Bathroom Barn Door | Barn Door for Bathroom | Sliding Barn Door for Bathroom

If you’re looking for a way to jazz up a boring bathroom, a well-placed sliding barn door might be just the ticket to give your space a timeless decor upgrade.

Sliding barn doors not only are trendy, they’re also highly fashionable and functional. In fact, they’re a strong decor addition to just about any home. Whether a traditional, classic barn door made of reclaimed wood, or a modern barn door featuring glass, stainless steel, and sleek hardware, a sliding barn door is a bold and effective design element. Some common areas where you might install a sliding door include pantries and laundry rooms, but depending on your space, there’s almost no limit to where you can use a classic barn door. You can even use barn doors in a bedroom or bathroom.

Beyond the obvious door frame option, you can use custom barn doors in a bathroom space in several different ways. And size should be no issue. Today you can find, have made, or DIY a wood barn door for just about any size opening.

7 Ways to Use Sliding Barn Doors in the Bathroom

Cabinets
Linen Closets
Windows
Doorways
Showers
Water Closet
Medicine Cabinet

In general, bathrooms aren’t necessarily known within the interior design world for being overly stylish or inviting. Bathrooms are better known for their functionality, but there’s no reason they can’t also be visually appealing to your family and your guests. Installing a wood bathroom barn door in your house can go a long way toward raising its level of style and functionality. And when it comes to your bathroom, installing a custom or DIY barn door is a great idea for adding a punch of style and interest to a small (and sometimes boring or utilitarian) room. If you want to make a more stylish and splashy impression with a guest bathroom, a bathroom barn door can supply a fresh and trendy look that conveys both a rustic sense of luxury and a big dose of personality.

And if you’re dealing with a master en suite bathroom, a rich, textured interior barn door can be a dramatic pop of depth, color, and visual interest to break up plain or muted bedroom walls. The reality is that you can likely add a rolling barn door to just about any room in your house, and the bathroom gives you an opportunity to get especially creative when it comes to both size and functionality. Since bathrooms typically lean toward smaller square footage, a bathroom barn door comes in as a superstar when every inch counts.

Before you get started, make sure to take a careful look at the space you’re thinking of introducing a barn door into–make sure you have enough space to the side of the opening to accommodate the open door, and also check to make sure an open barn door won’t cover up anything important like a light switch or an electrical outlet.

How Do Sliding Barn Doors Work?

A barn door isn’t, in fact, just a door. It’s made up of a few separate elements, each of which plays an important role in making sure your barn door operates every day with both safety and efficiency. There’s the door slab itself, plus a mounted track, rollers, hangers, a door guide, a handle or pulls, plus jump blocks, a standoff, and stops. Fortunately, you generally find all these elements in a barn door hardware kit. Additionally, they can be found in all kinds of finishes and styles so that you can personalize the overall decorative effect of your finished barn door setup.

The mechanics behind a barn door’s functionality are pretty simple. Your barn door will hang from the track installed above your door frame or any other space you’ve decided to install it. Via the rollers attached to your hangers, your door can then slide back and forth along that track. Supporting hardware pieces like jump blocks and stops will help make sure your door stays on the track and doesn’t literally go off the rails.

Altogether, installing a barn door is a simple, straightforward process, and a kit will provide you with the sliding door hardware that you need to get the job done and looking great.

4 Ways to Use Sliding Barn Doors in the Bathroom

1. Cabinets

Using small sliding barn doors as cabinet doors is a smart way to add the rustic style of a barn door within a very small room. You can do the same for medicine cabinets, too. This is a clever option if you love the barn door concept but just don’t have the room. It's also a wise route if you aren’t sure whether you’ll like the barn door concept and aren’t ready to commit to the full-size version. And the great thing about small barn doors like this is that with just a few materials, they can be made in a short amount of time and with really very little effort. Small sliding barn doors aren’t just for the kitchen cabinets anymore. If you’re obsessed with the barn door as a decorating concept but just can’t find a place to put one, this may be an ideal opportunity.

2. Linen Closets

Like its pantry counterpart in the kitchen, a linen closet often can benefit from a rolling barn door, especially if it’s located in an area within the bathroom that makes a traditional hinged closet door awkward or impossible. In this case, the barn door for your linen closet would be easy to operate and wouldn’t get in the way–even when wide open. And if you’re a fan of that full-length mirror in the bathroom, consider using a mirrored barn door that can then serve double duty. You can stash all the bathroom necessities behind a stylish and functional barn door while saving space and making sure you still have access to a full-length mirror.

3. Windows

Another fun idea is to use a sliding barn door, or a set of sliding barn doors, as a window covering. The barn doors act as shutters without taking up the space that opening shutters normally would. This is yet another smart way to apply the barn door concept in a small space, especially if you’re having trouble finding the wall space to use a barn door for a doorway. Much more visually appealing and stylish than curtains or blinds, a barn door can be a rustic, trendy and chic way to provide an extra dose of privacy within your bathroom. With a barn door covering your window, you can be sure that no one can see into your space! You’ll have ultimate privacy, while still being able to access natural light when you want it.

4. Doorways

Of course, you can always install a custom or DIY barn door to separate your bathroom from other parts of the house, like a living room, dining room or hallway. The concept can work with either a guest bathroom or to separate a master bath from your master bedroom space. This is an especially helpful option if you’re dealing with a small half-bath and subsequently short on room, and don’t really have the space inside or outside the bathroom for a swinging door. A sliding door is the ultimate functional decor choice.

5. Showers

Did you know that a bathroom barn door can work its magic as a shower door? Choose a mirrored barn door or glass barn door to create a functional and beautiful entrance into your shower area. These doors are especially ideal for small bathroom spaces, as they can make the bathroom feel airy and open, unlike a shower curtain that closes off the shower area.

Depending on the size of your shower, you can opt for a single or double barn door for your shower door. Like other sliding barn doors, glass or mirrored barn doors can include varied types of hardware and tracks to blend into your decor style. For instance, a shabby chic master bath might welcome brushed steel or bronze hardware, while a farmhouse style can accommodate black, rustic-looking finishes well.

Your bathroom barn door for the shower can also slide open and shut with frameless hardware. Frameless doors highlight the beauty of the glass shower doors, giving an ultra-clean, seamless, modern vibe to the bathroom. Of course, you can still customize your track and door handles to fit your interior design.

Artisan Hardware offers custom options for your barn door to fit the dimensions you need for your shower space. Have someone help you measure for your new bathroom barn door before ordering to ensure accurate specifications.

6. Water Closet

A water closet is an area of a bathroom that's blocked off entirely or partially to house the toilet. Water closets aren't overly common in modern bathrooms, but adding one to yours can offer extra privacy for bathrooms shared by multiple people. A bathroom barn door can be the perfect way to block off the toilet from the rest of the room, resulting in a functional water closet with a unique door style.

Consider using a frosted glass barn door for smaller bathrooms to separate the spaces. This will allow light to shine through while maintaining privacy. Large master bathrooms might have a few more options, ranging from traditional barn doors made of wood to modern steel sliding doors. Depending on your needs for space, you can install a sliding pocket barn door or bypass doors. Choose a barn door lock to add even more privacy to the space.

Another barn door idea: hang a bathroom barn door next to the toilet for a stylish way to separate the toilet area from the rest of the bathroom. You might choose this method if you don't have space for a pocket door or sliding barn door but still want the secluded space that a barn door can provide.

7. Medicine Cabinet

Medicine cabinets are often necessary storage additions to a bathroom. However, you don't always want to see what's inside of a medicine cabinet, which is why they usually include doors. The doors can be more than functional, though—many homeowners prefer them to have a style that fits the bathroom's design.

Adding sliding barn doors to the medicine cabinet can be an excellent way to make the cabinet fit your bathroom's style with ease. Interior barn doors for cabinets come in a wide range of sizes and styles, and you can customize them to your preferences. Whether you have a floor-to-ceiling medicine cabinet or a smaller over-the-sink cabinet, you can find a bathroom barn door that fits. Choose from wood, glass, or mirrored sliding barn doors and multiple track and hardware styles, textures, and color options from Artisan Hardware.

One current trend to consider is adding just one sliding door to a large, double door medicine cabinet. This leaves one side of the cabinet with open shelving for decor while hiding stored bathroom items on the other side.

Is a Barn Door Private Enough for a Bathroom?

That all depends on the way you install your bathroom barn door. For example, the easiest thing you can do is simply install a lock on your bathroom barn door. This way, people on the inside can choose to lock the door when that makes sense.
You can find several different types of hardware to serve as privacy locks for interior barn doors: a hook and eye latch, teardrop lock, pocket door lock, and hasp are just a few examples. Some users even go with a decorative deadbolt option. As it turns out, a sliding barn door can provide just as much privacy as any other door. It’s all about the lock.

The only drawback to using a bathroom barn door for a doorway is that a rolling barn door that hangs over the doorway doesn’t provide as much soundproofing as a hinged door that closes and fills the entire door frame. This bothers some people more than others, but it’s something to consider before committing to your barn door project.

Barn Doors for Bathrooms

Barn doors are enjoying the spotlight in the interior design world right now, and for good reason. Part of the barn door’s popularity is related to how versatile it can be in terms of a design aesthetic.

They’re an easy and useful way to add a rustic, textured and interesting dash of style to just about any room in your house. And that’s just with the typical approach to a classic barn door, usually made from salvaged or reclaimed wood. You can also find custom barn doors made from stainless steel, metal or glass, some even with mirrored surfaces, that give a more urban and ultramodern look to your space. In addition to the door’s materials, you can also make a strong design statement with your choice of hardware–ranging from sleek and minimalistic to a more rustic and weathered style, there’s a great variety of barn door hardware that can help you give your door just the right personal touch that matches your décor.

On a functional level, sliding barn doors are tremendous space-savers, so if you’re working within a small house or apartment, adding barn doors can help you make the most of absolutely every inch of your living space. Of course, you need enough room for the door to slide open effectively, but you don’t need the typical nine feet of clearance you’d have to have for a traditional hinged door. You just have to make sure your barn door is a couple of inches wider than the door frame and trim to completely cover them when closed.

Barn doors are also easy to install. With the right paint and materials, a DIY barn door can be a project for an afternoon. You can craft a barn door or find prefabricated versions, but no matter which route you choose, a sliding wood barn door is sure to add more character and visual “wow” than a simple traditional door.

There’s even some indication, thanks to research conducted by Zillow, that incorporating an interior sliding barn door into your house can help it sell as much as 57 days faster and at a higher price point.
Interior barn doors can save room and add a high sense of style to any home decor. There are just so many barn door ideas available that your options are limited only by your imagination. This barn door guide might provide some inspiration for custom or DIY barn door ideas. With the smart addition of a bathroom barn door, you can turn a forgettable guest or master bathroom into a luxurious and stylish focal point.

Bathroom Barn Doors: 7 Ways to Use Sliding Barn Doors in the Bathroom