Let’s face it window coverings can be expensive! We bought a new build and had to cover every window in the entire house (eeek!). I wanted a unique design element to set off our pretty bland living room. After several hours scouring Pinterest for ideas, I decided to build and install DIY barn door shutters on our living room windows.
We prioritized our spending and paid to have blackout shades put in all of our bedrooms. The remainder of our windows we left without shades for an entire year. I desperately wanted wooden shutters in our living room kitchen area but knew it was outside of the budget; which is why we ended up going the DIY barn door route. Follow my project and let me walk you through the steps I took to achieve this amazing look!
Materials:
- Barn Door Rails
- 1″x4″x8′ Pine Boards–Mounting Boards and shutter design (8 for the entire project)
- Paint
- Cordless Drill
- Miter Saw
- Nail Gun
- 1×6–6foot Common Wood Boards–for shutters (I used 21 for this project)
- Screws
- Caulk
Getting Started with Supplies:
The first thing I did was buy the rails for the windows.
There are three large windows in my living room; two windows on one wall and one window on the opposing wall. I needed three rails, one for each window. After checking online for the best price for a Barn Door Rail Systems, I found great rails for a great price on Amazon!
I bought three 6.6 foot barn door rails from U-Max for $39.99 each through Amazon. Similar rails sell at home improvement stores for around $150 each. The only downside to the U-Max rail systems is they are manufactured in another country so you will have to use a mounting board above each window to ensure the barn door is supported by wall studs.
After I ordered the barn door rails, I made a trip to Home Depot to buy wood for the mounting boards. Since I was building the barn door shutter from scratch, I wanted to install the rail systems prior to making the doors to ensure each window was fully covered.
I purchased three 1″x4″x8′ Pine boards from Home Depot. I already had white paint from my last project, Faux Built-In Fireplace with Shiplap, so I decided to use it on this project as well!
Attaching the Mounting Boards and Rails:
The first thing I did was cut the mounting boards down to 6 feet 8 inches using my miter saw. I cut the mounting boards down because I did not want there to be too much overhang on my mounting board for aesthetic purposes. Next, I painted each rail with my existing paint. Painting the mounting boards before you attach them to the wall just makes your life easier!
We found and marked all the studs on the wall above our windows with a stud finder. We held our mounting boards up on the wall and marked all of the stud locations onto the mounting boards. My husband pre drilled holes into the mounting board at the designated stud locations using his cordless drill. We used mounting screws and attached the mounting boards above each window with the screws. We used 4-5 screws per mounting board to ensure the rails were stable. Honestly, this was the hardest part of the project for my husband and I because we had never done this before. It was harder to find a stud above the windows because of the window framing. Nevertheless we prevailed and got them all up!
After we got all of the mounting boards up, we followed the directions for the rail systems and attached them to the mounting boards.
Building The Doors:
I chose to use 1×6-6 Foot Common Boards for this project because I wanted to save on cost. The cost of a 1×6-6 Foot Common Board is $4.33 per board. I used 21 1×6-6 Foot Common Boards to complete all three doors (7 boards per barn door shutter). Obviously the amount of boards you use will depend on the size of your window.
I went back and forth on whether I wanted to do an “X” or a “Z” for the design element on the front of the doors. Ultimately, I ended up going with a “Z” because it seemed like an easier design to execute.
I measured each window and determined the length of each barn door. Using my miter saw, I cut all 21 of my 6 feet Common Boards down to size.
I placed 7 common boards side by side on a flat surface making sure all the ends were in line.
I measured the width of each proposed barn door. Using my miter saw, I cut three of the 1″x4″x8′ Pine boards into two pieces to fit across the top and bottom of each barn door. I held a piece of the 1″x4″x8′ barn door in between the top and bottom pine boards on the barn door and marked my cut lines. Using the miter saw, I made 45 degree cuts on the top and bottom of each pine boards to form the “Z.”
After everything was lined up, I used the nail gun and attached the “Z” shape to each barn door.
Making the Doors Stable and Strong:
I flipped the barn doors over and attached a wood brace on the top and bottom of each barn door with the nail gun. Just to make sure the back braces were in place I attached two screws to each brace on each barn door. I used scrap wood I had left over for this because it is the back and will not be seen.
After the doors were built, I caulked the back seems where each wood piece met to help keep the light out. I also caulked the seams on the “Z” design.
After everything was dry, I painted both sides of the doors.
Hanging the Doors:
We held the finished doors up to the track and marked the location the rails needed to be attached to the barn doors.
Due to the fact we didn’t make the barn doors as thick as the rail system suggests, we added washers to the back of the rails when we attached them to the doors.
We simply lifted the door onto the tracks and it was ready to go.
This project had its ups and downs and ultimately took me longer than expected because I have two toddlers. However, this is one of the best additions we have done to the house by far. It gives our living room character and provides shade for a fraction of the cost of traditional window coverings.
My husband was a trooper through this project and I could not have done it without him. This is definitely a two person endeavor should you wish to build your own DIY barn door shutters.
We are already planning on building barn door shutters for our office window.
