To help create the feel of a farmhouse / rustic barn in the interior of this modern house, we enlisted the help of our carpenters to alter the doors on the second floor.

The bedrooms of the Modern Farmhouse are located on opposing ends, with the guest bedroom to the South and the master bedroom to the North. We had a problem: we didn't want to keep the bedroom doors closed all day, and we didn't want to keep them open all day. Why? Well...

We had noticed circulation and temperature control issues when the bedroom doors were closed, in part because of only one return vent located in the hallway halfway between these rooms. In addition, closing the doors limited the amount of sunlight in the hallway, making it a little gloomy. No good.

On the other side of the equation, we have a dog. And a cat. And they, well, don't exactly love each other. (Our theory is that the dog wants to play with the cat, and that the cat would prefer it if all of us just left her alone forever.) We wanted to provide her with a safe space to nap, free from the dog's curiosity. In addition, we occasionally found long, white hair on both of the beds after having left the dog home alone for a few hours. And there were the incidents with the sneakers that had been removed from the master bathroom closet. You get the idea...a dog left unattended in the bedrooms tended to create problems.

Our solution? Split the difference - literally. We cut the bedroom doors in half, applied a cross pattern out of MDF, adjusted the doorjams to accomodate the dramatically wider doors, and rehung them with heavy duty hinges. A small fence latch allows you to connect the doors to permit them to swing as one, or unhooked lets the top remain open while the bottom is latched. The perfect solution: air, light, and the cat are allowed through, and Buck the dog isn't.

We created a similar style on the sliding doors leading to the office. By adding an MDF cross pattern, glossy white paint, and rustic pulls, we transformed these doors into an attention-getter.