These are the only pictures I could find of the barn and it's in 2 pieces. This is the side the store is in now. I'll dig around for a better shot.Okay I promised the story-- I'll try to be brief.
I never thought of taking before and after pictures so there's not much to show, but for starters the barn used to be red. Last year I decided to change the shutters and trim on the house from red to yellow, so of course I couldn't stand the fact that the barn was red. "Okay- I can paint the barn." ( who was I kidding?) Did I mention it's 50' tall at the peek?
The doors were falling apart so we needed new ones, the foundation-- crumbling ( "a little cement - that will patch it"- another joke!) The barn was divided in two by a 22 foot wall- "we can knock that down and move it another 12 feet over to give me a nice feng shui" - only thing is, it was a load bearing wall!
Do I have you laughing yet?
What about the floor ?- "well we can throw some hay down- it will look cute. "
"Gee I wish that window could open..."
So it went ---on and on and on and on...till- yes, we were over budget and the job wasn't finished. "Oh crap- I never thought about lights and outlets."
So to start- the foundation got some steel rods and cement, the interior walls became raw hickory, run horizontally to help secure the foundation and cover up the ugliest cinder block you ever saw. The doors were made and installed , I started to paint the exterior, we decided on a gravel floor which my husband shoveled in 1 shovel at a time. I did throw some hay around for effect. The ceiling got power washed and painted ( 6 gallons of paint!)- husband power 1 more time, the wall did get moved and the window does open. Track lights and outlets were put in with the help of a great neighbor and "voila!"--we did it!
Now I hope I have enough merchandise to fill the 400 square foot space. I still needed fixtures. We ran around to antique stores looking for the perfect pieces that would be functional and have the look I wanted. We found a great old cabinet (painted dark red- why is everything in my life painted red?) An old antique ironing board for $7.50 ,an antique baby sleigh for the ducks , a table top for my counter desk, a bench for $20.00 that displays pillows and sort of an old married bookcase-like piece of furniture that the baby stuff is in. It all had to be painted and I wasn't going to spend anymore $$$$--- so they got painted with odds and ends left over from the house. It all turned out kind of French country blue and yellow.
Yes! It all worked great. I stole some pieces from the house along with a couple of chairs. My husband made some shelves out some left over hickory and 3 days before opening day he started the signs.
I got 3/4 of the front of the barn painted with the help of a friend's backhoe that lifted me up in the bucket so I could reach up to around 30' or so. At least it's respectable-looking and obvious that it's a work in progress. How am I going to get the last 20' done? I keep saying: "what if no one comes? What if I don't make any money?" I keep answering- "well some of the work needed to be done anyway."
Jeeze Louise- What was I thinking?
