Building the Barn of My Dreams...

Sooo...my husband and I did a thing...and we bought our dream house and property! It's nearly 7 acres, close in to town, and the cutest brick tudor house. We have loved owning property for the past three years and having horses at home, but the house was so far out that it made it difficult for us to see family and friends. The new house is literally the best of both worlds and we couldn't be more excited. 

Of course we weren't really looking for a house when this all happened. I mean, to some extent we are ALWAYS looking because both of us have the Redfin app on our phones so we can keep an eye on the market. This house popped up and I swear to you, it's exactly the dream house I always drew when I was a kid. A pointy-roofed brick Tudor, with double - U shaped driveways - one driveway to the house, and the other to the barn. It's on the top of a hill, and the property has a gorgeous yard in the front, and rolling pasture in the back. All this, and we're 5 minutes from a Starbucks and the grocery store, 10 minutes from our favorite restaurants, and our best friends live a stone's throw down the hill. My office is a leisurely 20 minute drive on back roads...which is amazing considering how much time I've spend in the last 5 years in traffic driving to my day job!

One of the most awesome things about the property are the amazing old outbuildings. We have two large coops, and a huge beautiful barn. Since we first toured the property I have had so many ideas of all the amazing things we can do...from having a wedding venue (maybe someday) to reconfiguring one of the buildings into a dream horse barn. Last week I met with a builder who could totally see my vision...to transform the middle coop into a 4 stall barn. It's going to mean taking out the floor so the barn is one level (right now it's 2 stories).

As you can see, the barn is built into the hill. I am super excited about this because it means that the temperature will stay regulated - cool in the summer, and warm in the winter. It's wide enough to accommodate 4 12x12 stalls, a 10ft aisle, and a deep storage space along the opposite wall. Feed storage will be concealed behind rolling barn doors salvaged from the barn. On the far end, we will fully finish out a tack room. I'm toying with the idea of keeping a loft area, but that might be dependent on cost. The stalls will have euro-fronts if I can afford it, and the stall walls will be created from wood salvaged from the current floor/ceiling. The builder is excited to re-use as much of the material as we can, which will keep the project hopefully within budget and of course eco-friendly.

Of course I had to put together a moodboard of my dream barn! I am in love with the idea of a white barn, but I'm not sure that's entirely a great idea. It seems pretty hard to keep clean. Since we have the rustic wood to use, I am thinking that the interior should be fully wood, stained to be consistent colored and then lacquered for ease of cleaning. For the outside, I am envisioning a clean white, with either black or very dark red trim. All the hardware will be the black iron look, and rolling barn-style doors throughout. The tack room will have a stained cement floor, and efficient (amazing looking) tack storage. I would also love a deep farm-style sink.

All of this seems a little unreal to me still...this is something I have dreamed of for so long that it seems crazy to say I'm building my dream barn. But, we are, and I am feeling so lucky and blessed! I hope you enjoy following along. XOXO!