Ditch The Basic Bathroom Door: Joanna Gaines Has A Better Space-Saving Idea

Ever been in a small bathroom and felt like you needed to dance around the door when you open and close it? The laws of physics demand that the door must swing through its arc. While arguing with physics is futile, that space could be very handy if you could make use of it. 

In older homes, they used pocket doors to solve this dilemma, but today's solution is more likely to be an easy-to-install sliding barn door, a solution expert designers like Joanna Gaines welcome with open arms. As she displayed in Season 3, Episode 10 of HGTV's "Fixer Upper," barn doors can be a huge success when properly used in the right setting – such as in a tight bathroom where a hinged door could be impossible to use. When you're ditching the basic bathroom door, consider this alternative instead.

Interior sliding barn doors are wholly reliant on their unique hardware. It mounts to the face of the wall, often on a surface-mounted board that helps them clear floor trim or wall irregularities. That hardware is difficult to hide, but many folks find its substantial appearance actually enhances the look of the installation. It's one reason that barn doors support Gaines' vision of "a modern farmhouse."

The way that Gaines utilized a barn door in the "Fixer Upper" episode was as a single door on a sliding rail in the master bathroom. Installing a small bathroom door is a designer trick to consider, and a sliding barn door in particular is an ideal way to save space. In the right setting, they are a stunning visual upgrade, adding style and interest to a bland room. They are quiet when opening and closing, and they can be appropriate for bathrooms, but also closets, mud rooms, and dens — these contemporary barn doors work in just about any room. Plus, they're not hard to install and many DIYers can hang them successfully. 

Another good reason to use them? Compared to a traditional swinging door, barn doors are easy to open for folks in wheelchairs and with other mobility or functionality challenges. As such, Gaines has made great use of them in many of her remodeling efforts. However, barn doors do have some disadvantages as well. Buying them and having them installed can be expensive. Their unique hardware does not fit every design consideration. There are some things generated in a bathroom that we want to stay there, such as certain sounds and smells. Barn doors do not seal a room as tightly as traditional doors. 

In addition, most barn doors do not lock, so privacy is less secure in a bathroom setting. They also require a lot of wall space. You'll need an area equivalent to the width of the door on one side of the installation or the other, so you can't hang pictures or have light switches or power outlets in that space. But seen regularly in "Fixer Upper" as part of a core Joanna Gaines design choice, their style and other space-saving characteristics tend to overcome any disadvantages they engender.