Thursday, September 5, 2019

Nearly There!

In the days following my last post, Dave really began hauling ass on completing the barn. In the span of two days, I suddenly had completed doors for each stall door (inside and outside), completed main doors on either end of the aisle, completed walls in every stall, completed exterior everywhere except under the eave on the front, and one nearly-complete wall in the tack/feed room. In addition, I got stall mats placed in each stall and put one in the aisle where my cross ties are so I have a nice clean place to trim hooves!

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Almost complete shingling under the eave at the back. The hole will be an exterior light...though Dave is calling it a "starling entrance" right now because he knows how much I detest starlings.
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Pano of the back of the barn. Shingling not complete and still waiting on the other door + light installation.
The mess in the photo is now picked up and I can't believe how much it makes me twitch to look at it in the image now lol
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Walls going up in the back stall (Griffin's)
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Stan in his mostly-complete stall with a partially complete sliding door
Q looking in from under the overhang
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A hot freaking mess
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All of the mess to the back of the barn and on the right of the photo is GONE as of this past weekend *celebrate*
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Lit the F up!
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Seriously. It's so freaking bright in there. That's only from THREE lights.
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I was teleworking last week and looked out to see Stan taking a nap. First time I've witnessed since moving them home.
And yes, that temp tape is loose because Dave was working and he always moves it around which results in it being loose.
I'm fortunate to have the worlds most respectable horses when it comes to this fence though. They happily much hay and don't fuck with it at all while it's loose (or any other time).
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Zzzzzz
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Saddles will go on this wall! Eeee! 
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Cleaned up (mostly)! Completed doors! Completed walls! Stall mats!
Stall assignments are, from left to right, Stan, Q, Grif.
And yes, it's really fucking gorgeous with all of that mosaicked wood.
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Front doors. (No chevrons because Dave has reached a IDGAF stage with things 😂)
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The other front door.
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Stan's stall...still waiting on one board int his photo lol
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Grif's stall (and temp feed room), also waiting on a board.
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Grif's door
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Okay, so, for the curious wood enthusiasts:
The darkest boards are 100+ year old red spruce timbered locally that used to be a schoolhouse in a neighboring town.
The pinkish boards are black cherry timbered/milled as a part of this project.
The light boards with some black blemishes (second form bottom and on top on right) are sugar maple timbered/milled as a part of this project.
The bright white-ish boards are pine timbered/milled locally.
The grey-ish hued boards (bottom and door frame) are white oak, timbered/milled in an adjacent county. (The exterior of the barn is also white oak.)
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Exterior stall door bottoms installed!
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Bottom and top. The only "unfancy" wood on the whole thing lol! See note above about Dave reaching the IDGAF stage. 
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I installed latches last night that temp tape is (finally!) not stretched across here.
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The chevron back doors. I kinda love them.
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The aisle, much more clean than in past photos! But still a mess because it's still under construction.
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The first hook for organizational purposes has been installed! 
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Okay, so we have some of the best neighbors ever.
Their granddaughter used some of the wood scraps we had to make us a wood burned sign with our house number.
It, of course, has a husky and a horse on it! The silhouette behind is of Seneca Rocks, a pretty unique climbing destination 25 min from our house and a place Dave and I took many first dates.
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Straight out of camera. My little paradise!
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Proof that the mess was (somewhat) cleaned up lol! Scraps sorted into piles along the barn (will be firewood/kindling).
Scaffolding in front to facilitate the shingles going up (they're actually mostly done as of yesterday but I haven't uploaded the photos so you get to wait for a final reveal).

It's been really nice to begin to use the barn and not do-si-do with all of the construction! In fact, I spent much of my weekend re-organizing what remains of the construction zone to clean things up around the barnyard and neaten the remaining materials (visible in the last photo). It feels really good to see things buttoned up.

As of last evening, I installed the latches on the stall doors and re-did the temp tape. It is SO NICE to just walk through the stall doors and NOT duck under temp tape now. OMG. It's also nice to be able to allow the horses to hang their heads into the barn.

The rest of the dry wall for the tack room arrived yesterday, so that will go up today/tomorrow. With luck, I may be painting in there some this weekend! I can only hope.

I am SO eager to get all of my shit into that tack/feed room and get it organized. It's the last big piece for me (besides the fence but we're just not talking about the fence right now) to feel settled with this project. As grateful as I am to have had the horses home these past many weeks, it's been hard having my things scattered about between the trailer, the barn, the basement, the garage, and the house.

I've been in a bit of a transitory phase with my tack for the past 15 months or so. When I brought the horses to Canaan last summer, I did my best to modify my trailer into an all-encompassing tack/feed room. It was tight, but it served the purposes I needed. When I moved back to our boarding barn for the winter, I kept everything in the trailer because I just couldn't handle the thought of reorganizing it all into that tack/feed room again. It's worked, but I am seriously OVER living out of my trailer/having shit scattered to the four winds. Getting my tack room completed and organized in the next two weeks is something I am SO excited about. It won't come together in organizational perfection overnight, but simply getting everything into one room will be HUGE.

With any luck, my next barn post will wrap things up! As eager as I am for this project to be done, I'll be sad to bring this series of posts to an end. While inordinately stressful, it's been a very fun project and I've very much enjoyed bringing y'all along for the process.

So stay tuned a little longer, and we'll see about bringing this all to a close.

27 comments:

  1. Wow, it's GORGEOUS!! Oh my goodness, talk about paradise <3

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  2. Dayum! The progress is smoking along now. I need Dave at my house for a bit! ;-) My hubby can fix stuff, but building things is not his forte...lol And thanks for explaining which types of wood you are using. Very interesting - locally milled wood here is super expensive and people only use it for smaller projects like decks, etc. The most common types are eastern white cedar and hemlock. We have a guy next door that mills and I want hemlock for a reno in my barn some day...

    Are you putting in a ceiling or leaving the interior open? I have a ceiling and it makes it dark and harder to install better lights! I have two crappy lightbulbs. I need to start a reno wish list for my barn now!

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    1. Ceiling in the tack/feed room will be dropped and closed to keep that room as dust-free as possible. Beyond that, everything else will remain nice and open. I've never been in a barn with a dropped ceiling like yours - I don't doubt it's dark! Most barns around here have clear panels in the ceiling to allow extra light. Mine isn't big enough to have to worry much about that. Especially with all the windows and those bright AF LEDs!

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    2. Yeah, I'm wondering now if they put in a ceiling to add insulation. Should probably shine a flashlight up there some day to see! lol Looks like your walls are a bit higher too - my barn is smallish - if only they'd added a few more feet here and there!

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  3. Absolutely GORGEOUS! I love it! I'm just excited to get electricity in my barn so I don't have to clean stalls by cell phone light (because I'm too lazy to put batteries in the headlamps). Lol!

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    1. Girl, I hear you. We have a ton of extension cords lighting things up right now. Dave texted me a few minutes ago to say that the electric company just turned us on though! Now to just get the lights installed...

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  4. I cannot believe how quick this has happened (AND I KNOW IT HAS BEEN FOREVER FOR YOU) LOVE IT ALL.

    OMG I am so jealous and I like my barn

    PS Remus also respects tape. No matter if it is on or off or dragging the ground HA :) He and Stan may be related with naps!

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    1. It must be a QH thing! Stan won't step over the white tape when it's on the ground either. I had to cover it up with the stone dust the day I wanted him to step over it for the first time lol!

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  5. 🤩🤩🤩🤩 ahhhh I can't wait to see how you get your tack room organized and the final reveal!! It's looking SO GOOD 😍

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  6. Wow, it's really coming together now- I request and expect nothing less than a massive photodump for the big reveal!

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  7. oh boy, oh boy, this is getting exciting!! Looks amazing. I love the multiple wood colors. Will you just let it age, or do you need to apply anything to it?

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    1. Yep! Just letting it age. Our house is all white oak exterior (board and batten vs the board on board that the barn is) and it hasn't been treated with anything yet. It's 10 years old. That's a big reason Dave wanted to do the barn in white oak, I may have to put a stain on it one day, but that day will be a decade plus into the future! Shingles are cedar which will also weather well.

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  8. That is so beautiful! Thank you for those wood explanations! Absolutely loved it! And I am totally in love with how they're different colors. Is the wood already treated or does it need a stain? I'm sure you can't wait for it to be done, and it's so close! I'm so excited for you!

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    1. Everything will remain untreated. The white oak is burly enough to withstand at least 10 years without treatment (and very likely much more based on our house so far). I could stain some of the interior if I wanted to make it "pop", but meh lol. Maybe one day? Def not in my plans currently.

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  9. OMG it looks SO GOOD! I love the different colored wood. I'm so excited for you and can't imagine how antsy you are right now to be all moved in!!

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  10. Dave Dave Dave! That DETAIL 😍😍 I'M OBSESSED! Can't wait to see it (and you, and the ponies, and the pups, and Dave. Lol)

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  11. Ahhhhh!! So exciting!! It looks beautiful and I can relate to the feelings of giddiness, as we finished my barn just about four years ago and moving into it was SO FABULOUS. Remind me what type of lights you bought?

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    1. This is what he went with: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JVXLQ8R?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

      Three of them in the aisle and one will go in the tack room (which will be MORE than enough lol). Also have exterior lights at each barn end above the double doors and will have two pointing out into the dry lot to facilitate mucking during the dark months.

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  12. It is amazing!! I cannot get over all the detail work!

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  13. This barn is so beautiful! I'm absolutely in love. And the photo with the rainbow overarching everything. It's just perfect.

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  14. so many gorgeous touches, it's such a beautiful personal space already!

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  15. Your barn is going to be so perfect when it's done!

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  16. Oh wow that is a gorgeous barn!!! Wow, he's a talented builder! Fingers crossed the rest goes quickly. I'm jealous. My barn is still not done and it's been years. Progress stalled completely when the tractor broke and then the truck and then and then and then. Hopefully someday it will be done. It's not going to be as pretty as yours though. I'm so impressed!

    P.S. I LOVE the rainbow picture and the sign she made for you.

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