Our little problem…

I have been so excited to share this project with you guys!! Some of you may remember a few weeks ago on Instagram I shared a little sneak peek of it & I said something like, wow this DIY project didn’t come easy & with out a fight. By fight I mean like bickering between Mr. LMB & I. It’s rare that we argue during a DIY because we both enjoy it, but this project just wasn’t going our way. At all. Like ruining drywall, making mistakes, measuring wrong, gahhhh. All the issues. Well, the project was finally done a few weeks ago & THEN our ceiling starting leaking in our lower level living room. Are you kidding me? Thankfully we have amazing family that knows all about plumbing & our ceiling is now for the most part repaired & we have no more leaks so lets celebrate that! In conclusion, we learned the hard way about this project & how to do it the right way.. so learn from our mistakes & I hope you guys love what we came up with. Here is our DIY industrial pipe sliding barn door TV cover…

& if you slide the doors open… SURPRISE!! Our TV is hidden behind those lovely barn doors!

The Vision

Who-hoo!!! We can now hide our lovely little TV in our lower level & that to me is a win! I have to confess something at this point of the blog post. Ok, so this little nook in our living room has been neglected since we have moved in. We had our old TV stand from our last house in the space, but it didn’t fit correctly so we are actually selling that piece & moved it for these photos. I moved these chairs into the space just temporarily from our other living room upstairs & I actually don’t hate it. BUT we are going to build a custom Built in entertainment center very soon in this little cove so stay tuned for that! The temporary setup isn’t too bad, but I will be super happy when this little space is all done!

Ok. This project really should have been really simple. & I’m going to blame our drywall & the fact that we kind of went into the project blindly. I have never seen anything like this before so I made it up as I went along & well, sometimes my brain doesn’t work out all the technical details.

What you need:

• Galvanized base flanges [3/4 size] (2)
• 90 degree elbows [3/4 size] (2)
• 6″ pipes [3/4 size] (2)
• 8 ft pipe [3/4 size] (1)
• eye hooks (4)
• screws
• optional: wood blocks

How we made this beast:

The doors:

We actually took an antique door & cut it into two piece that would slide together on the pipe system. We did not have a large wall to work with so the pieces had to be just big enough to fit over the TV. I would have loved it more if the pieces could have been bigger, so if you have a large wall, I say the bigger the better for more impact! Since we were working with this cove situation, it just had to be that small. So, we measured the Tv & figured out how big the door pieces had to be & cut the antique door accordingly. After the door pieces were cut we screwed eye hooks [large enough to slide easily on the large pipe you choose.] into the tops of the doors on both sides.

The pipe system:

First of all we recommend only installing the piping into studs because we made the mistake of using anchor screws on one side because we didn’t have a stud on one side. Fail. The screws came right out of the wall. Anchors are not going to cut it in this situation. Our solution? Installing wood blocks on the wall on both sides with screws to install the pipes into [as pictured]. First screw the flange into the stud or wood block. Second install the pipe extender into the flange [pick the side of this by the thickness of you TV. Meaning, how far out of the wall does the sliding door system have to be to clear the TV.] Then put the 90 degree connecter onto the extender & screw on the long pipe [Pick the size of your long pipe by how big your doors are & how big the space is that you are working with.]  At this point both sides [flanges, extender, & angle pipes] should be on the wall. Screw the long pipe into one side [90 degree angle pipe] & then slide the doors on. Once the doors are on, screw the long pipe into the other side [90 degree angle] securely & you have your system installed!

Oh my. I love it. I love that it hides our TV & I love that it’s done. Finally. This space is FAR from over. Next up is some built-ins, maybe some art, move the furniture, & on & on & on. For now I’m just going to enjoy that we can hide our television. This temporary setup will do for now, but I will be really happy to do that next big project in the space. What do you think of it? What do you think of hiding your TV? Let me know in the comments below, find me on Facebook, & chat with me on Instagram!