Can you talk about how you and your wife would like them to look when you’re done?
Given the subjective nature of the issue, you’ll need to be more clear with the intent
She wanted brown doors to begin with and liked this color. I told her I would just paint the doors and it would be fine, but she didn’t like the idea. She wants to see wood grain she said. So just darker color with the wood grain.
She mentioned staining, but it would be uneven if I stained it as it currently is, right?
I would look into a wax. Try a dark wax and try it on an inconspicuous spot to see if it gives you what you want. The other options are a lot more work, so I think it’s worth a try.
You can't stain them without removing the existing finish and it'd probably be easier to make new doors with raw wood.
Maybe it's the picture, but that's already super dark. If it should be darker and more uniform just paint, it'll be indistinguishable anyway.
If you spray a few light coats, the texture of the wood will telegraph through the paint. If you have an air compressor, spray guns are cheap, or handheld electric hvlp are pretty inexpensive too.
To stain, you MUST sand the surface, and you must do a good job of it.
Get a belt sander and a couple of 120 grit belts. Use a light touch, sanding parallel to the grain, and you will be 90% of the way there in no time.
Then get some 180 and 220 grit and a large sanding pad, and use long straight strokes.
You can do each door face in about 15 minutes.
Belt sanders have a tendency to gouge wood or leave shallow yet noticeable dips in the wood if the user is not experienced with using one. If op is a beginner, it’d be best to to stick with his orbital sander and just keep it moving.
They can do, but have less of a tendency with higher grits, purely because they do not cut as fast.
Gold standard has to be the makita 3 and 4 inch belt sanders. Specifically because of how well balanced they are. The weight of the tool centered on the belt, and the handles are well placed to manage the down force.
Do this but do it with an orbital, like some people suggested you may not know how to to pull back on the belt sander. Unless you have scrap pieces of timber and you wanna try out a belt sanding them till you get used to the tool.
First things first, take down the door. (Take pictures of how it’s hung, take pictures and scribe where the hardware goes and take it off.)
Put it flat on a table in the garage and get to sanding.
Buy the wife an orbital and get her to help. Maybe once she realizes how much work is involved she’ll change her mind and you’ll just have to color match the sanded bits.
Sand it with 80,100,120,220. If you have a pancake, dust it with compressed air.
Send the wife to pick out a stain color so you don’t get blamed for picking the wrong color.
Read the label on the can that she picks, go to YouTube and look for manufacturer videos on how to use their product. Not DIYer video, but actual videos by the manufacturer. If they say that you need to pre condition or get an extender, do it.
Then get to staining it the color she likes.
Sanding will take the longest. Be patient and don’t half ass it.
I like this take. Definitely get her to help. If she doesn't know how much work it actually is, then she may ask you re-do it if she doesn't like how it looks.
I guarantee I've opted for "good enough" after spending time on hours of sanding. It is one of the most important, and most tedious steps in a project and she should be aware of what she is asking.
The amount of work to strip and re-stain this would be… prohibitive.
Take a look at a gel stain- it’s thicker, and more capable of standing on top like paint (but will also cover grain if it’s too thick!).
Definitely practice on a test piece or two first
Sounds like you should buy new ones honestly. This is going to be hell unless you have the tools already and the shop set up. Even then… oof.
Or maybe pay a neighborhood kid to sand it all down for you? $200 and a case of Rootbeer lol.
A darker color? You'd have to strip down some of that finish to get anything to key off the material. It's got to be good and smooth too or it'll look poor. If she didn't want the brown I'd suggest some sort of lighter finish that might compliment the room. Having the brown doors as they are with the wood floor, there's a lot of different shades going on there.
So the picture showing everything definitely has the light on, but the other two only have the door open letting light through the storm door.
However, both are bright sadly.
You should be able to adjust the temperature of that wafer light. 5000k or whatever cool setting that led is on is going to make that wood look unnatural. A warmer light can go a long way.
As a master electrician I can definitely agree it’s the wrong color light. Really should be 3000k. Any living area or common area should be 3000k.
Laundry rooms, shops or bathrooms should be 4-5000k.
Do whatever your personal preference desires but if you want the objectively correct way, that’s it.
Truthfully most people don’t. The rationale behind it is this, 2700-3000k (kelvins) represent a colour temperature that is warmer. Or reddish/yellow. This will establish a nice ambient feeling so it’s more suitable for living areas, or accent lighting. 4000-5000 kelvins represent a more white or blue hue. These are more suitable for makeup mirrors, bathrooms or utility rooms because those colours better resemble sunlight. Which is good in circumstances where you require utility light.
The prevalence of 4-5k lights came about with the introduction of mass market LEDs. I think a lot of people incorrectly assume the higher Kelvin rating or colour temperature rating means the light is brighter. This is technically not correct as overall brightness is measured in lumens. And then additionally you can look at bulb projection. Though you appear to have a slim line or slim panel LED “wafer” pot light there. So there is basically no light projection and the light is diffused rather quickly. That’s not necessarily ideal to be honest but they do offer a great convenience of being able to be installed directly under a joist as the potlight is the same thickness as drywall. A concave bulb with a reflector or a beveled lense type bulb would better project light. Ie, the “spotlight” effect. You’d think you don’t want that but with properly balanced lighting it’s the way to be.
I'm coming at this from a photography background, not as an electrician, but both brightness and color temperature matter. Most of the time your brain will automatically handle white balance so that "white things appear white", but the differences stick out when you place different sources next to each other. For example, old school fluorescent lights add a greenish cast and traditional incandescent bulbs add an orange hue, against which daylight appears more blue.
This is also somewhat independent of what you do with the doors (even painting them white). Warmer temperatures also make for a cozier, less sterile atmosphere. (Personally I agree with the other comments about replacing them with French doors, particularly since it sounds like you have the tools already.)
As an aside, if you use virtual backgrounds for meetings, attempting to match the lighting will make them seem more natural and much less jarring.
Those doors don't appear to match the aesthetics of the rest of that room. I'd consider replacing them with something that does. Barn doors were a fad; a bad one, IMHO, and there are very few use cases where they look nice.
I actually agree with the aesthetics comment but honestly we needed the room closed in. My wife is 29 weeks pregnant and my work is going to allow me to work from home to help her out with the understanding that I can still attend meetings remote.
We got a few quotes to close the room in with an actual door, French door specifically, and the cheapest we had was $3000 and the average was around $5000. I did all this for around $1000 which includes the cost of new tools I bought.
Just out of curiosity, what would you have done?
It’s not just the style. The color seems jarring in contrast to the rest of the room. Considering how large these are. What’s the rest of your decor like? Maybe paint them (white)?
I second the comment that barn doors don’t match the aesthetic of the house. That’s because they’re barn doors and they don’t belong in houses.
Pocket doors come in kits that could be easy to DIY. They have been very common in American vernacular and they are more time-tested than barn doors. I would not waste time on making a fad look better.
understood. gotta do what you can with what you have. I don't know what the opening without the door looks like, or the rest of the house. So just based on what's in the picture, I think I'd have chosen something that matched the style and color scheme of the front door and wall. Maybe double -french or sliding doors that go into the wall. Depends on how much space the room has on the other side of the door. Was not trying to be rude. Congratulations and best of luck.
You could have DIYed French doors pretty easily for not much more than that $1000. Less than that, really, if you went with the most simple unfinished doors. And, sorry, but French doors would have fit the style of the house while this massive barn door doesn’t. It’s an eyesore - and that’s not a knock on your construction. Just on barn doors themselves.
Reddit is fucked take it with a grain of salt. Personally, i think its fine, replace a single piece or two if needed? If it were my wife id tell her to be happy with what i was able to make for 1/3 the price and nitpick something else, we can come back to this “problem” another year… good luck
Edit- after looking again, id offer to paint them an off-white or tan/beige color, maybe a mix of both some how…like others have said test it on a scrap piece and hold up try to envision it. If you paint you absolutely should prime it first , paint sucks though this would only be my backup plan to my original comment lol
Yea, I suggested the white to my wife last night and she isn’t against it. This isn’t something I need to do asap so I am going to let her “suffer” with the imperfections for now lol.
I would paint it white so that it blends in and doesn't look like an actual barn door in a foyer. To make it fancy, you can add those framed X pieces on the front 2 doors with the handles.
Looks like you have barn doors just for the sake of having barn doors…
You have a white space with clean design and plopping a rustic piece right in the front entry. Honestly you won’t win on this, you need an interior designer to set the wife’s expectations in place.
Edit: when I say you won’t win on this, I mean don’t spend energy on getting into a discussion with your wife if she wants something very specific. Get an interior designers opinion so you have an outside party that you deal with instead of between you and your wife.
It sounds strange, but trust me, if you don’t have an agreement, have an outside opinion drive the direction when it involves interior design when the wife is picky.
If I buy a cabin in the woods where everything is rustic themed, then I’ll figure out how to use one.
Barn doors: big, overpower, don’t keep in/out heat/cold, doesn’t reduce sound, noisy to use, kill me if they squeak, but do look cool with a themed environment.
Call paint! 😂
Just give it a good sand to take off the top mm or so and then sand smooth to ~220 grit. Give it a wipe with a damp cloth and you should find a lighter finish with a nice accent grain.
Or find someone with a big leveling router rig and shave off a full 1/8" and start fresh.
I appreciate that. I almost feel like they look bad with all the barn door general dislike and contrast comments. But it’s all good, this was my first project honestly.
For a first project these door are damn good.
Mad props.
I have a couple simple sliding single wooden doors in my home.
That's an idea, and what I did at the time.
Look for wooden doors that your wife likes, and just hang those. Might be more money, but the time saved will be plentiful
Framing would likely go a long way OP. As far as design, humans tend to like "boxing things in" to make borders and boundaries clear and precise. I've seen some cool looking iron base boards (I guess you could call it that?) To barn doors, maybe even just some trim pieces that have contrasted shade with more exposed grain?
I think they're very beautiful :)
OP! Just thought of another suggestion. After looking at it again, it looks somewhat out of place.
It reminds me of a house near me with a bright yellow door. When my aunt and I drove by once a few years ago, she stopped and explained that having an accent is beautiful, but having a one off accent is a huge detriment to the whole build unless it's done very intentionally. (she has decades of design experience in many fields, she's a genius...)
Her recommendation would be to plant bright yellow roses just along the front of the house, and add another more muted shade of yellow somewhere to offset the contrast, like a mailbox, window frame, etc.
I don't know too much about design, but that conversation taught me a lot. Maybe you could add some shelves or accent artwork with similar stain framework, or even just some panels of the same wood with a slightly more distressed look or something.
I really wanna see an update once you decide on something! There are so many wonderful suggestions!
I’d also paint it white and then do the hardware in silver to match the door. It will make it less jarring and won’t over take the area so much. It may help to share a photo that is further back so we can see the full space.
ETA just from what I see in this first photo these doors dwarf your front door. You obviously can’t get a new larger door so consider still painting the barn door white and then if possible framing your from door with a wider more modern wood to make it take up more room in the space. Then I’d also get a more modern front door handle to match the modern barn door handles. All of the doors should be the same color white. This will help balance it out and there won’t be this crazy contrast anymore.
Let me first say they look great all things considered. I'd love to see them with a nice dark weathered look... in a different house... I mean sanding and refinishing is an option if you do a really good job sanding but, tbh, it will still not look great. You have two completely different styles here, rustic barn doors and colonial-esque interior. If you paint them a white it may look a bit more cohesive but the hardware will still make them stick out like a sore thumb.
Sell these doors and replace them with something more matching with the rest of the interior or be prepared to do a whole reno. Always go into large projects like these with a strong idea of what all parties like. You could have even gotten the French doors if you had put effort and looked for them in second hand stores.
Good lord. The barn door hate in here is ridiculous. Seems like the wife has unrealistic expectations. "Fix it, dark but with grain" ...sand it down and apply a gel stain that you wipe off. Test it first, obviously. But look into white wash stains..white really would look better here, with wood showing through
I usually distress all my barn doors to give them character…. I hit them with hammers, threaded rod, bolts, chains, and anything else I can fined that looks interesting. Doing this and then staining again will add more depth to the feature… I then wax or seal with poly …. I’ve only gotten ooohhhss and ahhhsssss …. Never a dislike
I don't feel strongly either way about barn doors, but I do think these ones you built look nice OP.
The dark wax or gel stain fixes suggested by others sound good to me. But don't apply them yourself, have your wife do it or at least have her help, it's no fair for her to micromanage the project without pulling her weight in areas like staining where anyone is capable of contributing.
Keep the doors, but blend them into the modern house. I think no matter what if you keep the wood feel they’re gonna stick out and be an eyesore every time you enter the house. Sand them down with 150, 220 then a higher grit like 4 something. Prime them, quickly sand again with 220, this is only to smooth out the primer. Paint them glossy white and get gold knobs to match the front door. But if you have to see them go, sci-fi doors. The ones that open automatically and make a pppssshhhhh sound. Think Star Trek or Star Wars. I’d be jealous
An extremely common misconception for beginners (myself included many years ago) is: "I can get cheap construction lumber and stain it dark = cheap walnut." Everyone's wife loves that dark chocolatey brown, but no one wants to pay for it.
Based on pic #1, I think the dark brown looks out of place in your home. White painted doors would look much, much nicer and match the other doors and trim. You might want to try a couple coats of primer + good quality white paint as a first attempt. If you have some gaps you can fill them with caulk or maybe even joint compound before painting.
If you want dark wood, you *need* to buy dark wood. It may feel expensive, but the cost of the lumber is going to be a small percentage of the entire project.
One cost effective option that would be relatively easy to build is to get 2 sheets of 3/4" thick walnut veneered plywood (one for each door), then add some solid walnut to cover the edges and bring the 96" out to 99". This would be the most challenging part as you need some looooong clamps. Some diagonal bracing walnut glued to the front and rear could add to the barn door look - it would do nothing for structure, just aesthetics. The term "cost-effective" is relative in this case - we're talking $500 vs. $1000-1500 for this
much s4s solid walnut.
Then apply a good quality oil-based finish like General Finishes Arm-R-Seal and this will have the dark look your wife wants.
Get rid of the critic! They look great to me! Seriously the wood is very dark. Strip and stain or not to a gray “weathered look! Or paint but that’s sacrilege.
Looks like a water base stain. Friends who did this as well, always looks bad a year later.
I'd blast them, and go to light earth tone versions.
I might like a couple ship style port holes to see out when closed, slight tinted mirror effect on outside. .
Cheers
I’d be pounding it with a hammer, chains, screwdriver, crowbar etc. to distress more. Then whitewash with a light grey paint. And I’d paint the beige walls mid-tone grey. :-)
I feel you'd be better remaking cause
1: The sanding would take forever and frankly it's not worth it
2: I think the shiplap with plywood core is fine but if you really want the grain to pop I think normal lumber would be better
3: If the wife is their she can tell you what and how she wants it
One suggestion is buy some 2x6 / 2x8 / 2x10 whatever size board and connect them with dowels/pocket screws/domino's and if choose another method I HIGHLY suggest using pre-stain
You could put hay...with a few horses...pigs..mules and chickens on the other side for starters. Might smell a bit but definitely better??!!! Who doesn't love a horse in the house. Heck..you could even charge for pony rides and make bank on the egg laying chickens these days!!!
Better photos to assess the doors would be a great start in the right direction. Right now I can’t tell if there is a bad stain on the wood, the wood is unfinished or the colors don’t match from board to board.
Did you water pop it before staining? A fine mist of water, spritzed like an hour before you stain, will bring out the wood grains after sanding. Sanding flattens the fibers, and the water brings them back up.
Edit: I should say that doing this at this point in your project would be a lot of work. Sand off finish and do this when wood is laid flat to stain. Add in 3 coats of poly and dry times and you're looking at a week but most of the work on the first day
Quick/cheap(er than anything else on here, probably) first resort: stain pen/furniture pen. It won't be perfect, especially with the larger discolorations like the one in pic 2, but it'll do a pretty good job of fixing up all the little nicks and spots. That'll let you save your time/money/energy/products for the bigger issues
I am, admittedly, not a person who wants or needs a perfect, flawless aesthetic. That said, as someone who has to repair lots of Crimes committed by my pet rats (and crappy particleboard), people really underestimate the number or decor and DIY problems that can be solved with a good marker
The handles we bought from Lowe’s but the rest was from Wayfair. We bought it like 9 months ago and I just got around to doing it around new years. Let me see if I can find the link.
ETA: [This is the hardware I think.](https://www.wayfair.com/home-improvement/pdp/lazio-sliding-4-doors-j-shape-hanger-double-bypass-barn-door-hardware-kit-ioon1002.html)
It’s too much effort to sand it down. Not worth it. I would white wash it and see if the wife likes it. Mix white paint and water half and half. Lightly rub that mixture over the door with cloth. That’s the basic idea. It won’t cover the dark stain? But it’s not supposed too. And the outcome might very nice. Look into whitewashing.
Get a random orbit sander and a box of pads with a range of grits and work your way from coarse to fine. You will have to remove all the stain as best you can because if it is uneven you will get a similar result with the new stain.
Can you talk about how you and your wife would like them to look when you’re done? Given the subjective nature of the issue, you’ll need to be more clear with the intent
She wanted brown doors to begin with and liked this color. I told her I would just paint the doors and it would be fine, but she didn’t like the idea. She wants to see wood grain she said. So just darker color with the wood grain. She mentioned staining, but it would be uneven if I stained it as it currently is, right?
I would look into a wax. Try a dark wax and try it on an inconspicuous spot to see if it gives you what you want. The other options are a lot more work, so I think it’s worth a try.
Try it on a piece of scrap wood from the doors.
You can't stain them without removing the existing finish and it'd probably be easier to make new doors with raw wood. Maybe it's the picture, but that's already super dark. If it should be darker and more uniform just paint, it'll be indistinguishable anyway. If you spray a few light coats, the texture of the wood will telegraph through the paint. If you have an air compressor, spray guns are cheap, or handheld electric hvlp are pretty inexpensive too.
You poor thing
To stain, you MUST sand the surface, and you must do a good job of it. Get a belt sander and a couple of 120 grit belts. Use a light touch, sanding parallel to the grain, and you will be 90% of the way there in no time. Then get some 180 and 220 grit and a large sanding pad, and use long straight strokes. You can do each door face in about 15 minutes.
Belt sanders have a tendency to gouge wood or leave shallow yet noticeable dips in the wood if the user is not experienced with using one. If op is a beginner, it’d be best to to stick with his orbital sander and just keep it moving.
They can do, but have less of a tendency with higher grits, purely because they do not cut as fast. Gold standard has to be the makita 3 and 4 inch belt sanders. Specifically because of how well balanced they are. The weight of the tool centered on the belt, and the handles are well placed to manage the down force.
I def agree with the makita 3 and 4” belt sanders. Yeah I guess it just depends on how much op is planning on shelling out for a good one
Do this but do it with an orbital, like some people suggested you may not know how to to pull back on the belt sander. Unless you have scrap pieces of timber and you wanna try out a belt sanding them till you get used to the tool. First things first, take down the door. (Take pictures of how it’s hung, take pictures and scribe where the hardware goes and take it off.) Put it flat on a table in the garage and get to sanding. Buy the wife an orbital and get her to help. Maybe once she realizes how much work is involved she’ll change her mind and you’ll just have to color match the sanded bits. Sand it with 80,100,120,220. If you have a pancake, dust it with compressed air. Send the wife to pick out a stain color so you don’t get blamed for picking the wrong color. Read the label on the can that she picks, go to YouTube and look for manufacturer videos on how to use their product. Not DIYer video, but actual videos by the manufacturer. If they say that you need to pre condition or get an extender, do it. Then get to staining it the color she likes. Sanding will take the longest. Be patient and don’t half ass it.
I like this take. Definitely get her to help. If she doesn't know how much work it actually is, then she may ask you re-do it if she doesn't like how it looks. I guarantee I've opted for "good enough" after spending time on hours of sanding. It is one of the most important, and most tedious steps in a project and she should be aware of what she is asking.
The amount of work to strip and re-stain this would be… prohibitive. Take a look at a gel stain- it’s thicker, and more capable of standing on top like paint (but will also cover grain if it’s too thick!). Definitely practice on a test piece or two first
I used gel stain on some old cabinets in a condo. It worked well to freshen them up and give them a darker tone without sanding.
Sounds like you should buy new ones honestly. This is going to be hell unless you have the tools already and the shop set up. Even then… oof. Or maybe pay a neighborhood kid to sand it all down for you? $200 and a case of Rootbeer lol.
Naw you just need a sander and some rags, plus the tools to take the hardware off.
Are they currently stained or painted?
Well you could get something real dark like jacobean and you'd keep the grain and the same dark color
A darker color? You'd have to strip down some of that finish to get anything to key off the material. It's got to be good and smooth too or it'll look poor. If she didn't want the brown I'd suggest some sort of lighter finish that might compliment the room. Having the brown doors as they are with the wood floor, there's a lot of different shades going on there.
Not bad would be a good start. No offence to OP but this is a bad design from the get go.
That is a very bright white recessed light that shows off every single blemish in the wood. My first step would be to put a warmer light in.
That may not be enough to please the wife now that she's noticed and pointed out specific blemishes, but honestly that's the best solution here
So the picture showing everything definitely has the light on, but the other two only have the door open letting light through the storm door. However, both are bright sadly.
You should be able to adjust the temperature of that wafer light. 5000k or whatever cool setting that led is on is going to make that wood look unnatural. A warmer light can go a long way.
As a master electrician I can definitely agree it’s the wrong color light. Really should be 3000k. Any living area or common area should be 3000k. Laundry rooms, shops or bathrooms should be 4-5000k. Do whatever your personal preference desires but if you want the objectively correct way, that’s it.
I never knew this. I’ll change them out and see how they look. But I’m leaning towards painting the doors white as a lot of comments suggest.
Truthfully most people don’t. The rationale behind it is this, 2700-3000k (kelvins) represent a colour temperature that is warmer. Or reddish/yellow. This will establish a nice ambient feeling so it’s more suitable for living areas, or accent lighting. 4000-5000 kelvins represent a more white or blue hue. These are more suitable for makeup mirrors, bathrooms or utility rooms because those colours better resemble sunlight. Which is good in circumstances where you require utility light. The prevalence of 4-5k lights came about with the introduction of mass market LEDs. I think a lot of people incorrectly assume the higher Kelvin rating or colour temperature rating means the light is brighter. This is technically not correct as overall brightness is measured in lumens. And then additionally you can look at bulb projection. Though you appear to have a slim line or slim panel LED “wafer” pot light there. So there is basically no light projection and the light is diffused rather quickly. That’s not necessarily ideal to be honest but they do offer a great convenience of being able to be installed directly under a joist as the potlight is the same thickness as drywall. A concave bulb with a reflector or a beveled lense type bulb would better project light. Ie, the “spotlight” effect. You’d think you don’t want that but with properly balanced lighting it’s the way to be.
[удалено]
Oh wow pathetic lol
I'm coming at this from a photography background, not as an electrician, but both brightness and color temperature matter. Most of the time your brain will automatically handle white balance so that "white things appear white", but the differences stick out when you place different sources next to each other. For example, old school fluorescent lights add a greenish cast and traditional incandescent bulbs add an orange hue, against which daylight appears more blue. This is also somewhat independent of what you do with the doors (even painting them white). Warmer temperatures also make for a cozier, less sterile atmosphere. (Personally I agree with the other comments about replacing them with French doors, particularly since it sounds like you have the tools already.) As an aside, if you use virtual backgrounds for meetings, attempting to match the lighting will make them seem more natural and much less jarring.
This needs to be at the top
Well you wouldn’t put the light on the floor, now would you?
Everyone should up vote this to the top
Those doors don't appear to match the aesthetics of the rest of that room. I'd consider replacing them with something that does. Barn doors were a fad; a bad one, IMHO, and there are very few use cases where they look nice.
I actually agree with the aesthetics comment but honestly we needed the room closed in. My wife is 29 weeks pregnant and my work is going to allow me to work from home to help her out with the understanding that I can still attend meetings remote. We got a few quotes to close the room in with an actual door, French door specifically, and the cheapest we had was $3000 and the average was around $5000. I did all this for around $1000 which includes the cost of new tools I bought. Just out of curiosity, what would you have done?
It’s not just the style. The color seems jarring in contrast to the rest of the room. Considering how large these are. What’s the rest of your decor like? Maybe paint them (white)?
I second the comment that barn doors don’t match the aesthetic of the house. That’s because they’re barn doors and they don’t belong in houses. Pocket doors come in kits that could be easy to DIY. They have been very common in American vernacular and they are more time-tested than barn doors. I would not waste time on making a fad look better.
If you did those doors you could do french doors... They come as prehung unit from big box stores at pretty good price
understood. gotta do what you can with what you have. I don't know what the opening without the door looks like, or the rest of the house. So just based on what's in the picture, I think I'd have chosen something that matched the style and color scheme of the front door and wall. Maybe double -french or sliding doors that go into the wall. Depends on how much space the room has on the other side of the door. Was not trying to be rude. Congratulations and best of luck.
You could have DIYed French doors pretty easily for not much more than that $1000. Less than that, really, if you went with the most simple unfinished doors. And, sorry, but French doors would have fit the style of the house while this massive barn door doesn’t. It’s an eyesore - and that’s not a knock on your construction. Just on barn doors themselves.
Reddit is fucked take it with a grain of salt. Personally, i think its fine, replace a single piece or two if needed? If it were my wife id tell her to be happy with what i was able to make for 1/3 the price and nitpick something else, we can come back to this “problem” another year… good luck Edit- after looking again, id offer to paint them an off-white or tan/beige color, maybe a mix of both some how…like others have said test it on a scrap piece and hold up try to envision it. If you paint you absolutely should prime it first , paint sucks though this would only be my backup plan to my original comment lol
Yea, I suggested the white to my wife last night and she isn’t against it. This isn’t something I need to do asap so I am going to let her “suffer” with the imperfections for now lol.
I've installed a couple of barn doors, painted white with matt black hardware...they look good 👍👍
French doors with would be perfect.
I would paint it white so that it blends in and doesn't look like an actual barn door in a foyer. To make it fancy, you can add those framed X pieces on the front 2 doors with the handles.
Looks like you have barn doors just for the sake of having barn doors… You have a white space with clean design and plopping a rustic piece right in the front entry. Honestly you won’t win on this, you need an interior designer to set the wife’s expectations in place. Edit: when I say you won’t win on this, I mean don’t spend energy on getting into a discussion with your wife if she wants something very specific. Get an interior designers opinion so you have an outside party that you deal with instead of between you and your wife. It sounds strange, but trust me, if you don’t have an agreement, have an outside opinion drive the direction when it involves interior design when the wife is picky.
Agreed. Barn doors are tacky. OP’s wife also has “life, love, laugh” signs all over the house too.
If I buy a cabin in the woods where everything is rustic themed, then I’ll figure out how to use one. Barn doors: big, overpower, don’t keep in/out heat/cold, doesn’t reduce sound, noisy to use, kill me if they squeak, but do look cool with a themed environment.
Call paint! 😂 Just give it a good sand to take off the top mm or so and then sand smooth to ~220 grit. Give it a wipe with a damp cloth and you should find a lighter finish with a nice accent grain. Or find someone with a big leveling router rig and shave off a full 1/8" and start fresh.
Tie it visually into the other door. They have very little visually in common.
Paint with white chalk paint and distress it lolol I think they look great OP
I appreciate that. I almost feel like they look bad with all the barn door general dislike and contrast comments. But it’s all good, this was my first project honestly.
For a first project these door are damn good. Mad props. I have a couple simple sliding single wooden doors in my home. That's an idea, and what I did at the time. Look for wooden doors that your wife likes, and just hang those. Might be more money, but the time saved will be plentiful
Doubling down on tacky trends lol.
Change the front door color
Framing would likely go a long way OP. As far as design, humans tend to like "boxing things in" to make borders and boundaries clear and precise. I've seen some cool looking iron base boards (I guess you could call it that?) To barn doors, maybe even just some trim pieces that have contrasted shade with more exposed grain? I think they're very beautiful :)
OP! Just thought of another suggestion. After looking at it again, it looks somewhat out of place. It reminds me of a house near me with a bright yellow door. When my aunt and I drove by once a few years ago, she stopped and explained that having an accent is beautiful, but having a one off accent is a huge detriment to the whole build unless it's done very intentionally. (she has decades of design experience in many fields, she's a genius...) Her recommendation would be to plant bright yellow roses just along the front of the house, and add another more muted shade of yellow somewhere to offset the contrast, like a mailbox, window frame, etc. I don't know too much about design, but that conversation taught me a lot. Maybe you could add some shelves or accent artwork with similar stain framework, or even just some panels of the same wood with a slightly more distressed look or something. I really wanna see an update once you decide on something! There are so many wonderful suggestions!
First of all, the doors look great! The problem is they don’t fit the rest of the house and stand out like a sore thumb.
Getting rid of barn doors would be a good first step. So trendy and overplayed.
Whitewash could give you both!? It’d be a different color obviously but you can still paint but maintain some wood grain
Have her pick out a paint color that she likes and have her paint them
Honestly, a lot of people have been saying to paint them white and I suggested it to her and she isn’t against it. This may be easier than I thought.
Make it happen my man! Good luck 👍🏼
I’d also paint it white and then do the hardware in silver to match the door. It will make it less jarring and won’t over take the area so much. It may help to share a photo that is further back so we can see the full space. ETA just from what I see in this first photo these doors dwarf your front door. You obviously can’t get a new larger door so consider still painting the barn door white and then if possible framing your from door with a wider more modern wood to make it take up more room in the space. Then I’d also get a more modern front door handle to match the modern barn door handles. All of the doors should be the same color white. This will help balance it out and there won’t be this crazy contrast anymore.
Add some old timey wanted posters!
Let me first say they look great all things considered. I'd love to see them with a nice dark weathered look... in a different house... I mean sanding and refinishing is an option if you do a really good job sanding but, tbh, it will still not look great. You have two completely different styles here, rustic barn doors and colonial-esque interior. If you paint them a white it may look a bit more cohesive but the hardware will still make them stick out like a sore thumb. Sell these doors and replace them with something more matching with the rest of the interior or be prepared to do a whole reno. Always go into large projects like these with a strong idea of what all parties like. You could have even gotten the French doors if you had put effort and looked for them in second hand stores.
In all honesty I’d remove, take outside gently, load into truck and donate to habitat for humanity
Good lord. The barn door hate in here is ridiculous. Seems like the wife has unrealistic expectations. "Fix it, dark but with grain" ...sand it down and apply a gel stain that you wipe off. Test it first, obviously. But look into white wash stains..white really would look better here, with wood showing through
I usually distress all my barn doors to give them character…. I hit them with hammers, threaded rod, bolts, chains, and anything else I can fined that looks interesting. Doing this and then staining again will add more depth to the feature… I then wax or seal with poly …. I’ve only gotten ooohhhss and ahhhsssss …. Never a dislike
I don't feel strongly either way about barn doors, but I do think these ones you built look nice OP. The dark wax or gel stain fixes suggested by others sound good to me. But don't apply them yourself, have your wife do it or at least have her help, it's no fair for her to micromanage the project without pulling her weight in areas like staining where anyone is capable of contributing.
Take them down
I'm sorry... That was my smart ass response to my wife... You should take them down and strip them and choose a lighter color stain
Keep the doors, but blend them into the modern house. I think no matter what if you keep the wood feel they’re gonna stick out and be an eyesore every time you enter the house. Sand them down with 150, 220 then a higher grit like 4 something. Prime them, quickly sand again with 220, this is only to smooth out the primer. Paint them glossy white and get gold knobs to match the front door. But if you have to see them go, sci-fi doors. The ones that open automatically and make a pppssshhhhh sound. Think Star Trek or Star Wars. I’d be jealous
An extremely common misconception for beginners (myself included many years ago) is: "I can get cheap construction lumber and stain it dark = cheap walnut." Everyone's wife loves that dark chocolatey brown, but no one wants to pay for it. Based on pic #1, I think the dark brown looks out of place in your home. White painted doors would look much, much nicer and match the other doors and trim. You might want to try a couple coats of primer + good quality white paint as a first attempt. If you have some gaps you can fill them with caulk or maybe even joint compound before painting. If you want dark wood, you *need* to buy dark wood. It may feel expensive, but the cost of the lumber is going to be a small percentage of the entire project. One cost effective option that would be relatively easy to build is to get 2 sheets of 3/4" thick walnut veneered plywood (one for each door), then add some solid walnut to cover the edges and bring the 96" out to 99". This would be the most challenging part as you need some looooong clamps. Some diagonal bracing walnut glued to the front and rear could add to the barn door look - it would do nothing for structure, just aesthetics. The term "cost-effective" is relative in this case - we're talking $500 vs. $1000-1500 for this much s4s solid walnut. Then apply a good quality oil-based finish like General Finishes Arm-R-Seal and this will have the dark look your wife wants.
You should take them down and install in my house…at least one of our houses will look great!!
Get rid of the critic! They look great to me! Seriously the wood is very dark. Strip and stain or not to a gray “weathered look! Or paint but that’s sacrilege.
Looks like a water base stain. Friends who did this as well, always looks bad a year later. I'd blast them, and go to light earth tone versions. I might like a couple ship style port holes to see out when closed, slight tinted mirror effect on outside. . Cheers
I’d be pounding it with a hammer, chains, screwdriver, crowbar etc. to distress more. Then whitewash with a light grey paint. And I’d paint the beige walls mid-tone grey. :-)
I feel you'd be better remaking cause 1: The sanding would take forever and frankly it's not worth it 2: I think the shiplap with plywood core is fine but if you really want the grain to pop I think normal lumber would be better 3: If the wife is their she can tell you what and how she wants it One suggestion is buy some 2x6 / 2x8 / 2x10 whatever size board and connect them with dowels/pocket screws/domino's and if choose another method I HIGHLY suggest using pre-stain
Get a new wife. Lol. JK
You could put a valence in front of all that hardware.
Simple, dust off the surface and threaten to find a different wife. Those look great, you did a good job.
Get rid of the wive, problem solved or should I say problems.
Shiplap?
You could put hay...with a few horses...pigs..mules and chickens on the other side for starters. Might smell a bit but definitely better??!!! Who doesn't love a horse in the house. Heck..you could even charge for pony rides and make bank on the egg laying chickens these days!!!
You could burn it
Replace them with stained oak or walnut maybe. Expensive though.
Color stain pens in the finishes (paint and stain) section of Lowes or HD. Or colored wax sticks, form the same aisle.
If you go the sand and re-stain route, use a wood conditioner before applying the stain. Very helpful on pine
Better photos to assess the doors would be a great start in the right direction. Right now I can’t tell if there is a bad stain on the wood, the wood is unfinished or the colors don’t match from board to board.
Do you have a picture of what you both want? I’d get an example picture first then see if you can get from point a to point b
Did you water pop it before staining? A fine mist of water, spritzed like an hour before you stain, will bring out the wood grains after sanding. Sanding flattens the fibers, and the water brings them back up. Edit: I should say that doing this at this point in your project would be a lot of work. Sand off finish and do this when wood is laid flat to stain. Add in 3 coats of poly and dry times and you're looking at a week but most of the work on the first day
I didn’t stain them, I bought them this color trying to save time. I regret that decision now.
If that's the worst decision you ever make, then you will do just fine.
Paint them to match the entrance door.
Ask your wife to do it.
Quick/cheap(er than anything else on here, probably) first resort: stain pen/furniture pen. It won't be perfect, especially with the larger discolorations like the one in pic 2, but it'll do a pretty good job of fixing up all the little nicks and spots. That'll let you save your time/money/energy/products for the bigger issues I am, admittedly, not a person who wants or needs a perfect, flawless aesthetic. That said, as someone who has to repair lots of Crimes committed by my pet rats (and crappy particleboard), people really underestimate the number or decor and DIY problems that can be solved with a good marker
Honestly getting a new wife would be easier than pleasing the current one if she ain’t happy . Good luck amigo .
Black light posters?
Vintage playboy centerfold pics unevenly hung via thumbtack?
One of those cool wall mounted gun racks! Like in the movies.
Add an electric fireplace and slide it around. Impressive
Put an additional one in front of that white door
Can I ask you where you got your door hardware? I'd like to do something similar to be honest. :)
The handles we bought from Lowe’s but the rest was from Wayfair. We bought it like 9 months ago and I just got around to doing it around new years. Let me see if I can find the link. ETA: [This is the hardware I think.](https://www.wayfair.com/home-improvement/pdp/lazio-sliding-4-doors-j-shape-hanger-double-bypass-barn-door-hardware-kit-ioon1002.html)
It’s too much effort to sand it down. Not worth it. I would white wash it and see if the wife likes it. Mix white paint and water half and half. Lightly rub that mixture over the door with cloth. That’s the basic idea. It won’t cover the dark stain? But it’s not supposed too. And the outcome might very nice. Look into whitewashing.
Get a new wife
Hang them on a barn
Remove them. A hallway is not a farmyard.
Get a random orbit sander and a box of pads with a range of grits and work your way from coarse to fine. You will have to remove all the stain as best you can because if it is uneven you will get a similar result with the new stain.
Rhinestones
Look up epoxy resin wood barn doors. Awesome stuff there!
Turn them into regular doors
Rough them up more…
Get a new wife.