Barn Love

We started our little barn demo/makeover two years ago. Two years! I definitely saw its potential from the moment I saw it (four years ago), which is kind of funny to me, because when I look at the before pictures from when we bought this place, I cringe a little. But yes, I was confident that that barn–ugly as it was– would unlock so much of our property’s character and charm. It just needed a little love and a pinch of patience (big pinch). As much as I love a quick turn around, I’m learning that time is my friend. It’s nice to have lived in our home long enough to really get a feel for how I want things to unfold.

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Our property used to be a turkey farm, and there was a large coop attached to the barn that I felt stumped about for months. Did we want chickens? Many of my friends have chickens, and the old-world romantic country girl in me definitely loved the idea of gathering beautiful eggs each morning, but the realist in me knew to remind myself that I have a strong aversion to even touching animals. Plus, our barn sits so close to our house; I just knew there’d be chicken poo on our porch. No, thanks! It shouldn’t have taken me months, but slow-poke me finally decided the chicken coop wouldn’t be getting a makeover with the rest of the barn.

So, with that decided, my mom and I braved snakes, cobwebs, bees nests and the like to tear out the coop! Check out my story highlights on Instagram for a throw back to that! It was yucky, yucky! But it made us feel all the girl power! I think that day was the first time I’d used a drill! After demo day, I went back into designer mode, and my sweetheart Will did the brunt of all the work at making my barn dreams come true. He had to fix the roof line where the coop had been, cut out more windows, as well as add trim to them, build and hang three flower boxes, annnnd he pretty much cleaned and painted the whole thing, too! To match our house, we chose Sherwin Williams Alabaster White for the barn, and Benjamin Moore Black Ink for the trim. Here’s a bit of the progression.

This spring everything came together when I finally was able to plant flowers in my new boxes! I chose three plants… geraniums, which I planted towards the back of the boxes, dusty miller, which I planted in the middle, and vinca in the front. The dusty miller is trying to take over so I may need to thin it out a little, but I love how full and happy these flowers are. They bring a smile to my face on the daily!

To me, this project and all of our home projects are part of a love story but especially this one. Thank you, Will, for loving me so much. Every time I look at our beautiful barn in all its flowering glory, I’m all heart eyes for you.