Installing Custom Sliding Barn Doors and Office Bookshelves

In last week's post I showed off a couple of custom Shaker-style barn doors that I've been working on in my studio.

So naturally this week's blog post is all about those doors, and where they ended up.

It all started when Leslie Huntley of Roost Interior Design contacted me about putting a pair of sliding barn doors in her clients' home office in their downtown condo.

They had a perfectly good door there...

...but floor space in these condos is limited, and they wanted a new door that didn't swing open, so they could put more furniture on the wall.

We couldn't find any pre-made doors that would work well in the space, so I got to work in my shop.

By the way, check out that respirator! It's my new toy... top of the line and easy on the lungs.

​Plus it looks like something out of a sci-fi movie.

via GIPHY

Side note: I never realized how many sci-fi astronauts are wearing standard dust-filter respirators until I started researching dust filtration. It seems to be a Hollywood shortcut: buy a mask from Lowe's, spraypaint everything black, and slap on a few extra gadgets and hoses.

And once I noticed that, I started noticing all kinds of things, like plastic French drains being used as spaceship "pipes." Low-budget Netflix space operas just haven't been the same since then.

Anyway, back to the job...

I also make custom cabinets at our sister company, Artisan Built-ins, so Leslie commissioned us to build a set of white bookcases with a custom shelf to hold a printer. Here's the 3D model we created so she could preview the design.

And here they are in our workshop, alongside another project for the same condo... an electric chimneyless fireplace.

As you can see, our model was very accurate.

Back on the job site, the office walls were painted a striking cobalt blue...

...the better to set off the crisp white sliding barn doors and the bookshelves.

If you've got sharp eyes, you might notice that the printer shelf is a little lower than it was in the drawing. That's because I planned ahead and made it repositionable or removable so that if they don't need a printer there any more, they can take the shelf off and have a plain bookcase once again.

The whole project came together beautifully, and the formerly bland room is now a striking office that looks just as interesting as the view of downtown Asheville.

If you've got a tight floor plan that needs a custom solution to make it workable, give us a call. We can come up with a plan that optimizes your office and makes it fun to go to work.

Make it so.