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Easy DIY Bifold Barn doors

January 14, 2022 by beautywithinhome 12 Comments

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These DIY bifold barn doors are beautiful and affordable! The best part is they go right over your existing doors. I am going to show you how you can add them to your home with this easy tutorial.

white bifold barn doors and a wood colored shutter style bifold doors

This post contains affiliate links, as a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to amazon.com and affiliated sites at no cost to you. See my full disclosure here.

Learn how I made these DIY bifold barn doors with this easy tutorial. You can build this right over your existing bifold doors which makes this a very easy and affordable project.

The total cost for the project came out to around $50. If you hired a company to custom make these for you it would be hundreds of dollars!

We live in a home from the 80s with the lovely shutter style dark wood bifold closet doors. Adding these DIY barn doors made it look so much better and updated the house instantly! Who doesn’t love barn doors?

Tips For Adding Bifold Barn doors To Your Home

We used thin underlayment plywood 4 foot by 8-foot sheets.

When choosing your boards be sure to look for any blemishes or if they are bowed. Smooth and straight will work best for your DIY Shiplap.

Supplies And Tools

  • Plywood underlayment: (Number of sheets depends on the size of your doors) 4′ by 8′ plywood at 1/5″ thickness
  • Circular saw: for cutting pieces to different lengths.
  • Table Saw
  • Wood Glue
  • Clamps
  • Nail gun – We bought a battery-operated nail gun and use it all the time. It is so nice not having to have the compressor. Obviously, a nail gun with compressor works just as well. (If you don’t have nail gun, you can of course just hammer them in).
  • Hammer
  • Nails
  • Painting supplies: roller, paint brush, primer, paint, stain (if you want to stain first, this is optional)
  • Sandpaper
  • Square
  • Door handles

How To Install The DIY Bifold Barn Doors

Here are your step by step instructions.

Step One: Purchase Materials And Get Materials Ready For Your Project

  1. You can purchase through the links above or from your local hardware store like Lowes and Home Depot.

Step Two: Prepping The Existing Bifold Doors

  1. Take your existing bifold doors down and off their tracks.
  2. Wipe them down and get any dust off.
  3. Take off the hardware and hinges.

Step Three: Start Cutting

  1. Cut the underlayment into strips using a table saw. You can create whatever barn door design you would like. Just remember not to cover the part of the door that folds out or you will not be able to open your door. Measure and make your cuts.
  2. Always layout your cut pieces on top of the existing door first to make sure everything fits and looks good before you glue anything down.
a stack of cut thin underlayment boards that were cut into strips on top of a jute rug on the floor

Step Four: Put The Bifold Barn Door Together

  1. Once you have all the pieces cut and have verified they all fit and look nice, it is time to start assembling the door.
  2. The next step, apply wood glue to the back of the strips and adhere them to the door. You can use a clamp to apply pressure and hold them in place. Start with your bottom pieces that go directly onto the existing bifold closet doors and work your way up.
wood bifold closet door with wood glue and clamps and thin underlayment wood slats being secured to one side

3. To add more security, you can use some nails as well. You can either use a nail gun or if you don’t have one you can use a good old-fashioned hammer and nails.

4. Once the two strips going down the door are in place, you will put on the sides, and then the top, bottom, and middle pieces.

wood bifold barn door laid out and in process on a table in the green grass

5. You can pick any barn door design that you like. Have your cute assistant or aka your hubby hold up the different designs until you decide which one you want 🙂

man holding wood pieces into an x to decide on barn door design. The barn door is leaned up against a white fence

6. Add the design you pick.

natural wood color bifold barn doors against a white fence outside

Step Five: Stain And Paint Your Bifold Barn Doors

  1. We decided to stain ours fist and then paint it. This is all personal preference. You can use only stain, you can use only paint, you can use both like we did. Have fun and make it your own!
  2. I stained the doors with a dark black stain. When I work with stain, I use a rubber glove and an inside out sock over my hand. It works beautifully and it is a great way to use up some of those socks that have lost their mates.
  3. Once dry, I painted with white chalk paint. Allow the paint to dry completely.
  4. Then, I came back with sandpaper and distressed the doors allowing the black stain to show through in certain areas. This is a completely optional step and depends on the look you are going for.
black stained bifold barn doors laid on stands on top of green grass

Step Six: Add The Door Handles And Hardware And Hang The Door

  1. We put all the hardware and hinges back on the doors.
  2. Hang the door back up on the tracks.
  3. Next, we put on the door handles.
a close up of black barn door handles on a white barn door

Step Seven: Add Trim Around The Door

  1. The trim we kept very simple and rustic. We used strips of 1 by 4 wood pieces.
  2. We measured and cut them down to the proper lengths.
  3. Once cut down, we stained them, painted them, and distressed them following the same process as the doors.
  4. Finally, we attached them to the wall using a brad nail gun.
white bifold closet barn doors with white trim and black handles hung up in a hallway with grey walls

Our DIY Bifold Barn doors are done!!!

They came out beautiful! This was an easy, cheap way to make our dated and boring bifold doors come to life! The total cost of this project was around $50!

I hope you enjoyed this project as much as I did! Thanks for stopping by my faux Florida farmhouse!

Frequently Asked Questions or Concerns

Some people were concerned about the original track and hardware not being able to hold the added weight of the door. We didn’t run into this issue since the thin underlayment really does not add a lot of weight. We did not change out our tracks.

Find More Farmhouse Inspired DIY Projects here:

DIY Shiplap

Affordable Anthropology Mirror Dupe

Filed Under: DIY Projects

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jacqueline Nicoletto

    January 19, 2022 at 2:42 am

    I hate my bifold doors but these are absolutely gorgeous! I’m going to attempt this soon! Thank you so much for sharing these step-by-step instructions!!!!!

    Reply
  2. Twyla Dillon

    January 20, 2022 at 7:44 pm

    Beautiful job I’m going to try and get my hubby to do this to my bifolding doors thanks for sharing

    Reply
  3. Diana Shugart

    January 22, 2022 at 1:42 am

    Awesome thank you

    Reply
  4. Manderin

    January 26, 2022 at 11:43 am

    Thank you for sharing. Great idea.

    Reply
  5. Shirley

    January 29, 2022 at 2:46 pm

    Lovely!!

    Reply
  6. Zeze

    February 28, 2022 at 2:38 am

    Love these doors!! The paint job is perfect for your style..Great job!!

    Reply
  7. Megan

    July 14, 2022 at 1:44 pm

    These turned out amazing! I love that you use the original doors to create it and don’t have to throw them out. Great job!

    Reply
  8. Jenny

    July 14, 2022 at 3:54 pm

    I love this idea! You’ve given me hope that there’s an affordable and beautiful replacement for my current bifold doors.

    Reply
  9. Emily

    July 14, 2022 at 5:49 pm

    Great idea! Thanks for sharing 🙂

    Reply
    • beautywithinhome

      July 23, 2022 at 1:41 pm

      Thank you Emily!

      Reply
  10. Marta

    July 14, 2022 at 10:49 pm

    Very cool project! Thanks for sharing 😉

    Reply
    • beautywithinhome

      July 23, 2022 at 1:40 pm

      Thank you Marta!

      Reply

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Hi! I’m Shannon

I’m so glad you’re here! Join me and my family as we find beauty within our everyday life and in our faux Florida farmhouse: adding character and charm to our builder grade home, natural beauty and living, and plenty of DIY projects along the way. Follow along for décor and deals. If I can do something for cheaper I will, and I will teach you how too! Read more about me here.

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