Barn Door Installation Without Removing Door Trim

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Today I am sharing how to install a barn door and you will be amazed at how an easy barn door installation project can change the look of your room.  We are tackling a barn door installation without removing door trim and this step by step tutorial will show you how to update any doorway in your home including closet doors and bathroom doors. 

Do you have a traditional swing door in your home that when opened, creates a traffic jam?

The sliding barn door that I’m installing is perfect for any doorway in your home, especially a basement, closet or bathroom doorway. 

How to install a barn door over existing trim

We have partnered with JELD-WEN Window and Doors to show you the easiest barn door installation and their amazing new Barn Door Kit.

Barn style doors have come along way over the years. You can hang just about any style door giving you a traditional, modern or farmhouse barn door.

Our barn door cost is very affordable and available in many different styles: rustic craftsman, old world, contemporary, and farmhouse.

Hanging a barn door over existing trim whether it be farmhouse door trim, standard 3″ trim or colonial is a quick way to refresh or update a doorway. 

This white classic modern door (similar alternative) comes in 1 box and everything you need is in the sliding door track kit. White doors with black hardware coordinate nicely together and give a modern clean look.

I recently updated this post as Google is showing a handful of updated barn door models and I wanted to make sure you had plenty to pick from! 

Sliding barn door hardware

Isn’t the black sliding barn door hardware gorgeous? The black door hardware coordinates perfectly with the black kitchen island and black stools. It is truly amazing how the barn door hardware draws your eye to the ceiling (that normally is a white blank space) and creates a cohesive look throughout the kitchen. My door is out of stock but this white modern barn door is available on Wayfair. 

If you are considering installing a barn door, I highly recommend getting a door that is already prepped for the sliding track. Barn door hanging kits will make your life easier when it comes to installing the barn door.

Can a barn door go over molding? Yes! Many of you have emailed asking if the barn door trim designs matter when it comes to a barn door installation and the answer is no. So to answer your question, “should barn doors cover trim,” yes, you can install a barn door over any door trim or molding. 

Lets get started with how to install a barn door and this easy barn door installation tutorial. 

Barn Door Styles

Barn style doors come in all sizes, shapes and designs. Barn doors can be interior or exterior, a single barn door or a double barn door.

Here are a 3 barn door styles below featuring Old World, Modern Craftsman and a rustic Farmhouse door. The white barn door is my favorite and I think you are going to love these barn door ideas below. 

Sliding barn doors are great in tight spaces like hallways, a laundry room or bathroom.

Installing a barn door is an easy to install simple DIY project so you should not need to hire a contractor.

Personally, I think hanging interior barn doors in your home is a great way to add visual interest to a plain wall and enhances the interior design of the space. Barn style doors are perfect for a closet, basement door, bathroom door or even a built in bookcase.

Be sure to check out our double interior sliding barn doors we installed to cover a bookcase that we converted to store baking dishes and small kitchen appliances.

Here is the kitchen basement door before we swapped out and installed the new sliding barn door.

Questions you need to ask yourself before you install a barn door. 

1. Is there enough wall space for the door to slide? Make sure the space is wider than the opening.
2. Does the style barn door you like, fit the style of  your home. Be sure to pick a barn door that is similar to the style of your home. 
3. Will the barn door when open cover any wall art or light switches that may be on the wall 

How to install a barn door 

Removing door trim can be a daunting and expensive task so this tutorial on how to install a barn door will blow your mind!

Removing door trim can be expensive as you will need to repair the sheet rock and possibly replaster the area. Door trim when removed, typically leaves the wall underneath the trim in need of TLC. The sheetrock will need significant sanding, patching and repainting.

As many of you may know, we are planning a move in the near future (Update: You can see our new mediterranean house here) so I reached out to a friend to see if she was game for a kitchen door makeover.

My friend has a beautiful kitchen but unfortunately, their interior basement door (which leads to their finished basement) swings right into their kitchen island area creating a major traffic jam when the door is in use.

As you can see below, the door swing is completely annoying and not functional at all.

My friend Sophia and Gerry were thrilled when I told them about this opportunity with JELD-WEN and couldn’t wait to tackle the project. At first when I told Sophia about us sharing how to install a barn door here on the blog, she giggled and said “what?” ha. 

The JELD-WEN Design Glide hanging barn door kit has easy to read instructions and took just a Saturday morning to install.

We removed the standard sized existing basement door as well as the door hinges. The nice thing about the JELD-WEN barn door kit is you can install the door right over your existing door trim.

You do NOT need to remove the trim! It doesn’t matter if your trim is traditional (like my friends trim above),  farmhouse door trim or colonial.  

You will need to use some spackle (we used the quick dry version) to fill the area where you remove the previous doors hinges but that is all. It took about 15 minutes to fill the holes, sand and add touch up paint to the existing door hinge spots.

Be sure to reference JELD-WEN’s site for appropriate sizing.

Barn Door Installation

Once the old door was removed, we installed the wood header piece above the door frame. JELD-WEN also supplied a matching white wood header but Sophia wanted the header to match the wall color so she purchased a piece of 3/4 inch pine and had it custom cut to the length we needed.

She added two coats of paint (same as wall color) and we were good to go! We used the wall screws that JELD-WEN provide to attach the base/header to the wall.

You can fill the screw holes with wood putty or spackle and touch up with paint.

Next we attached the sliding black rail to the wall.

We then fastened to the door sliding track and soft close feature to prevent the door from slamming open or closed. The kit comes with a bottom door track as well which we opted not to use as it wasn’t necessary for our install. The Soft Close feature is by far one of the coolest features on this door.

Hanging Barn Doors – An Easy Solution For Tight Spaces

They have two kids and this door leads to their playroom in the basement so you can imagine the slamming that would take place without the Soft Close!

We installed the Soft Close on each end of the track so that if you are opening or closing, the door doesn’t slam in either direction. Hanging barn doors solve so many issues!

This modern frosted glass sliding barn door from Amazon is really pretty too! 

Before.

After.

Get This Look Below (click the images to shop affiliate links)

Barn door installation cost?

The cost to install a sliding barn door will be between $300 and $1200 depending on what style barn door and track kit you purchase. The installation cost will be minimum if you are handy and have a little bit of DIY know how.

Yield: 1 sliding door

Barn Door Installation Without Removing Door Trim

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WHITE BARN DOOR INSTALLATION

Barn door installation without removing trim is an easy one day project and this white barn door that we installed over the existing trim looks gorgeous in the kitchen. The door that lead to the basement from the kitchen awkwardly would hit the kitchen island when you opened it so the sliding barn door style option was the perfect solution. Not only is the barn door installation over trim perfect for a kitchen but also for closet barn doors, bathroom barn doors and any door opening where space is limited.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Active Time 3 hours

Total Time 3 hours 15 minutes

Estimated Cost 300.00

Materials

• Barn door with barn door kit
• Header board for track We used 3/4" pine

Tools

• level, drill, screw gun, hammer, hole patch for touchups

Instructions

1. Remove existing door, hardware and door latch
2. Install header board for track (follow directions on kit for suggestions) We used a 1x10 cut to the desired length
3. Install barn door sliding door track
4. Install barn door hardware (follow directions on kit)
5. Hang barn style door on track
6. Fill any holes from existing door hardware and touch up trim with paint

Where should I hang a barn door? 

Closet barn doors are very popular especially when you do not have a large room as they save space. We have utilized several of the sliding barn door ideas below in our own home and flip houses.

This barn door kit would also be perfect as a sliding barn door to a bathroom. Click through this sliding barn door tutorial) to see the bathroom we just installed at our split level flip house featuring a modern farmhouse door trim.  You can also click through this post, sliding bathroom door we installed in a new construction home last year for more barn door hanging techniques.

Bathroom doors can also have awkward swings into smaller bathrooms either hitting a vanity or making it impossible for two people to pass through a narrow space. As long as you have enough room on the opposite wall for the door to slide,  you are golden! 

Below is a 2 panel door with black sliding barn door hardware. Wayfair has this 2 panel door (ships free) and Amazon his this 2 panel white barn door with hardware too. I love the idea of using a regular door and hanging it with a black hardware sliding kit. Sliding barn doors do not need to look like “barn doors!”

Related: Need a kitchen barn door?  Click through this post, sliding barn door installation in our kitchen to see how we enclosed a bookcase in the kitchen.

The directions for the barn door installation and sliding kit are very useful and straight forward. Like I mentioned earlier, the barn door comes in 4 different styles and we chose the Contemporary Style. I think white barn doors are clean, classic and add a modern feel to any room.

I absolutely love how this barn door style looks in their kitchen and it’s amazing how the door appears to have been made for that spot. Not only can you enter and exit from the basement without bumping the stool or possibly hitting a person who may be in the way, the door provides gorgeous architectural interest.