How to Build Doors & Windows

Are you excited to build your first door or window? We have the step-by-step guides to get you started with every kind of door and window. We will get you started with DIY projects, video tutorials, slideshows, and discussion boards, all to help you unleash your creativity while staying grounded in the basics of building.

20 DIY Ideas to Help You Build Your Perfect Barn Door

How to Build Doors and Windows

Step 1: Build your frame: Whether you are building windows or doors, start with a frame. Measure the area the door or window will rest in to determine your dimensions.
Step 2: Add cladding to your frame: Most doors are made from masonite, but you can also use pine. Clad the door with wood panels leaving a block-shaped gap to fit the door handle.
Step 3: Secure your window pane: In the case of building a window, fitting a glass pane into your frame will require beading to support the pane, and putty to secure it.
Step 4: Hang your door: Use screws to secure hinges to the wall and the door. The hinges hold the door in place in its frame, which is built into the wall.
Step 5: Paint your door: Pine and cedar are beautiful if you simply sand and seal the wood with a clear varnish. For a Masonite door, select an oil-based paint.

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Top DIY Door & Window Building Projects

You'll find our top door and window projects here. Check them out.

The Most Ingenious Vertical Garden Ideas For Small Spaces

When you’ve got the urge to grow flowers or veggies, but don’t have the space, vertical gardens are the perfect solution. Whether you live in an apartment, have a small yard or want to bring the outdoors inside, by going up instead of out, you can have the lush flower or food garden you’ve always craved.

Best Of Hometalk

9 Easy Ways to DIY Decorate Your Home With Succulents

Who doesn't love succulents? With their range of colors and shapes, and their limited needs, succulents of all varieties are the perfect greenery to add to every corner of your home. Instead of displaying multiple pots on coffee tables and shelves, however, get a little creative with your succulent showcasing via some nifty DIY ideas. These 9 out-of-the-pot ideas will help you put these little desert plants front and center so they can be admired from all sides. And after you finish here, be sure to check 15 really fun DIY projects that will definitely spruce up your home!1. Concrete Wall Planters

Best Of Hometalk

HOW to Add a Window Into a Door and WHY You Should Do It!

It's a dreary walk up the narrow stairs staring at a plain metal door.I brushed a copper red tone over the manufacturer's standard white. That was better. I added intriguing art from my studio on the walls. But a stairwell is NOT a lingering space. Something still was missing.I wanted to see light at the end of the tunnel.I had seen expensive gorgeous doors with frosted or stained glass insets. I wanted one, but they seemed "too much" in several ways. Our home is a personal one, highly creative, country understated. I would need to wait until I found the answer.Years later I was at an antique shop, admiring stained-glass panels that had been ripped out of old buildings.The shopkeeper commented about how they could be used."They look so lovely propped against a window!" she suggested."Or inset into a door," I said. I was holding an authentic leaded glass piece, 14" square. Wheels spinning, happily I turned it to its side, like a diamond.I bought it for a bargain price.And took it home.Here's what we did after that:

Adele Kurtz

Pretty Sliding Barn Door. It Slides Behind a Dresser.

Okay. you may be tired of seeing my sliding door projects, but this one is the last. My master bath is really small and the door opens into the room making it even tighter. I thought I didnt have the space for a barn door because I have a small dresser just to the right of the bathroom door. I need this small dresser there because bathroom is so small so it holds my bath towels, linens and toiletries.The solution is to have door slide behind the dresser

Debbie

Custom Track Doors

Our open bookshelf had become a case of clutter. We decided sliding track doors would close it off and add a focal point to the room.

Shannon O- Junkflirt

Make an Easy Wooden Cornice

I recently started trying to figure out what my vision is for our next home. I know that I want to try and stick with the character that the house already has (it’s a 112-year-old farm house) but just put some life back into it without it being just a mish mosh of random stuff. It’s exciting to think of starting over on a new “canvas” but with that, I want our new home to be classy and sophisticated, yet cozy and represents us and who we are. One thing that I’ve decided on is new window treatments; I don’t want to take my current window treatments with us (especially the cheap curtain rods) so I’ve decided that in most of the rooms at the new house, I’ll likely make window cornices. I’ve seen them around as padded pieces with a patterned fabric and I still may stick with that concept in some of the rooms, but overall, I love this simple look which will allow me to have more fun with the curtains themselves.

Rob & Courtney M, Hometalk Team

Decorative Window Shutters

Outside my back door i have an alley-way that leads out to my back yard. Its dark and dingy and i wanted to brighten it up. I gave the whole thing including the ceiling a coat (or six!) of white outdoor masonry paint. It looked much better but needed some decoration.The surrounding doors and window frames are all painted blue (courtesy of our local Council) and my son had commented that the colour scheme reminded him of those lovely little Greek houses with the brightly coloured shutters at the windows. This gave me an idea..There is a window in the alley connected to a small shed used for storage, it's been painted over by a previous Tenant and i decided to see if i could find some shutters to fit. Always on a budget my mind started racing with ideas on how i could make the shutters from junk i already had and a few days later i came across an old set of wooden Venetian blinds, they didn't fit any of my windows (i had picked them up in a second-hand shop some months earlier not realising they were too short for my original intended purpose (doh!)I set about stripping the blinds so i was just left with the slats. I needed to half every measurement so i had enough to make a pair of shutters, then i began measuring and cutting, once everything was cut to size i gave them a quick sanding and painted them with some a matt gloss blue paint (the area they are for is not exposed to the elements so it didn't matter if it was outdoor paint).Once the paint was dry i laid two of the longer lengths (the height of the window) on a flat surface and then slowly glued smaller lengths across these from top to bottom, (the wood is very thin and lightweight ) so gluing was all that was needed but i did put a screw in each corner to secure them to the walls and this strengthened the whole thing. once the shutters were in place i hung two hanging baskets next to them to finish the look. I will also be putting a small table and chairs underneath and I am thinking about painting a picture on the window for a future project (any ideas welcome) but for now i'm just so glad the dark dingy alley is brighter and i'm quite proud of my junk shutters! Hope you like it, below is a before and after with a few pics to show how i achieved the look. Thanks for reading

Zee

Hutch With Diy Barn Doors

I received a text from my aunt that said ”hurry there are some nice things on the road, someone just sold the house and moved stuff to the road a few houses down from me”. I told my son come on let’s go look. I might need your help. Sure enough a nice hutch was just thrown out. It’s missing only one handle And all the doors. It was okay I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. my son and I loaded this huge hutch into my Nissan Cube. A funny sight I’m sure. I was determined I wasn’t leaving without this piece. It fit but barely, we were riding with our seats Into the windshield almost. I Got it home and we unloaded it and I began to inspect it better. Wow what a find no issues anywhere except one handle missing And no doors. I wasn’t worried about either missing. Because I knew I wanted barn doors on it.

Leesa Osborne

Sliding Doors on a Budget!

The MenDen project is nearly complete, here is the previous post on the rest of the project: http://www.hometalk.com/diy/basement/furniture/menden-basement-finish-all-re-purposed-materials-7069740 I added a couple of sliding “barn style” doors. To keep the costs down I used some simple parts from HomeDepot to hang them. I think they turned out pretty cool.

JayN

Constructing Barn Door Cabinet Doors

I have built in bookcases beside my fireplace and wanted to add doors to the bottom section. Using barn door hardware (that I made myself), I knew this would be a easy DIY. You could also do this project to a free standing bookcase.

Alicia W

The Most Ingenious Vertical Garden Ideas For Small Spaces

Best Of Hometalk

9 Easy Ways to DIY Decorate Your Home With Succulents

Best Of Hometalk

HOW to Add a Window Into a Door and WHY You Should Do It!

Adele Kurtz

Pretty Sliding Barn Door. It Slides Behind a Dresser.

Debbie

Custom Track Doors

Our open bookshelf had become a case of clutter. We decided sliding track doors would close it off and add a focal point to the room.

Shannon O- Junkflirt

Make an Easy Wooden Cornice

Rob & Courtney M, Hometalk Team

Decorative Window Shutters

Zee

Hutch With Diy Barn Doors

Leesa Osborne

Sliding Doors on a Budget!

JayN

Constructing Barn Door Cabinet Doors

Alicia W

DIY Door & Window Building Videos

Here is a collection of DIY video tutorials on how to build doors and windows.

How to Build and Install a Barn Door

I’ve (Vicki) been wanting to replace the door to my laundry room because it opens into the room making the space feel and function smaller than it really is. I thought a sliding door would free up the space.

Mother Daughter Projects

DIY Barn Door Using an Interior Door

Want the fabulous look of a barn door but don't want the expense? You can make one yourself from an interior door! It isn't hard to do and the payoff is huge! Where would use a barn door in your home?

Remodelaholic

EASY DIY Pantry Barn Doors

In this HT tutorial, I show you how to build DIY double sliding barn doors for a pantry. These rustic barn doors are made with walnut wood and have a matching walnut dining table.

Jeremy Hoffpauir

DIY Barndoor Hardware for a Shelving Unit

Barndoors are everywhere but the hardware can get pretty expensive to buy and it was actually too big from what I needed. After doing a lot or research online and a few trips to the hardware store, I came up with a way to make my own hardware ** with only hand tools** for doors that will cover up part of a large shelving unit.

Engineer Your Space

Hometalkers' Favorite DIY Door & Window Building Projects

Our round-up of the best DIY window and door projects. Get started.

Designer Sliding Mirror Bedroom Closet Doors

I have been replacing some of my hollow core doors for a more up scale look. I didn’t think I could get a sliding barn door here because of space constraints, until I thought of using 2 doors opening from center out.

Debbie

Industrial Look Barn Door

A friend asked me to make an industrial looking closet door for an upscale condo she was renovating. Here's how I did it using all new materials.NOTE - I am not discussing the rolling hardware or the door install here, just the door construction. FYI the hardware instructions were incomplete.

Jim Cox

Half Door

Every wonder who or what is on other side of closed door? From family room to hallway, we had a door that was not needed for privacy, but to contain our furry babies from running around the house. And, didn't want door slammed into head or body by another family member or friend! Hmmmm....can also be used for babies room door.

Julie Ortiz

From Wine Staves to Wall Shutters

I knew what I was going to make the moment I saw these barrel staves.

Judi

Old Closet Completely Transformed!

Before I had my bedroom closet updated, I thought having a "walk-in" closet was the only way my husband and I could share a closet. Turned out, we just needed a more efficient storage solution. Our old closet was a typical "reach in" closet that you would see in older homes. Here's how it looked after we emptied all contents out. It was a sad state of affairs with that old, single closet rod.

Tee @ Beauteefulliving

DIY Bookshelf Door

We decided to make our downstairs closet into a bookshelf door. I've seen these around on pinterest, and was excited when we finally decided to pull the trigger on this project. This particular closet is really long and narrow, which is a good fit for a book shelf door, since the shelving takes away space in your actual closet.

Ginger & The Huth

Designer Sliding Mirror Bedroom Closet Doors

Debbie

Industrial Look Barn Door

Jim Cox

Half Door

Julie Ortiz

From Wine Staves to Wall Shutters

I knew what I was going to make the moment I saw these barrel staves.

Judi

Old Closet Completely Transformed!

Tee @ Beauteefulliving

DIY Bookshelf Door

Ginger & The Huth

Popular Door & Window Building Discussions

You've found the popular discussions on how to build doors and windows yourself.

Epoxy Resin Door Knobs- can I use a ping pong ball for my mold?

/> Ruth

instead of the silicone molds, can I use a ping pong ball for my mold?Not sure if their would be a BAD chemical reaction. Ping pong ball is the size I want to make for my door knobs.thank you. Ruth

View discussion

How do I make a window frame?

/> Katie

I have top and bottom of a old window. I want to make a frame that will hold it and that the lower window will go up and down with the weight inside the frame. Then I will hang it on the wall. I know, right, that would be way cool if I could do that for my window I have. Thanks,Katie

View discussion

How do I install a pocket door (there is already an opening)?

/> Va larry

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How do I build an outside door frame?

/> Philip Harris

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New Door & Window Building Projects

Looking for the new door and window projects that are trending right now? Enjoy.

DIY Barn Door

I've always I wanted learn how to build a barn door in our home. When I started planning our master bedroom makeover, the door to our bathroom was the obvious choice. Pair it with a room of shiplap and I was in Farmhouse heaven!

Staci Marie

$25 DIY Barn Door Upgrade for Existing Door

Buying an older home means getting creative with upcycling things. This project was so much fun! We took an old door (not so pretty) and transformed it into a beautiful door that's a showcase for our living area.

Remodelaholic

Sturdy Wood Screen Door

My plan was to buy a wood screen door at a box store for $20 but when I looked at the quality, I knew it wouldn't last for a week with my kids! So I designed and built one with style that will last for years!

Lisa Laker Interior Design

Super Cheap Closet Doors - DIY

When we first moved into our cute little farmhouse all three rooms had no closet doors. I'm one of those girls that likes to keep my home really really clean. But in the occasion that I need to get some quick cleaning done, I toss my "I-don't-know-what-to-do-with-you-pile" into the closet. We didn't have closet doors, so you can see how this was a NEED TO DO project. I love the look of painted white paneling and I wanted to incorporate something a bit more sleek into our bedrooms. If you don't know what we do for a living, head on over here to have a quick read. Our home is very rustic.

Jessica-Sara Morris

Build It: Contemporary 4-Panel Barn Door for $50

In my last post I revealed our Modern Barn Door: An easy solution for awkward entries. I'm back today for the complete details on how we built our three, contemporary styled, 4-panel doors for around $150. Yes, for the average price of one door, we built three! A bit of FYI, the 4-panel door is most common in Canada and Europe. A similarly styled door in the states is typically 5-panel.