at 18:32

We have a barn door in a location where it would make more sense than adding a swing or pocket door. It did not look particularly difficult to install, but you should consider the wall space that will be unusable for light switches, etc. so that the door can open. Plan in advance whether you would want floor guides/stops and what kind of hardware you'd like to use.
Good luck!

I think they can look a bit gimmicky sometimes, especially if they don't fit the style of your interior. But I can see the practical aspect, if a swinging door is cumbersome in a small space. I would think it would be less of a hassle to install than a pocket door, too.

Can't install a pocket which was our first choice. Pipes on both sides. The privacy aspect is not a worry as it is just the two of us and visitors use the main bathroom downstairs. Might affect resale at some point thoughâ¦.

We sort of have a barn door in our home. It's actually a screen door, to allow ventilation, but close off kitties from our son and grandson's bedrooms. It's a right angle turn in our upstairs hallway. It's not hung with real barn door hardware. We used pipe and pipe fittings and some of those big clips similar to what climbers use.

Our MBR was once a small barn on our property and wee have a "barndoor" on my bathroom in our MBR. I say "barndoor" because it is a 4paned french door hung with barndoor hardware. Privacy is not an issue because it is within our MBR and also because my bathroom has a water closet with a traditional door and very private shower stall; so the only thing really exposed is the free standing tub (intentional).

I would not do it in a "main bathroom", for resale reasons.

An in-swing door on a small bath or water closet can be considered a safety hazard as, should someone pass out or fall in there, you won't be able to get the door open to help them.

The swing on the door can be changed to an outswing. If there's not enough room, you can consider doing narrow double doors.

[Contemporary Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2103) by North Hollywood General Contractors Globus Builder

Or something like this:

I have used barn door bathrooms and we considered it for our master bath. I definitely would do it. I would oversize the door so it completely (but completely) covered the opening. I would also not make my own door because the funky homemade barn doors we've used in the past have warped a bit and made the path of travel difficult. I wouldn't cheap out on the hardware because it relies heavily on good hardware to function well.

We ended up going with a single outswing for noise reasons (the toilet's pretty close to my husband's pillow at night, as the crow flies) but I love barn doors and think they're pretty cool.

On our mbath we used to have a double outswing door as AnnieDeighnah pictured above - for me it didn't work so well because
- sound travelled through the middle
- I always felt like I was shouldering my way through the doors
- the door opening was fairly small and the doors impinged on both sides of the opening, plus the door HANDLES impinged if the doors were only open 90 degrees.

With the single outswing door, it's all 'wrong' technically as it swings out directly into the entry of our bedroom, but it works well because it encourages us to keep the door always closed (which is preferable for a mbath IMO), and it's easy to nudge closed if it happens to be blocking the path.

I have one and I love the way it looks. Ours is not sound proof at all. We went to Tractor Supply and bought all of the supplies for much less than we had originally thought it would cost us. We made the door ourselves. They are certainly not perfect, but it is perfect for our situation. I think the whole thing cost well under $200. Some sort of floor track would have been ideal, but it was not possible in our case. The door can be "pushed" out at the bottom without one. We did spray paint all of the hardware. I would absolutely do it again.

Do what works for you.

This post was edited by deeinohio on Sun, Oct 12, 14 at 14:38

I don't know why I didn't think of a double door as Annie shared because that's what we are planning on for our master bathroom. You could have it be swinging doors if you wanted using saloon door hardware.
Robotropolis, makes a good point about using hardware meant for the barn doors. Ours works fine, but the screen door is very light weight. It's also temporary as our son and grandson will someday, after son is finished with college, have a home of their own.

We have one on a closet in the tv room that is quite visible from the living area. The door is a hollow core door with extra pieces of VG cedar siding covering it. We have a pocket door for the bathroom, but it's down at the end of the hall.

Google "zerbey barn door" for an example in a cute small house belonging to 2 young architects. The Houzz link doesn't show the bathroom door, but their blog does. You can find details there.

Here is a link that might be useful: [barn door[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/zerbey-remodel-modern-kids-seattle-phvw-vp~5471822)

I have been unable to check my internet for awhile and was so surprised to find all of the responses to my question. Thank you all so much! I have lots to think about, love all of the pictures from the barn door to the accordion to the small double doors. Anyone of them would look nice in my space.

If we did decide on a barn door I am thinking we might use 2 smaller doors, one opening to each side. We would not require as much wall space that way. Does that sound reasonable or crazy and impractical? Maybe that would not even work with the barn door hardware? Also we might need to think of a way to secure (lock) the door from the inside, which is why I was thinking 2 doors might solve that problem? My husband and I are empty nesters with another bath in our guest area so really no one uses the bath but us. I suppose some day we will sell and it might not be attractive to buyers. On the other hand it would open up a really small bathroom made even smaller with the door that swings inâ¦â¦

One positive---my husband is on board with doing something! We have removed the existing door while I paint the trim so it is obvious how much bigger the bath is without the door in there:) Having him willing makes it so much more possible!!!!!

Thanks again, all.

Is the bath at all close to your bed? Sound will travel...a lot.

I have actual barn doors on an actual barn. Each door is 6' wide and 12' tall, and they are heavy! With twin doors, You could add a 'weather flap' over one door, which would prevent noise and possible lack of privacy through any gap between the doors. It could just be an added piece of wood trim. All doors have a gap at the bottom. I have my huge doors adjusted pretty close to the framing, so I think it could be tweaked pretty close in a house. To secure my doors, I have a toggle clamp on each door which both locks them and pulls them tight to the jamb. That's a rather industrial solution for a house, plus you would have to lock both doors to prevent an accidental walk-in. I'm sure there's some kind of latch to hold the two doors together in the middle, although then the possibility would exist that someone could move the entire two doors at the same time. It would be cool to design some kind of latch that connected the two doors, and engaged the floor or above to prevent the whole thing from moving. I vaguely remember seeing hardware like that somewhere.

Our powder room will have a barn door as well. I bought antique barn door rollers, although they are much smaller than would be found on a barn. I was told they may have come off of a rail car. We're going to hang a single antique door. I'll adjust the hardware and trim for a good fit once it is hung. I haven't decided on a latch yet. A question has come up, though. The universal sign that a bathroom is unoccupied is that the door is ajar. My wife isn't sure how she feels about leaving the barn door ajar since it is in our foyer, but I'm afraid that keeping it closed would send the wrong signal to a 'needy' guest.

Robo: Bath is maybe 20 feet down a short hall from our bedroom. No one else sleeps on our second floor but even with it just being the two of usâ¦.. Important to consider the noise factor. Do you think using a heavy solid door/doors would help? We are currently replacing our old hollow core doors which were not all that sound proof either:)

MushCreek: Thank you so much for your reply. I would not have thought of the "flap" but can picture a piece of trim. The whole latch/lock is a bit of a conundrum. You sound like a proficient DIYer. We have a carpenter who would install. He does a great job and is very careful but not creative. If there is an idea it would probably have to come from us. So if it comes from GW all the better!
Would love to see your powder room door when it is complete.

JR

Just my 2 cents, but unless there's an actual barn door, recycled, or new, I don't see the point. The hardware is overpowering and does nothing to make a new 6/8 panel, French, or door which doesn't have more rustic appeal, look anything but strange, giving the illusion of trying to be something it's not.

I have narrow, double 6 panel doors, hung normally, and they look very nice. A little different than just the one door entry. Resale *could* be a problem, but you need to do what is going to make you happy, now!

If the purpose is to have more room - barn door type mounting is a great alternative .
Although I love the look of the hardware it does not have to be seen .
Another member did a bathroom here......

Here is a link that might be useful: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bath/msg0911071430528.html

Forboystoo: Thank you SO much for the link. That is exactly what I would like. Because the hardware is not visible it looks so clean.

Patty: 2 narrow, 6 panel doors would be the other option (like the picture Annie posted above). The idea of either the barn door or the 2 narrow doors would buy us some room in our tiny bath. If you look at the "before" picture Lauraella posted in the link above, that is my bathroom except the door swings the other way and hits the toilet.

Thanks both of you for your input, every response gives me something to think about.

I'm beyond being a proficient DIY'er. I'm building our new house, doing all of the work alone except excavation and concrete. I'm a tool and die maker by trade, so when I can't find a piece of hardware I need, I go out in the shop and make it!

I agree that regular barn door hardware is a bit out of scale for a regular interior door. That's why I searched to find smaller hardware. All of our interior doors are antique, with plenty of patina, so they fit with the more rustic vibe. It will probably be a while before I have pics; there's a lot of other things to do first.

A barn door would not be too hard to install. But you should know that you need to leave enough wall space for the barn door to slide to open and close. Applying the barn door in your home may be a functional and nice design. Here are some more details of barn door including its cons, pros and ideas.

There are a few different places you could get sliding barn doors made to spec like that. In fact we could do it for you! The one concern I'd have is for the privacy. You'd probably want to find handles that offer magnetic latching and some form of privacy lock as well. I know that Cavity Sliders has some good ones that work for both pocket doors and sliding doors.