The Stylish Sliding Alternative That Will Have You Ditching Your Barn Doors

You're not the only one thinking barn doors are going out of style, though that may be too harsh of a statement. Evolving might be a more apt term. Gone are the ultra-distressed wood finishes and clunky visible hardware. Instead, people are embracing a sleeker, more contemporary version of the barn door. Concealed, floating, invisible, or hidden track barn doors — they go by all those monikers and more — hang discreetly over an entryway or closet from hidden heavy-duty drawer slides or bespoke hardware. They're often painted the same colors as the walls, feature a full-length mirror, or even double as feature walls or wall art. They still slide back and forth just as their rustic forerunners do, but on heavy-duty drawer slides instead of barn door rollers. Sold on the idea? We're not surprised.

Hidden hardware sliding doors save space in small rooms; there's no hinged door to swing open. It turns out, too, that the best places in your home for barn doors are also the exact places you'd want to mount the concealed track version: entryways, closets, laundries, pantries, between rooms, secret passageways ... They're the perfect solution for hiding away less-than-attractive house features in small homes, like that ugly washer and dryer set or a messy wardrobe. They also work to cover built-in shelving units that are flush with the wall. Any downsides? These doors have cross-over problems with regular barn doors. There are inevitable gaps between the wall and door that let sound through. If your house isn't level, the door might not stay closed, some doors make noise when you move them, and they're tricky to latch or lock.

Should you DIY this hack to give mirror closet doors a modern upgrade — or, indeed, any door? Proponents of using drawer slides instead of standard, exposed barn door hardware note that they're hidden, giving you the opportunity to use any style of door you want with them. They also note that sliding doors mounted on drawer slides are less wobbly than their farmyard counterparts and, of course, the hardware is really affordable, great for those with low(er) renovation budgets. The weight limit of the slide needs to match (or exceed) the weight of the door you want to hang on it. A solid wood interior frame door can weigh well above 60 pounds at the top end. Adding a mirror will bump this figure up considerably.

A pair of 12-inch long, 150-pound weight capacity Reguda extension runners sells for about $30 on Amazon. If you need more weight capacity for a heftier door or bigger space, we recommend the 22-inch-long, 250-pound weight capacity steel drawer slides by TCH Hardware — almost $45 on Amazon. Or, at the tippy-top of the heavy-duty drawer slide ladder are KCOLVSION's 40-inch-long, 500-pound weight capacity industrial tracks on Amazon for just over $75. Then, all you need outside of a set of drawer slides is the door you want to mount, be it a pre-made door or a wooden panel you've cut to size (or had cut for you at the hardware store) and decorated as you wish, an electric drill, and some screws.

Ideally, for ultimate safety, you want to mount the drawer slides on wall studs. Check for them wherever you want to hang the door using a stud finder before shelling out money for DIY supplies. Note, too, that if you have the space and want to install double doors — over, say, a wide entrance into a formal dining room — then you'll need to buy two sets of tracks.

Use packing tape to delineate where you need to cut a hole in the wall and get sawing. If you're hanging the door over an already framed-out hole, skip this step. Mount your drawer slides to the door frame or wall studs and your door. Whether you use just one drawer slide (at the top) or two (top and bottom) depends on the entry you're covering. If the door has a larger gap at the top than the bottom, affix transfer rollers to the bottom of the trim. The door will sit out from the wall an appropriate distance while still gliding along smoothly.

You can also buy specially manufactured concealed barn door hardware, with or without the door. Be warned: This option is considerably more expensive. The popular Italian-made Magic 2 wall mount concealed sliding system for wooden doors costs at least $470 at Walmart. DIYHD's 38-inch-long concealed sliding barn door hardware sells for upwards of $130 on Amazon, and that only includes the upper track and a floor guide. Of course, since these are purpose-made, you could arguably see better performance and greater longevity from these products than a drawer slide.