We purchased 6 acres of land not to far from our home and there is a lot of work to be done. Our first project is tearing down a really old {nasty} barn that homeless people were using as a hotel and dump. That land got pretty abused up until now, but we are working to make it awesome. So, like I said first we are working on getting rid of that barn. And what comes with a really old barn? Awesome barn wood!! And lots of it :)
This is the barn. It’s not super big, but it is going to be a lot of work. We have only pulled off the tin around the outside of part of it, cleaned up some garbage and wire around it, and pulled part of the fence down.
I took home a few pieces of the old wood to see what my creative genes could come up with. I debated sanding it or not, but in the end I went ahead and sanded. It took some of the ‘barn wood’ look away, but it also brought out a really neat grain and character.
so much character!
It was a little bit longer than I wanted it, but I didn’t want to just cut it with the miter saw because it wouldn’t look authentic at all. So Grant pulled out the axe and tried chopping it to make it look more of a rustic looking cut.
Well, it totally backfired and the wood was shattered and was ruined. Project FAIL.
But I did salvage a small portion for a little sign on my front porch. I got the post idea HERE and I couldn’t do just a regular old WELCOME sign. I’m a very anti “everybody’s doing it” type of a person. This initials-in-the-tree idea came to me while I was running earlier that day. [side note: running is the best!]. I used a wood stain to make the heart and initials, but it kind of just looks like a sharpie, then sprayed it with a lacquer. Maybe I’ll have to make some adjustments with the initials and heart and either wood burn it or hand carve it like you are suppose to on tree trunks ;)
I have another project coming along for more of that barn wood. We’ll see if it actually turns out though! What other projects would old weathered barn wood be perfect for? Give me some ideas!!
