Most of the work was contracted to our neighbor Kevin Mullen who is a general contractor and carpenter. Kevin did an excellent job of the framing and siding and getting the whole thing built. For trying to keep the costs down on the barn, all I had to do was the insulation, interior drywalling, painting, interior trim work and all the painting. Piece of cake...
I also built the doors to match the look of the barn. The doors are shiplapped pine (like the barn siding) purchased from a saw mill in Hopkington, MA. To mount the large doors I used 20" Acorn hinges purchased at Home Depot - I wanted a carriage house look.
It was finally painted in the spring of 2005. I used a Wagner Paint Crew to spray the 5 gallons of oil based Cabot stain needed to complete the body of the barn. The exterior trim is a Olympic Parchment latex stain that is the same paint used on the body of our house so all the buildings on our little acre are all visually tied in.
List of the items yet to be done on the barn:
1) Cupola needs to be added to the roof. Thre is a website that shows some good examples of cupolas that are indeginous to the New England area. I would like to have this done over the winter of 05/06 and ready to be mounted in the following spring. Maybe for Father's Day I could get a weather vane for the top of the cupola, I personnaly like the bi-plane...kids?
2)The woodshop needs to be organized. "A place for everything and everything in it's place." I am inspired by Norm Abrams, who seems to have an answer for all things woodworking. I received a tape from my friend Bill of the program where he builds a wood shop out of a two car garage, it looks like that would neaten up the shop considerably
3) I would also like to add a couple of windows in the back of the barn that would naturally lighten up the workshop and also add some ventalation. I am a big fan of windows, I think they inspire creativity. This project would be relatively simple and low cost. Perhaps in the fall when it is cooler out. |
