Grand Delusions

Grand Delusions

I live in a Faux Loft.  It’s a (relatively) new building that they attempted to make look old and loft-like by adding features such as exposed duct work, open spaces, and half walls.  Of course I’ve always thought that this whole exposed duct work, concrete floors and lack of doors thing was probably just a clever marketing ploy by some architectural firm and a contractor to make people want the cheapest construction methods possible.   So the upshot of all this is that I’m a sucker and bought into this whole loft living idea and I do not have a door on my “bedroom area.”  Instead I have about an eight foot opening off the hall to my bedroom.  I live alone, so privacy isn’t really an issue but there are occasions when I think it would be nice to have a door (mainly when I don’t want to make my bed.)  

Lucky for me, sliding barn/loft doors are pretty popular these days so there are plenty of pictures on-line to inspire me and more importantly, delude me into thinking this is something that I can  and should tackle. 

Pictures like this door design by Barbara Bestor Architecture make me lose all sanity.

Pictures like this door from the Southern Living 2009 Idea House make me think that sliding doors aren't just a trend that will be over in a year. 

Now I’m no (complete) fool, so I did a trial run making and installing a sliding door in my bathroom.  I made the door using paneling that I framed out with 1x4s.  I even mitered the corners. Be impressed.  Just don’t look too closely at those mitered corners.  I hung a sliding door track by Johnson Hardware  on the ceiling to make a sort of closet in the back of my bathroom.

(Bathroom closet door that I built) 

The bathroom installation went relatively smoothly (i.e. gave me a false sense of confidence).  Why a false sense of confidence you ask?  Well because that one little opening in my bathroom is only about 40 inches wide and eight feet tall, so I only had to make a door to cover that.  The space I need to cover now is eight feet wide and I don’t have eight feet of free wall space to slide the door open. 

So that means that I have to build TWO (2!) FOUR FEET TALL BY TEN FOOT WIDE DOORS!

I have to hang these doors on a TWELVE FOOT LONG TRACK!   

Of course since I live in a new building, I do not have wooden studs in the ceiling to support this track plus the weight of the doors.  So I have to put my DOORS ON CASTERS and use the ceiling track just to guide the doors.   

So I currently have 28 holes in my ceiling, a third of which are actually in the right place! I also have two half painted doors taking up half the space on my living room floor. 

One of two 4' x 10' doors.  Doors this large should not be built inside a 1000 sq. ft. loft.  Now you know

Don't say I didn't warn you.   

Cross your fingers. If most of my ceiling doesn't end up on the floor, it will be a miracle on par with the Immaculate, well, let's just say I'll be pleasantly surprised.