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How to make sliding barn doors for your wardrobe

Alice and Caleb Pearson are transforming their forever family home on Auckland’s Hibiscus Coast. They’ve called the project That 70s Reno as a nod to the origins of the sprawling residence and are currently undertaking a non-demolition makeover with Resene paint and wallpaper and planning to save a major do up for further down the track.

So far, they have refreshed their kitchen, courtyard, older children’s bedrooms, the parental pad (a minor dwelling on-site where Alice’s parents live) and, most recently, their little girls’ bedrooms. “We have two identical spaces for two very different personalities,” says Alice.

Alice and Caleb are the masters of conjuring an entirely different aesthetic by harnessing the power of colour and prints and in this instance, the world is their oyster. As well as installing new Resene paint and wallpaper, they’ve elevated the spaces with some new custom-built features. This includes building barn-style sliding wardrobe doors in both rooms.

Designer doors

To suit the two different room aesthetics – princess pink for Blake, wild jungle for Brooke – Alice and Caleb have created two different designs for the wardrobe doors. The main door panel is made from a sheet of MDF, then customised with unique patterns, finishes and colours.

Once they were happy with the designs, they cut the MDF to the size of the doors, then cut pine trim to create the patterns they’d planned for each door. They used 14mm pine trim and glued and screwed the pieces onto the MDF panel. To smooth everything down, they filled the screw holes and sanded down the edges. Once the surfaces were clean and dust free, they applied a coat of Resene Quick Dry, then topcoated with Resene Lustacryl semi-gloss waterborne enamel.

Caleb sketched up some designs for barn doors that would best suit his girls' bedrooms.

The couple attached pine trim on MDF to bring the designs to life, before sanding, wiping clean, priming and painting both barn doors.

Once the paint was dry, they installed the barn door tracks and rollers, making sure they sourced the right size track for the wardrobes, checking that they fit perfectly, were level and rolled smoothly. To finish off they added handles for easy use. This is a super fun project that’s easy to customise for your own home.

Alice and Caleb used the following:

MDF panels
14mm pine trim
Tape measure
Pencil
Saw
Wood glue
Screwdriver and screws
Resene EzyFill Quick
Putty knife
Orbital sander
Paint pots
Paintbrushes
Resene Quick Dry waterborne primer undercoat
Resene Lustacryl semi-gloss waterborne enamel
Mirror panels
Barn door tracks and rollers
Handles

To enhance the basic grid design of Blake's pink door, Caleb added mirror panels to each square. Door painted in Resene Lusatcryl in Resene Soul Searcher.

Once all the paint was dry, Alice and Caleb installed a barn door track and roller and hung the door in place. Door and wardrobe painted in Resene Lustacryl in Resene Soul Searcher, ceiling in Resene Ceiling Paint in Resene Dust Storm and walls in Resene Botanica Wallpaper Collection 33954 (right) and Resene Botanica Wallpaper Collection 33963.

To work in with Blake’s very girly, pink theme, Alice and Caleb created spaces to fit a series of 300mm x 300mm mirror panels, which gives the door a fun design feature. They painted the door in Resene Lustacryl in Resene Soul Searcher (a mix of ashen red and beige).

For Brooke’s bright and colourful space, they used a base of Resene Lusracryl in Resene Secrets (a frosted celadon green) with accents of Resene Mellow Yellow (a warm, friendly, young-at-heart yellow).

While Alice and Caleb are incredibly confident choosing their colour schemes, if you need help choosing your colours, visit your local Resene ColorShop, use the free Ask a Resene Colour Expert online service or book a Resene Colour Consultation virtually, in-store or at home (selected areas).

Barn door reveal:

Ceiling painted in Resene Ceiling Paint in Resene Dust Storm, walls in Resene Botanica Wallpaper Collection 33954 (left) and Resene Botanica Wallpaper Collection 33963, wardrobe and shelves painted in Resene Lustacryl in Resene Soul Searcher, floor in Resene FX Metallic in Resene Bedrock and sealed with Resene Concrete Wax, bed in Resene FX Metallic in Resene Galaxy, craft table in Resene Lustacryl in Resene Cashmere and desk stool and doll cot in Resene Lustacryl in Resene Lola.

Wardrobe and open shelves painted in Resene Lustacryl in Resene Half Titania, custom wardrobe barn door in Resene Lustacryl in Resene Secrets and Resene Mellow Yellow, bedroom door in Resene Lustacryl in Resene Mellow Yellow, floor in Resene Walk-on in Resene Earthstone and wall in Resene African Queen Wallpaper Collection 751321.

Another way to shake up your old wardrobe doors

Take your old wardrobe doors from boring to beautiful with a little DIY. For the design-savvy among us, shaker-style doors have been a long-time inspiration, thanks to their crisp lines and subtle craftsmanship. All it takes is a few carefully placed timber panels to transform a simple timber door into a statement piece and functional work of art.

There are a few parts to the process here, which will guarantee success if done correctly and in the right order. First is removing the doors from their hinges and undertaking the required prep outside, then cutting the mouldings to size, securing them onto the doors in a layout to suit your design and finally repainting the doors. We’ve enhanced ours even further with new gold handles and fresh coats of Resene Lustacryl in Resene Half Tana, a stylish dawn grey.

Top tip: Instead of cutting your own mouldings to size, which can be a time consuming part of the process, you can buy them pre-cut from your local timber supplier.

Check out our easy step-by-step instructions to turn your doors into shaker-style doors.

Doors painted in Resene Lustacryl in Resene Half Tana and architraves in Resene Lustacryl in Resene White.

Top tips for doors

Doors come in for a lot of wear and tear, so it’s usually best to use a higher sheen finish that can be easily wiped clean. Resene Lustacryl semi-gloss waterborne enamel is popular for doors or if you prefer a higher gloss finish you can use Resene Enamacryl gloss waterborne enamel.
If you want to make a bold feature of a coloured door, use a gloss finish like Resene Enamacryl to help make the colour and door stand out.
Give old discoloured varnished timber doors a fresh new look with paint. Simply sand, dust off and seal with Resene Waterborne Sureseal, then paint. If you choose a light colour this will add more light into your room making it feel more spacious.
If you prefer a more natural look on your doors, interior timber doors can be stained with Resene Colorwood to revive or enhance their colour. Outside you can use Resene Woodsman or Resene Kwila Timber Stain to stain your wooden door.
For a neutral colour palette, try using different tones of the same neutral to avoid it looking too plain. You might try half strength on the walls, full or double strength on the doors and quarter strength on the ceiling.
For busy households with pets and children and lots of wear and tear on surfaces, choose a slightly darker neutral as it will help to hide marks better than a white finish.
If you need more advice on the right prep and painting for your doors, visit your local Resene ColorShop team for all the help you need or Ask a Resene Paint Expert free online.