In the Fall of 2010 I was asked to take on a monumental task. Huge. Outrageous. Downright crazy!
A farmer in Iowa was going to burn this barn down so he could make larger stockyards for his cattle. {insert my heartbreak here...I LOVE old farm buildings} Well....fast forward to the end of the story, and I ended up taking the barn down...along with a few family members so I could salvage it's beautiful wood and let it live on in a new way. My parents were kind enough to let me store half of the wood in their barn until I could drag it all home to my warehouse. Yesterday, I decided I should be a good daughter and give them their space back in their barn so I loaded up the trailer and brought home what I could.
The drive between their home and mine is unbelievably beautiful...perfect blue skys, the sun was shining on the rolling hills...farms everywhere, it makes for good "thinking time" as I drive. I was thinking about all this beautiful old wood and what I could do with it all.
Half of the wood I took off had chippy white paint, but the other half is so special and pretty. This is actually a building known as a 'corn crib'. Farmers would fill the outside walls with corn to let it dry and for storage...and could still park their tractors up the middle of the building. The wood on the interior of the walls is my favorite...never painted but the wind that whips through the Iowa plains weathered it with a perfect patina...similar to driftwood.
The first project I did was to cover one wall in my guest bedroom when I redecorated the room through a Cabbages & Roses sponsored project. I cannot tell you how much I love this wall. I want one in every room of my house.
shelving units...
and shelves in my kitchen...
But yesterday I was thinking about things like this:
table runners...
shelving units...
and shelves in my kitchen...
(the 3 above photos are courtesy of my Pinterest boards. The sources are Style Me Pretty, Our Vintage Home Love and Nada Farm.)
And NOW to confuse my little brain even MORE...I want to find a use or all the roofing I tore off, too?? Oh, did I mention that? I guess I should clarify...the roof on this 90 year old building had 10 foot long sheets of the most beautiful corrugated galvanized metal on it. Perfectly weathered...just a tiny bit of rust...I want this on a wall in my house soooo bad. I am thinking of using it to cover the wall the fireplace is on in our basement media room.
This photo shows the underside of the roof, the outside is a very light gray with all the incredible patina.
{love...}
Anyone have any ideas for me? Or links to beautiful projects using barn wood and old metal? I would LOVE to hear! How would YOU use this wood if you had it?
Inspire me, girls! I need it!
