Tips to spruce up the barn, got any?

[bluedapple]

Any tips to spruce up the wood barn? Looking for pictures or good ideas to make the barn look great this spring on a budget?
I think I have been waching too much "sell that home" on TNT.

Ill start; fresh paint, with homeade flower boxes under the windows

[*JumpIt*]

Daily decobwebbing and weekly powerwash/dusting.

[bluedapple]

Yeah, your right. Powerwashing does wonders in the spring.

[deltawave]

A couple of flowering trees.

A hex sign--they're beautiful, historic, and IMO belong on all barns. :yes:

The one on my barn is for "Sun, Rain and Fertility".
http://www.rauscountrystore.com/browse.cfm/4,1969.html

I only wish I could find a bigger one. They're so pretty.

[equusvilla]

This is probably a little bit more than you were looking for - but new lights made a HUGE difference in our barn..

http://equusvilla.blogspot.com/2009/01/barn-lighting-renovations.html

I like the signs the other poster was talking about too. Little things can give a barn character. If you have room, make a seating area and make sure it looks inviting by keeping it clean and use washable pillows. I recently visited a farm that for a foal fest party had outdoor loveseats set up around the riding arena with throw pillows. So simple - yet so very elegant..but that was just for the party. Flowers can do wonders - hanging baskets, pots, window boxes and beds...

BUT - no matter what you add, if it is not kept clean, dusted, weeded and maintained, it will not ad - but rather detract from your barn.

I love a tack room full of pictures, ribbons etc...but only if it is nicely displayed and again - not covered in dead bugs and dirt!!! ha ha..

I hope others chime in and post photos - I would love to see some more.

Good topic!!

[Bravestrom]

I agree - nothing I hate more than seeing cobwebs in my barn. Keeping the barn clean and free of dust/cobwebs goes a long way to having a fresh looking barn.

Can't wait until we can keep the windows open all day. I actually think less is more. I don't like to see a barn cluttered with lots of stuff - needs more dusting and looks junkie.

I try to keep things minimalist.

[equusvilla]

Some pictures I found on google images:
Barn window boxes:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3177/2759839510_d4c5599fb7.jpg?v=0
http://hemingwaysouthcarolina.com/images/barnwindow.jpg

Flower Pots by a barn:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3158/2800845988_4249557682.jpg

Another cheap idea - Go to Hobby Lobby and get 5x7 frames either with or w/o glass and make Stall name plates for your horses. I did this for a show one time and got the frames for $1 a piece and just used a fancy font on my computer - some nice paper that matched my barn colors and it looked really nice!

[NoDQhere]

We planted rose bushes and put in a fountain in front of the stable. This really looks nice and dresses the place up. We are planning more landscaping in the Spring. Inside the barn we have put up pictures and the foal medals from the Keurings. I'll take some pictures later. Plus, SO is a wood carver so he has put up some neat carved plaques and signs.

Here is a picture of the roses and fountain. None of this cost a fortune. We found the fountain at Lowes on sale and the roses were on sale as well. The sunflowers grow naturally all over. We leave them for the birds. I think they are pretty too.

[2DogsFarm]

LOL!
Is this the horseperson equivalent of shopping the seed catalogs?

I try to keep things organized & dusted inside. I recycled a kitchen cabinet for barn use and have some wire shelving for the odds & ends.
I got 2 small wooden shelves at IKEA for $10/ea and put them up at each stall to hold brush boxes.
Underneath the shelves are hooks that hold grooming halters, spurs, etc.

Deltawave - the hex signs are gorgeous!
I now have my eye on the Double Distlefink for the front of the barn, right above the slider.

NoDQ: is this planted anywhere near horsey reach?
I'd love to put something flowering at the front of my barn but my boys have access unless I put whatever outside the gate.
I guess I could hope they won't eat roses and drink the fountain dry.

I feed BOSS and always have tons of "volunteer" sunflowers in my compost pile and the compost bed I plant in.
Last Summer I purposely planted a row - including some fancy purchased sunflower seeds - along the West side of the barn and not a single %^*& sunflower came up!
Of course the volunteers were still abundant elsewhere...

[merrygoround]

Flowers, flowers, flowers.

Since the barn is old, fighting spiders is a losing game.

Washing windows, painting trim, always helps. Mowing, weed whacking, mowing, weed whacking, mowing............!

[CanterQueen]

Don't just sweep out that barn isle, hose it down! If you have a center isle barn, hose off the stall doors on the inside too (but don't hose INSIDE the stalls :D). You'll be amazed at how much dust comes off the woodwork and dirt off the floor.

If you don't already have it, add simple painted wood trim around doors and windows -- it makes a big statement and it's cheap. Paint with lots of bright white -- it really cheers things up. Paint the inside of your tack room and wash stall bright white -- again, it really brightens them up.

Clean those windows!! And if you have them, think about painting the undersides of overhangs (eves -- outside) a bright white. It really reflects sunlight to the inside of your barn.

Cheap solar landscape lighting helps for the outside and they have new ones that really spotlight an area -- like a tree or a barn door. Looks great from the road.

I've also seen bright colored buckets and grooming totes used -- one different color for each horse. Like hot pink and lime green. VERY cheery, and it's easy to tell which horse's stuff you have.

Okay, that's all I can add . . . .

[deltawave]

I now have my eye on the Double Distlefink for the front of the barn, right above the slider.Everybody needs a Double Distlefink. :p

I have always loved hex signs, and when I drive through Pennsylvania I always try to spot real ones on barns in Amish country. :yes:

[Wizard of Oz's]

our barn recently added cheap hanging plants between crossties and wash racks. they look pretty nice, although the horses do try to eat them occassionally;)

[Mia412]

I have a friend who feeds her horses some kind of mineral goo that comes in blue half-moon shaped buckets. When we wanted to spruce up our barn, we "obtained" several of them from her pile of empties and created these:

http://s461.photobucket.com/albums/qq339/foxwood42/?action=view&current=IMG_0256.jpg

http://s461.photobucket.com/albums/qq339/foxwood42/?action=view&current=IMG_0259.jpg

The plants are pretty young in these pictures. It didn't take long for them to be full of flowers with ivy that reached the ground!

[bluedapple]

I know this isn't exactly on the cheap, but I always wanted to add a porch off of the front of the barn. I picture a table and chairs and lots of hanging baskets.
Also, I have seen some really beautiful pots of flowers flanking the entrance to the ring

[2DogsFarm]

I know this isn't exactly on the cheap, but I always wanted to add a porch off of the front of the barn. I picture a table and chairs and lots of hanging baskets.

Check out your local Home Depot or Lowes - there's a synthetic product that looks like flagstone and comes in sections that interlock to form a deck. Or you could use the large rectangular cinderblock pavers set into sand.
Add plastic or teak benches - both are pretty weather-resistant.

I'd give it a try myself except I know one of my horses (Mr. Junior Engineer) would reassemble the whole thing and any furniture would be doomed to become horse-toys :(

[dawglover]

I know this isn't exactly on the cheap, but I always wanted to add a porch off of the front of the barn. I picture a table and chairs and lots of hanging baskets.
Also, I have seen some really beautiful pots of flowers flanking the entrance to the ring

That's exactly what I want to do. Now to talk DH into it. ;)

[kookicat]

I like to have plants/flowers. I have a lot of hanging baskets, and tubs with roses in them. Tulips too, in tubs. It looks very pretty!

Another thing I'm going to do this year is get some new gravel. I've seen some really nice buff coloured gravel, and I think it would look fabby.

[goeslikestink]

i like clean yards ie cobwebs gone
and ailes to be clear of junk which is a hazzard anyways they should be clear in case you need to exit fast ie fire hazzards

i have a feed room in my big shed and in there i keep all my tools and equipment for the yard
i like things tidy like hay and straw areas all nice neat and tidy i always sweep mine and the feed room so not to encourage vermin around food deposits

i like nice hanging flower baskets they are cheap to buy

and i think a lick of cresote on the fences to help keep them longer also looks nice
as a spruce up as in all boundary lines to be repaired or painted

i was thinking of getting gravel or road chipping from the motorway as you can get them really small and they pack down hard so was thinking of having all my areas outside the barns done so nice to walk on rather than mud


replace and repair any holes anywhere and do what canter queen said you be surprize at the amount of dirt
do it now and by time springs comes here they will breath in freash air and not cobwebs and dust haha

haha they might have an allergy to clean lviing haha
have fun oooh and paint the poles and jumps if they wooden

[JSWiley]

I already have plans to pressure wash the outside of our barn in the spring along with doing some gardening around the outside. Im counting down the days until Spring!