I love mine, but it’s not to a bathroom, I don’t think I’d like it at all for a bathroom. Ours closes off our stairway to the basement and it solved the problem of a door swinging inconveniently (potentially dangerously) out into a main hallway at a pinch point; we couldn’t do a pocket door there because it is a fire wall and we didn’t want to move electrical. It’s not quiet and it doesn’t really block off sound very well at all, but I don’t get tired of moving it back and forth; even though the door is solid and quite heavy it slides effortlessly. Hope that helps!

Thanks skmom! Yes, that helps. And the only reason we're putting a door there is for sound (toilet has its own private space), so I guess I should stick with a conventional solid-core door.

I forgot to add a photo of mine... you can’t tell in the photo, but it’s an L (ish) shaped hallway. You can kind of see to where my foyer is on the right of the door. To the left is an entrance to my kitchen. I’m standing in a short off shoot of the hallway as I’m taking the photo and directly to my right is the door to our garage and directly behind me is the door to our laundry room... so you can hopefully see why having a swinging door in this location was a very bad idea. I’d thought about changing the direction of the swing of the door and having it go into the basement staircase, but the landing at the top is too small and that would’ve been quite dangerous if it got opened when someone was coming up the stairs from the basement. So, for us, a sliding ‘barn’ door was the most sensible and cost effective solution to a problem.

Now, having said all of that, we do have a neighbor who recently did some renovations and they put a sliding style door on their powder room. This was different than most though because it recessed into its spot when it closed, it wasn’t just a simple slide back and forth like mine and most other barn door hardware. It was a lot quieter than mine and it sealed up along the edges when it was closed, so I assumed it blocked light and sound just as effectively as a normal swinging door, but I never got to test that theory out. They were very pleased with it though!

Hey thanks! You also helped me see that there are gorgeous contemporary styles out there. Can you please tell me details on the wood and possibly where you purchased?

Interesting about the neighbors' door. I guess all things are possible...with enough $$. I shall look into that. Thanks!

Wow, you are the DIY queen in my book. I've learned not to "go there" as my paltry skills have never managed to keep up with my imagination! But hey, we are giving up one exterior door this week....and I've been making visits to our local veneer distributor...maybe our clever G.C. could figure this out. Thanks for the idea.

Following - skmom, do you happen to have any further information on your neighbor's door? We are considering a sliding door for our upcoming master bathroom remodel (it is a TINY bath and I really want to get rid of the inswing door to create more space), but I'm not sure we will be able to do a recessed/pocket style due to electrical, etc. A barn door type slider might make more sense and I love the idea of it sealing along the edges.

Ack! I just realized I posted the wrong picture of my barn door... the one above was focused on the handle we chose... here’s a better photo of the whole thing where you can see the sliding hardware we chose. It’s pretty noisy if I’m honest. Our home is pretty large, over 5,600 sq ft, two story plus a finished basement... you can hear this door open and close from every inch of this house, it just reverberates. I don’t mind that much because I can hear when any of my five kiddos come in or out of that basement, but like I said, I wouldn’t want to hear that right next to me in my bedroom when my hubby is getting ready in the morning since he leaves before I wake most days.

5600" wow. We are going from 1450 to 2150 and I'm freaking out. I presume some are quieter depending on hardware,but yeah, that's a concern. Especially since the main reason to put a door for us is to block noise (and light) so I can zzzzz.

They do absolutely nothing to block sound or light, period (or smells).

Biondanonima, I wish I did have more info... we don’t know these neighbors all that well and we saw it while attending a large party at their home... one of those progressive parties where you go to multiple houses for different courses of a meal. We did manage to snag them for a few minutes to compliment them and ask them a few questions about it, but we didn’t think to ask where they got it from as we are kind of in a whole different league than many of our neighbors.... they’re wealthy... and we got a great deal on our house and we have a lot of nice diy skills and this is not our forever home. I think most of our neighbors think we are “interesting” but we don’t exactly run in the same social circles s them. LOL!

Thanks skmom, I am happy to at least know such a thing exists!

myself, I would not do a barn door for a master bath area.

I wouldn't want a barn door either. If space for a swinging door was an an issue then I would prefer to build out the wall and install a pocket door.

Agree. I would not do a barn door for a bathroom especially if you both are on different sleep/wake cycles.

We have mostly barn doors in our house including on bathrooms. This is an actual farmhouse since we are farmers. We wanted to use doors from old barns we have or have had. Two came from our 5th generation farm and my Grandpa made them. We also used hooks to close the doors that came off of various gates and doors.

We used different rails and see a big difference in quality. The Home Depot one is the quietest and smoothest. 2 from Amazon are made by different companies and neither are that great. They work but are noisier and not quite as smooth. The 4th isn't installed yet but we went back to the Home Depot model.

We added wood around each door to make them fit and gave them a frame look. 2 had decent old paint and I was able to color match. 1 we used the black pieces that came with the kit from Home Depot to go on the top and the bottom instead of adding wood. We also added a piece on each end to make like a backwards L if that makes sense for privacy.

For the bathrooms we have not had issues with sounds or smells. Our hooks pull the doors in slightly so it is a tight enough fit. We also have fans that help.

ejoe326, thank you for chiming in. You just reminded me of another reason it wouldn't be a good choice for us: we are city folk! (Well, suburb folk.) I will leave the barn doors to you seriously authentic barn door owners! And very cool that you're able to use one that your Grandpa actually made!