03 April 2009

Barns








When we bought our house, one of the things I was most excited about was the old barn that was on the property.  I had so many hopes and dreams for the barn - with its fabulous and interesting roofline, its old windows, the hayloft, its 6 stalls, and all of the unused space.  

Well, it has been nearly 6 years and we have yet to do anything with the barn.  The house had so many unexpected needs, being as it was built in 1928 and hasn't been maintained all that well. While the house now has a new roof, the wiring and plumbing on the main floor is up to code, and the wood rot has been replaced, the poor old barn is in desperate need of some pretty substantial TLC.  I am hoping that this summer we can really start to spend some time working on getting her to the condition that she needs to be so that we can start to really use her.  As it is right now, we have a horse (that came with the property) who uses the very last stall.  That leaves five stalls that have so much potential.  The stalls are all under the "addition" which runs off of the original barn.  The original building was probably built sometime around 1930 and is fairly solid, although in need of some maintenance and a new roof.  It has a huge hay loft above it which I am dying to get my hands on as there is a door at one end that opens to the roof of the studio - a structure connected to the original building with a flat roof.  I would love to use that half of the hayloft as a "girls only" clubhouse complete with walk-out deck.  :)

I have always loved barns and ours is no exception.  I am nearly giddy with excitement at the idea of being able to begin planning the renovation as she has so much potential!  I don't really want to do major work, but there are a lot of small projects that we can do ourselves.  Now I simply need to motivate my handsome and very handy husband...

The barns above have been converted into usable spaces - an idea that I am really excited about.  I love the idea of *reusing* something to make it work for us~

xo


{barns above found here, here, here, here, here, and here}

11 comments:

Kasey said...

so which barn is yours???
i want pics..
xo

gatherings home said...

So, I am having a bit of barn envy. I've always romantized the idea of renovating a barn. I hope you keep us updated when you start to get your hands dirty :)

Ness Lockyer said...

I would love to see your barn. I bet it is beautiful even in its natural state. The barns you showed are lovely. Have a great weekend with your boys.
Ness xx

littlebyrd said...

Oh - exciting project! Your house and barn sound pretty wonderful. I am so happy you left me a comment as it led me over here and I can't wait to read more!!

ellie mae said...

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to live in an old house with a barn on the property. I feel like I live on a farm now with all our animals. (pigs included) We have 3 horses that would love to be in that old barn.
Is your barn one of the pictures or are those inspiration photos? I would love to see it. :)

mimi charmante said...

Okay, to be clear - the fabulous barns in my post, made mostly of stone, are all from Europe and England. What I wouldn't do for one of those barns!
I plan to take photos of our sad, sorry barn this afternoon and will post them later today if all goes well~
xo

Christy said...

My dream house would definitely include having a barn on the property. I love the second picture of the barn... beautiful! We live in a parsonage right now and there is actually an old barn on the church property. Unfortunately, it is much need of repair but it's a really neat place to take some pictures... you have got me thinking:)

I would love to see your barn and what you do in the process of the renovation/remodeling.

Have a great weekend!

Joyce said...

I was just going to ask if we could see your barn. Until I caught your comment here. I love old barns. Yahooo... I can hardly wait!! xoxo

Sherry said...

What a fabulous project, to convert an old barn. I'm sure you have lots of ideas and can't wait to begin!

Tina Tarnoff said...

My goodness, I would just love to have a barn and use it as my art studio. I'm getting shivers as I'm thinkg about it:).
Have fun renovating it!

Debra said...

Part of the fun is dreaming about what might be. Sounds like you will make it into a great usable space. Looking forward to your pictures- that you do so well.