My barn is painted!
When I first introduced myself in Smaller Homes I posted a link to pictures of my flower beds, yard, and barn. Even then, 5 years ago, the barn needed some work, and almost all the original paint had weathered away. The back, and left side, didn't appear to have ever been painted. The shed on the right side was leaning--if you look at the before pic you'll see the support post, which isn't original, but had been added sometime before we bought the place, was kicked forward.
On the left side of the barn was a large, volunteer mulberry tree, which had sprouted against the foundation, and over the years had grown under the blocks. Last year I realized the mulberry was leaning more and more, and made the decision to have it cut down. I loved that tree, whose lower branches made a lovely, shady canopy, but the stability of the barn was at stake.
My father decided that the shed, on the other side, was in danger of collapsing on me whenever I took the lawn tractor out, so he volunteered to do some shoring, patching, and painting. He has two young 'handy-helpers' doing most of the work, but I've been putting in some time painting, helping clean up years' accumulation of stuff, and stacking brush from some other small volunteer trees that need to come out.
Here's the before picture, from 5 years ago. For newer members--our place used to be a dairy farm, and the block building on the front (aka the milk house or buttery) is where the cans of milk were stored, on the North side of the barn:
I took the following pic earlier today, in the bright sunlight. You can see the stump from my beloved mulberry, and the trees that have grown much taller on the other side. To me the barn looks very lonely without the mulberry tree. :(
The old bay doors, which were tall enough to admit a stacked hay wagon, have been replaced with shorter doors--you can see the unpainted metal hinges. I saved all the hammered iron hinges, in case some day, someone wants to restore it.
We have some patching to complete on the left side, and my father is lobbying to paint the milk house. I kind of like the weathered exterior, though. If I paint it, I'll use the same color as on the house, a custom mixed tan (custom because I mixed it myself, lol), with red doors to match the barn.
I'm so grateful to have the barn repaired, grateful for my father's help, and grateful for this time that I'm spending with him.
Moccasinlanding, I'm still planning on turning the milk house/buttery (currently the potting shed) into a hideaway, but my daughter, who is becoming interested in gardening, is starting to cast glances in that direction. ;)
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- 11 years ago
- 11 years ago
missouribound