How to Build Miniature Barn Doors – Easy DIY
Happy New Year, everyone. Wow, is it just me, or did 2016 fly past really quickly? It’s like BAM, door number 2016 just slammed closed, and I wasn’t even ready for it. Talking about doors. Can you guess what these super cute miniature barn doors are covering?
Wait for it…………………………………………………………………………………..
It’s a wall plug or socket.
Yup and they were so easy to make too.
How To Make Miniature Barn Doors
For a double plug, we used a whole bunch of ice cream sticks or stirrers, a looooooooong skewer, six screw eye hooks, paint, scissors and wood glue.
Measure the height of the wall plug, add 2 cm (7/8″) and cut the ice cream sticks using scissors. In South Africa, our wall plugs are 13 cm high, so we cut the ice cream sticks to be 15 cm long. Place the cut ice cream sticks next to each other until you have enough to cover the width of the wall plug. We used 22 in total, 11 for each door. Once you know how wide the doors are going to be, cut five ice cream sticks to fit across the width. Use the leftover bits to cut four hinges, and you should end up with something like this.
As an optional extra, you can use a wire brush to distress the sticks 😉
Painting the Miniature Barn Doors
Paint the sticks and hinges to suit your decor. I prefer painting the sticks one at a time, just coz I’m a little bit weird, and I think it adds some character 😉 If you’re not keen on painting each stick individually, you can glue the door together and paint it later.
To glue the barn doors, place the long sticks together lengthwise and glue a short stick on the top, middle and bottom of each door. This will be the front side. When the glue is dry, flip the barn doors over and glue another short stick at the bottom of the door.
Now for the only tricky part, positioning the screw-in eye hooks at the top of the door. It’s easier if you slide the eye hooks on the skewer before glueing them into the doors.
It helps to keep the eye hooks stable, and they don’t wobble around so much. Carefully line the doors up and ensure the hooks are all lined up nicely.
Use another short stick and glue it down to hold the eye hooks in place. Find something heavy and carefully place it onto the barn doors while the glue dries.
Hanging the Miniature Barn Doors
To hang the barn doors, we took two blocks of wood and screwed an eye hook into each one. The blocks of wood are about 1.5 cm thick or 1/2″, so when the doors slide, they don’t get stuck on the switches. It also makes it easier to add socket safety covers if you have those old wall sockets that don’t have safety “shutters” inside. Just insert the skewer through all the eye hooks, and the doors are almost ready to be hung.
All that’s left to do is glue on the hinges, and some door handles.
The handles aren’t really necessary, but it does add to the look. We used two teardrop beads to make the handles.
Handy Hint: Beads and whatnots are perfect for adding those small, special touches to miniature projects. For some more ideas, have a look at our thatch roof fairy abode and this miniature gypsy caravan.
The barn doors can be stuck onto the wall using double-sided tape. You could probably also screw the blocks of wood into the wall if you know where the wiring goes.
What do you think? And what would you cover with your miniature barn doors?
Today is the perfect day for opening a new door.
If you like the idea of making miniature barn doors, don’t forget to pin them for later.
BTW, Those little people under the barn doors were a present from my kids. Don’t you just love the expressions on their faces? It seems like they’re as dumbfounded as I was when 2016 was over.
P.S. If you’d like to make something similar or prefer to buy rather than DIY, we’ve got you covered Disclosure: Clicking on the links below, means we may receive a commission from Amazon. But don’t worry it won’t come out of your pocket, and it helps us come up with more crafty ideas to share with you
Any hows here’s wishing you a beautiful 2017 full of crafty moments and many, many beautiful new memories. Sending love and blessings as always.
Wowzers, they are super cute, Michelle! I love them and have to try and make one! You always create the most creative things I’ve ever seen!
Awwwww Carolann, you always say the nicest things. The mini barn doors are so easy to make and I love the reaction the get when people see them
Holy awesome sauce. These barn doors are sooo cute. What a great idea. WTG. Thank you. This is my first time on your site and I Love it.
Thank you so much Stacy, I’m so glad you like the site 😀
I love this idea. Where do you find ice cream sticks that long?
Hello Patricia, thank you for coming to say hi and leaving a comment. A friend of mine works at a beauty parlor and she gave me a whole bunch of these. I’m not sure which country you come from but I have seen them on ebay. Please let me know if you come right (or not). I can always try find a supplier for you.
You might do a search for wooden coffee Stirers, I think this is what they are some restraunts used to use these before the coffee stir straws came out
found some on Amazon but you might be able to find them in any of your local stores or restraunt supply stores.
https://www.amazon.com/Royal-Count-Coffee-Beverage-Stirrers/
Thanks so much Deana. I didn’t realize that the longer sticks were used as stirrers
This is adorable Michelle! I couldn’t believe my eyes at the cuteness!
I’m glad you like it Maya, thank you 😉
This is brilliance galore!!
Now I just need to be able to make it stick out enough to cover the outlet that has plugs in it!!
Thanks so much for this idea!
jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
Glad you like it Jodie. If you want the little doors to fit over the plugs too, just make the blocks on the sides a bit thicker. I’d also try and put another skewer rail at the bottom so it
flowsslides nicely 😉You’re so creative, I can’t stand it, lol. That’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! Wishing you only open doors and no closed windows in 2017!
LOL, thank you Jas. Now let’s talk about that amazing Baklava Cheesecake you made. Wow, I’m still trying to get my laptop dry 😉
That’s awesome Michelle!! No one would ever guess that those sweet little barn doors were covering a plug. That’s such a great idea! The little dolls your kids made you are lovely! Wishing you an amazing 2017 friend!!!!
Awww Keri, thank you so much and happy new year to you too
Happy 2017 Michelle! These barn doors are the cutest ever and I can’t believe they’re covering a plug, now brilliant!! I always try to hide ours cause they never fit into my decor, lol, but I’ve never ever thought of this fantastic idea!
Happy 2017 to you too Katrin 😉 and I’m glad you like the little doors. We’re always trying to cover ours up too. They just look so boring.
This little barn door is so cute! I love the weathered look that you gave it. Cute way to hide and outlet.
I am hoping that when we remodel our master bath to put a slide barn type door on it. As of now it have louvered doors. Weird for a bath room, huh.
Wow a louvered door, that is a bit strange for a bathroom, but a barn door will look amazing.
What a great idea! I would have never guessed either. I was thinking a fairy house painting or something. So clever.
Glad you like it Kellie
You’re so creative and I love how I’m always surprised to see the size of everything in comparison. Love it and pinned!
Thanks so much Angie 😉
Michelle Happy New Year, out one door and into another. What a lovely present your kids have given you. They look so thoughtful, as if to say “What will we find behind that door?” Your craft is amazing as always. You are constantly thinking outside the box… er door. 🙂
LOL Mary 😉 Happy New year to you too. Wishing you a year filled with patience, stretching and new doors to open in NY
This tiny barn doors are so cute! I just hung a full sized sliding door. They are the best!
Thank you Brianna I love barn doors. The save so much space and look amazing