Materials: Besta Rails, Shower Clamps, Ikea cabinet handle, Plexiglas sheets
Description: Removed all conventional doors in my house. I hung 70" BESTA rails ($25)over the door openings. I then used shower door clamps ($6.each) to slide into the Besta railing. I had my local plastics company cut me a 1/2 inch sheet of frosted Plexiglas with beveled edges ($90). I also had them put holes in the Plexiglas for the Ikea cabinet handle.
~ gr8vines, San Diego
now *that* is what i call a fabulous hack, gets my vote for hack of the year! simple, modern, sleek, customizeable...and budget-friendly! thanks for sharing it gr8tvines, i'll be doing this in my home soon!
ReplyDeleteAmazing! So simple! So smart! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have been wondering if I could use some parts from IKEA to serve this purpose! Barndoor hardware is such a huge investment. I feel like it's my birthday and I didn't have to bake the cake. ^_^
ReplyDeleteGreat hack! Where are the shower door clamp components from? Are they ikea or something else?
ReplyDeleteIt's a great hack!!! Amazing, it's fabolous!
ReplyDeleteI'd also love to know where the shower door clamps are from. Thx... great hack!
ReplyDeleteYou should add something to hide the rail.
ReplyDeleteAwesome glad someone did this, so much cheaper than having the barndoor hardware doors installed. i've been looking for a hack like this for a while. thanks!
ReplyDeleteI'd also love to know where the shower door clamps are from. Thanks... Great hack!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing with us.
Aeron Chair
this rails are besta or pax? can't find :(
ReplyDeleteOMG!!!! This is fabulous! I wish I would have seen this a few months ago. I put in a barn door for one of my bathrooms but it doesn't look nearly this elegant. Great hack.
ReplyDeleteawesome !!! where did you get frosted Plexiglas from.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that the crux of hte hack is figuring out where to get the shower door holders :) Could the OP share the tip?
ReplyDeletegr8vines,
ReplyDeleteWhat a terrific HACK!
Where is this mythical $95 plexiglass place? Is it down the road from the unicorn shop right next to where you can rent a minotaur? We live in So. Cal. and have not been able to locate a $95 plexiglass (as described) place.
Please share! Please share! Otherwise we the IKEAHACKERS community will pass your hack off as little more than an egregious act of prevarication.
Perfect! A simple and affordable solution.
ReplyDeleteI've also had plans for using plexiglass in a similar manner. But price is prohibitive. As poster above mentioned, $95 for this size sheet of plexiglass is unheard of.
ReplyDeleteAlso, plexiglass will scratch easily, so careful not to bump into it.
I purchased the clamps ( I think that they are actually called brackets) from
ReplyDeleteMirror, Shower and Glass in San Diego http://www.mirrorshowerandglass.com/ However, I have also seen them at Home Depot.
The rails are Pax. You can connect any number of them to create the length that you want. You will need to replace the wheels that come with the clamp (bracket) with the wheels that come with the Pax rail set, as these wheels are designed to work exclusively with the Pax rail system. This is very easy. The plexiglass sheets came from Ridout Plastics in San Diego http://www.eplastics.com/ . However any plastics shop should carry them and cut them to your specs. Lastly I would like to mention that my brilliant contractor Jeff from A-Team Remodeling http://ateamremodeling.com/ hung the doors for me.
gr8vines
Correction - these are Besta rails.
ReplyDeletedid you put wood blocking behind the besta rails? I checked out the rails at ikea and there is a 3/4" leg that sits on top/bottom of the besta cabinet, I assume you screwed 3/4" blocking/plywood to the wall so you can attach the besta rails?
ReplyDeleteAlso, do you find that the bottom of the plexi glass wants to push toward the wall? Or does it hang relatively parallel to the wall?
Lastly, is the knob on the shower clamp part of the besta system or is that something you put on there to hold the shower clamp in place? I want to put it on a wood door so I imagine I can use the hardware that comes with the rail itself and just drill corresponding holes in the wood frame.
Any info is appreciated.
I did put a 3/4" strip of wood behind the Besta rail. You don't notice it but it actually helps to hold the door away from the opening. At first I put a glide holder at the bottom of the door because I thought that the door would bang against the wall if I did not have one. However, I found that I don't need the glide holder so I removed it. The knobs are actually Ikea kitchen cabinet handles. They come in a six pack for about $5.00? They are not necessary, but I liked the way that they looked. The plexiglass door did bow inward at the bottom at first. After about two weeks it straightened out perfectly because of the weight. There are many clamps(bracket) styles that will work. If you go to Google images and type in "shower roller brackets" you will see many different kinds including ones that can be easily modified to work with wood. This is an excellent cheap alternative to Barn Door Hardware.
ReplyDeletegr8vines, you ROCK! You just made the day of 2 more sliding-door-hacker-wannabes!
ReplyDeleteits relly ausome the best idea ill defnetlyh gona copy it
ReplyDeleteill hach the hacker kkkkkkkk
I really appreciate how nice everyone has been with their comments, it has actually really blown me away!
ReplyDeleteThe RIBBA picture rail would do a great job also to hide the mechanism.
ReplyDeletenow, finally a simple idea to build a sliding door fpor our bathroom. hack of the year for me
ReplyDeleteAwesome! I've wrestled with the decision of how to put a door between our bedroom and bath (I removed the conventional one in a remodel, completed 2 years ago). This is exactly what I've been looking for, and at a price point I can afford.
ReplyDeleteHere is Utah - I can get the plexiglass sheet for around $150.
Before anyone spends money on new plexiglass sheets, check with a local plastics company for throw-away or "mistake" pieces. They usually let you scavenge/salvage their back dumpsters.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of turning Pax rails into Sliding doors. This is indeed a brilliant idea coming from a creative mind. I'd do the same if I had those materials.
ReplyDeleteI like the engineering of this door. It looks modern, sophisticated, and ideal for the area's design theme.
ReplyDeleteCan I give U suggestion, place piece of wood panel to cover the 4 individual pieces of metal so all look unified.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this idea of using a sliding closet door (instead of installing a $$$ pocket door). I am planning to go floor to ceiling with an old solid wood door and use crown molding to hide everything up top. This blog has a nice tutorial, using a closet rail (floor to ceiling example): http://oneprojectatatime.blogspot.com/2012/06/main-bath-reveal.html
ReplyDeleteHmmm. Nice thoughts everyone. Well, I would like to try this sliding door thing as the door that separates the house and the garage. People who make garage doors in perth wa discouraged people from making sliding panels as garage doors because they are easy to open for burglars.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea!
ReplyDeleteI have a project where I need to use two slider doors; one door needs to pass behind the other for access; both doors need to close (with some overlap to cover entire opening.
I can see already that the knobs on the clamps will get in the way of the doors sliding past each other (i'll use more flush clamps) ....but will the rails work for this purpose as long as the rails are staggered ?
thanks
how do you work the door from the other side?
ReplyDelete