The irresistible charm of barn doors

This type of doors have many decades behind them (at least the original ones), as they were used in the old barns, but in recent years they have entered fully into the design and decoration of homes by the big door, never better said ;)

Of course, as in everything else, most of the doors that are currently in place are not recovered from those old barns, but manufactured ad hoc with the initial aesthetics, but they are equally beautiful and bring a very particular character to the decoration. Let's get to know them a little better!

Main features of traditional barn doors

Traditional barn style doors are dark wood, thick and have two doors.

1. They are sliding doors and they go outside the wall.

2. They have visible hardware, typically made of black forging and with the bar and bearings visible, supporting the doors as clamps.

3. They are formed by a combination of vertical slats and cross slats or diagonal slats, crossing the first ones.

Contemporary barn doors

In modern barn doors the variability and creativity is much greater. Although they are still made of wood, some are painted in various colors, others dispense with the slats, others are glazed ... The important thing is that the essence remains.

Let's take a look at some of the most common decorative possibilities offered by this type of door.

One door or two?

Obviously this will depend on space and particular taste, as well as budget :)

To put this type of doors you have to take into account that when running to one side you will need a piece of clean wall of the same size as the door opening, so it is usual to use only one.

However, in larger spaces where you want to connect more or less communicated rooms, you can choose to open the opening and put a double barn door, which will look spectacular.

Rustic or polished aesthetics

Another option when decorating with barn doors is to consider whether you want to keep the rustic look characteristic of the original wood or if you prefer to imitate the shape but not the material.

In that sense, we find more rustic doors (which can be perfectly combined with a contemporary style, thus becoming a "fusion" style in which the door will take all the protagonism)...

... or more modern and smooth doors that avoid that worn style and therefore contrast less.

Exposed wood or painted

Although the best thing for this type of doors is that the wood is well marked, the truth is that they are also very decorative by painting them in different colors.

The most common color is white, especially for those houses in shabby chic or Mediterranean style, for the luminosity they evoke:

However, there are those who dare with other tones, from pastel blue to bright red. A most curious antique-modern contrast.

Opaque or glazed

Although the usual in this type of doors was a total opacity, in the decoration of houses, where light is a plus, this system is used to place glass doors with the "barn aesthetics".

They can be fully or partially glazed, and can emulate the antique style or use only the exposed hardware to emulate the style, but with a fully contemporary door.

Barn style door formats

Barn-style doors can emulate the traditional format or opt for more creative solutions. Let's take a look at the most common ones

With diagonal blades or crossbeams

To give you an idea, on the one hand we can find doors with a diagonal transom:

On the other hand, with crossbeams, either complete or partial (as if in each door the crossbeam were cut in half).

A combination of several smaller blades can also be used:

With horizontal and vertical slats

If you are not convinced by the crossed lines, you can also opt for horizontal crossbars:

Another very typical option is the one that dispenses with the transoms (or at least eliminates the central ones) and leaves the door exclusively with vertical slats.

And by playing with ribbons you can also opt for more creative versions:

With quatrefoils

Although they are starting to move away from the traditional barn door, the fact is that the panels on the doors have that slightly rustic or farmhouse look that also makes it very common in barn doors.

On the one hand, we can opt for the typical horizontal panel doors.

Vertical panels are also very aesthetic, especially in tall double doors.

Panels are also often chosen when they have some type of glazing:

Industrial type

More modern and contemporary, this type of door usually dispenses with wood as a material and uses metals, black forging and/or glass.

They keep, however, the exposed hardware and the sliding outside the wall, which makes them somewhere between a more classic barn door and a more industrial contemporary one.

We leave you with some more images for your inspiration.