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Why Do People Prefer Barn Doors for The Bathroom?

It might surprise you to learn that the original style of in-home pocket doors actually dates back to the 1850s -1880s. They fell out of favor for a time as hinged doors were refined. Post World War II, these doors regained popularity as housing needs rose. Fortunately for modern design lovers, we are once again seeing a high intent and interest in the upgraded iteration – the sliding barn door. * 

Sliding Barn Doors Save Space

If the door to the room in question swings open and closed, you are losing a considerable amount of space. A modern glass barn door might be perfect for you. This is often the case in your bathroom, where homeowners are often tight on space. Options that include sleek design and even doors that are suspended can give you back valuable square footage and create a seamless transition from bedroom to bathroom. 

Sliding Glass Barn Doors Let the Light In

Why choose glass barn doors? Interior glass barn doors also increase the natural light in a room. This is crucial in a master bathroom or even half bath where the home may be designed without much original natural light. Natural light has many proven benefits and has even been tied to higher home sale values. It also makes getting ready in the bathroom a delightful and more holistic experience.

Miror pull door in the bedroom

The Sliding Door Company Also Offers Mirrored Closet Sliding Doors

Nothing takes up more room on the wall or floor than a full-length mirror. You can upgrade your home to include a mirrored door that will help you get ready with the ease of natural light and a mirror to review your head-to-toe look. A high-quality mirror in the space where you get ready, such as a bathroom closet, will always come in handy. You don’t have to mess with glue or hammering nails to mount a mirror. And you don’t have to hang a mirror to the back of a door precariously. It’s a space saver for the bathroom or bedroom! 

Opened frosted barn door

Between adding space back into your rooms, letting more light in, and adding functionality like mirrors to your bathroom, a sliding glass barn door has countless advantages. Our modern and sophisticated glass barn doors are a great way to upgrade your bathroom. 

The Sliding Door Company offers various glass opacities for all door types, including clear, mirrored, smoked, milky, and more. If you’re interested in learning more about the best sliding glass door for your space, contact us to receive a free consultation! 

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What You Might Love About Working From Home and the Benefits

As we begin to return to a sense of normalcy within the work world, as well as within our daily routines, many of us are beginning to question the need to return to the standard “office”. After jumping through the initial hoops of quarantine, and relearning how to craft our own daily schedules, many of us still holding jobs came to find that working from home wasn’t so bad after all. This self-isolation bred many unexpected benefits, such as increased time with friends and family, the ability to choose our working hours, and the chance to fit in more physical exercise and outdoor time. These silver linings of the once dreaded WFH mandate not only granted us access to a more well-rounded day, but it also forced us to look at our relative environmental impact, and how our work week contributed heavily to our annual carbon footprint.

Now that our economy is beginning to reopen, and our options are broadening, we begin to question if returning to the way things were is a good idea. If undertaking the daily commute and eight-hour office day was working for us, or if it’s actually stunting our potential to grow as individuals, taxing the natural environment, and straining our personal relationships. Making the move to work from home as a more permanent, or part-time solution is inherently a much greener, sustainable option as compared with working “in house”. If unsure how working from home could lead to a greener lifestyle, we’re about to unpack the truth of existing in the 9-5 work world.

Commute Guilt

Have you ever experienced commute guilt? That is, the sinking feeling whilst sitting in stop and go traffic, with the overwhelming feeling that you might be contributing to the problem. Not just the problem of peak commute traffic, but the overarching environmental problem. Well, you’re not alone. Most commuters share similar distress, and for good reason. Traffic, idling vehicles and too many single-passenger cars on the road contribute heavily to harmful CO2 emissions each and every day. Vehicle exhaust not only pollutes our atmosphere and decreases air quality, but it also slowly depletes the ozone layer which keeps our planet cool and our atmospheric temperature stable. By making the conscious decision to either take available public transportation, ride a bike to work, carpool or to scrap the commute altogether, you’ll significantly slash your annual carbon footprint. Working from home is the best way to become a low-impact human.

Will That Be For Here or To Go?

Ever noticed how much excess packaging goes into take-out food? An enormous amount of single-use plastic packaging is used each and every day from the working class who eat out on their lunchtime break. Ordering food to go is understandably a necessity during a thirty-minute lunch break to afford you the time, convenience, and taste you desire during a grueling workweek. And while this solution is practical, it is the least environmentally friendly option for consumption. When you choose to work from home, chances are you’ll be more inclined to make your own lunch, cook home meals, and use a coffee mug rather and washable utensils. Compare this with styrofoam containers, plastic utensils and straws, throw away plastic or paper coffee cups (which almost always have a plastic lid), and the effects of that waste are obvious. Of course, you could always pack your own lunch, bring a reusable coffee cup, and do your best to only buy from restaurants who use paper packaging and have an eco-conscious business model, but chances are, those options are few and far between.

Commercial Resources

Something we don’t often consider regarding our places of work is the number of resources large commercial buildings suck up in order to maintain a healthy and comfortable working environment for its inhabitants. Take air conditioning and heating, for example. The amount of electricity and chemicals product needed to power a large-scale HVAC system have a profound effect on our natural environment. These units are often energy guzzlers, left running all the time, and are not using alternative energy sources to power them. When you work from home, you can better control your A/C and heat usage, the amount of lighting (typically offices need more intense lighting due to a limited supply of natural light), and other high-impact resources.

So What Can I Do?

If you feel called to work freelance or split your week between in-office and at-home days, there are some helpful spatial solutions you can integrate into your home to craft an ideal home office that will afford you space, concentration, and the separation you need for a successful workday. First, consider integrating glass room dividers into a corner of your home that happens to have extra unused space. These handy and easy-to-construct glass wall partitions and sliding room dividers are breezy to install and help to retain a stylish aesthetic to compliment your thoughtful interiors. Sliding glass barn doors are another fantastic spatial solution, and a simple way to create separation between two distinct spaces. Glass barn doors have that beautiful modern-contemporary look while still paying homage to a rustic classic. These no-construction-needed glass walls integrate flawlessly into any home and provide real walls for your desired home office!

With all of the added benefits of being your own boss, creating your own work schedule, and making your workday work for you, you can feel good about your morning commute being from your bedroom to the kitchen, and from the kitchen right into to your new home office. No waste, no guilt. Instantly increase your clean karma with a WFH solution. For more inspiration and space optimizing solutions, don’t hesitate to check out the best sliding closet doors, tri fold dividers, sliding room dividers, and spatial solutions offered at The Sliding Door Company. Visit Us Online to browse our online viewing catalog and Enjoy A Free Consultation from one of our team members to actualize your vision today!

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Sliding Barn Doors

How to integrate, design and update your interiors

Typically, when we think “barn door”, we think of some rustic country barn and a grassy field depicting this nostalgic romanticism we can all identify with. The classic imagery of what a barn means to most of us, the feelings evoked and the memories it recalls, gives feeling to sweetness and rustic contentment. Contemporary designers have picked up on this feeling and have been able to successfully reimagine and evolve that barn door and establish it into the typical modern home.

Once introduced into the interior design world, the sliding barn door took off like wildfire. People of all backgrounds and tastes fell in love with this modern take on a once homely design. Offering sweet simplicity and the added ease of a seamless sliding door, the design is now a widespread hit.

While the first models and designs of the barn door were kept to a standard wood aesthetic, this original model has since evolved into many different iterations, with its more innovation forms aiming to complement any and all styles of home. From the sliding glass modern take to the industrial metal aesthetic, sustainable reclaimed wood, and everything in between, the sliding barn door now finds its way into homes across the globe. While this striking design flourish is loved and introduced by designers and architects alike, many people setting out to update their homes are still wondering how they can integrate these trendy doors into their homes and utilize them in their day-to-day life.

Being so versatile, sliding glass barn doors can be used pretty much anywhere- from the bathroom to closets, to effectively divide the living room, and in the office, the benefit of this design are endless. Enjoying a quiet close and open and offering generous flexibility uncommon in typical front opening doors, these sliding doors are a total game-changer. So, if you’re still wondering where you can integrate sliding barn doors and your home look no further.

The Living Room

One of the most popular uses of sliding barn doors has become in the shared spaces of a home. As a fantastic way to divide space and create a distinction within two separate entities, these barn doors are the perfect solution. Think about the inherent need for flexible separation between the kitchen and living room or as a means to manage an overbearing floor plan. To create a more cozy, intimate environment in a large living area, installing these sliding barn doors to create two separate spaces has become the ideal solution for many families.

Closets and Bathrooms

Needless to say, sliding doors to replace typical front-opening doors have many benefits when it comes to closets and bathrooms. Especially for those living in small scale city lofts, or single room apartments, any possible way to save square footage is an absolute must. For areas that are especially cramped and awkward, such as laundry rooms and bathrooms, it makes perfect sense to install a sliding door that carefully slides with ease along its track and takes up much less space. Closets are meant to save space. They should be organized and neat, tidy and easy to access. Sliding barn doors are the ultimate amalgamation of all those important qualities. Making very little noise, sliding closet doors are a brilliant solution for early morning wake-ups and conflicting work schedules that would otherwise disrupt your sleeping partner. Being so quiet and gentle, the sliding door causes very little noise and disruption.

Office

With so many people recently transitioning to a home office during the circumstances of COVID-19, many are desperate to find spatial solutions to quickly and affordably craft a quiet and productive workspace amongst a bustling home. One simple solution is, you guessed it, install sliding glass barn doors in an available area of the house to create a super flexible partition door that can be easily opened or closed depending on the need.

With all of the above integration tips and examples, hopefully you’ll have the inspiration you needed to integrate these beautiful glass barn doors into your home. For more inspiration and space optimizing solutions, don’t hesitate to check out the best glass wall partitions, sliding doors, and spatial solutions offered at The Sliding Door Company. Our in-store locations are not available during this time, so please do Visit Us Online to browse our online viewing catalog and Enjoy A Free Consultation from one of our team members to actualize your vision today!