Ever since we finished our fireplace wall, I've been thinking about adding a barn door to our hallway.
At first, it was mostly a design idea. Our living room, kitchen, and dining room are all part of one large open space, and that space continues right into the foyer and hallway. I thought adding a door might help close things off just a little and make the living area feel cozier.
But the more I've thought about it, the more I've realized a hallway barn door could actually solve a privacy problem too.
Now I just have to figure out which one I want: dark wood, white, or wood and glass.
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Why I'm Considering a Barn Door for the Hallway
Our house has a pretty open layout. The living room, dining room, and kitchen all flow together, and then the space continues into the foyer and hallway.
I like having an open floor plan, but sometimes it would be nice to have a way to visually close off the hallway from the main living area.
After we built our fireplace TV wall, I started picturing a sliding barn door beside it. I thought it could help make the living room feel a little more defined and cozy without permanently closing off the space.
.jpeg "Hallway Before Adding a Barn Door")
This is the hallway opening where we're considering adding the barn door.
You can see more of how this entire area came together in our living room makeover before and after.
There's Also a Privacy Reason for Adding the Door
The more practical reason is privacy.
Our master bedroom is at the end of this hallway. I normally try to keep the bedroom door closed, but obviously that doesn't always happen.
The door from our carport is also the entrance that most people use when they come into our house.
That means if the master bedroom door happens to be open, someone coming into the house can potentially see all the way down the hallway and into our bedroom.
Not exactly ideal.
A barn door at the beginning of the hallway would give us an easy way to close off that entire area when we have guests without needing to permanently change the open layout of the house.
What I'm looking for in a hallway barn door:
- Enough privacy to block the view down the hallway
- A style that works beside our white shiplap fireplace wall
- Something that doesn't make the open living area feel too closed off
- A door we can slide open and leave out of the way most of the time
Which Barn Door Should We Choose?
I narrowed it down to three very different styles, so I made a Reel showing the options and asked everyone which one they liked best.
See the three barn door options ↓
All three styles I'm considering are actual barn doors I've found on Amazon, so these aren't just inspiration pictures. They're options we could actually use in the space.
Option 1: Dark Wood Barn Door
My first thought was a dark wood barn door.
I already have a dark wood barn door in our tiny home, and I really like the way it looks there. That's probably why I immediately pictured something similar for this hallway.
The darker wood would add warmth and contrast against the lighter walls, and I can picture it looking really nice beside the fireplace.
My hesitation is that the darker wood might be a little too much in this room.
We've already added the fireplace feature wall, and I don't want the barn door to compete with everything else going on in the space.
.jpeg "Dark Wood Barn Door Idea for Hallway")
Option 1: A darker wood barn door would add warmth and contrast to the hallway.
Option 2: White Barn Door
The white barn door would be a much quieter option.
Since we have the white shiplap fireplace wall nearby, I could see a white door blending into the room more naturally instead of becoming another major focal point.
That's one of the things I like most about this option. It would still give us the ability to close off the hallway, but visually it wouldn't necessarily demand as much attention.
It may also be the safest choice if I want the fireplace wall to remain the main feature in this part of the room.
.jpeg "White Barn Door Idea for Hallway")
Option 2: White would blend more quietly with the walls and nearby shiplap.
Option 3: Wood and Glass Barn Door
Then there's the wood and glass barn door.
This is the one that got a lot of support when I asked people about the choices in the Reel.
I can understand why. It gives us some of the warmth of a wood door, but the glass keeps it from feeling quite as heavy or closed off.
Since one of my goals is to make the living area feel cozier without making the house suddenly feel chopped up, this could be a good compromise.
.jpeg "Wood and Glass Barn Door Idea for Hallway")
Option 3: The wood-and-glass version adds warmth while still keeping the hallway feeling open.
See the wood and glass barn door
Comparing the Three Barn Door Ideas
Each option would give the hallway a completely different look, which is probably why I'm having such a hard time deciding.
Dark wood: Warmest and most dramatic, but could compete with the fireplace wall.
White: The quietest option and probably the easiest to blend into the room.
Wood + glass: Adds warmth without feeling as visually heavy, but the glass raises the biggest privacy question.
Would a Glass Barn Door Defeat the Privacy Part?
This is one of the things I still have to think about.
I love the look of the glass option, but part of the reason for adding a door is to block the view down the hallway.
So the type of glass matters. If you can still see clearly through it, it may not solve the privacy problem as well as a solid door would.
On the other hand, a glass door could keep the area feeling lighter and more open while still creating some separation between the hallway and living room.
That's probably the biggest tradeoff I'm considering between the different styles.
Why I'm Leaning Toward a Barn Door Instead of a Regular Door
For this particular opening, I like the idea of a sliding barn door because we can leave it completely open most of the time.
We're not trying to permanently divide the house into separate rooms.
I just want the option to close the hallway when we want more privacy or when we want the main living area to feel a little more contained.
A barn door gives us that flexibility while also adding something decorative to what is currently just an open hallway entrance.
And because the hallway is right beside the focal point we created during our living room makeover, whatever door we choose needs to work with the room instead of looking like an unrelated addition.
I'm Still Deciding
As of right now, we haven't installed one yet.
I originally leaned toward the dark wood because I already know I like that look. Then I started thinking white might work better with this room. And after seeing how many people liked the wood-and-glass option, that one is definitely still in the running too.
So this is one project where I'm actually enjoying sitting with the options for a little while instead of immediately buying something.
Whichever one we choose needs to look good next to the fireplace wall, work with the rest of our open living space, and actually give us the privacy we're looking for.
Which Barn Door Would You Pick?
Would you go with the dark wood barn door, the white barn door, or the wood and glass barn door — or would you leave the hallway completely open?
I'll update this once we finally decide what we're doing and show how it looks in the actual space.
Follow Unlikely Flips for more real-life home projects, makeovers, before-and-afters, thrifted finds, and flips.