Cleaning out the Barn

We have an old 2 stall horse barn on our property. We’ve never had horses even though the girls REALLY wanted them. I am always so impressed with those that do take care of animals larger than themselves.

Here’s what the barn looked like when we first purchased our home in 1999.

In 2011, my friend Susan and I turned the barn into a base for our business, 2 Connecticut Yankees. Susan LOVES to shop for unique items, which we would offer at a small mark up. The idea was to come to the barn, have a bite to eat, shop and socialize.

We freshened up the exterior of the barn with Ralph Lauren Barn Red paint. New flooring was added and the interior painted a bright white. String lights helped with the dismal lighting.

We had great fun and this venture lasted a few years. But we both got busy with our lives. Most of the items have sold, but the barn is still full of “stuff”.

It was finally time for me to sweep out the cobwebs and see what was behind the barn doors.

As dirty as the barn was, it was fun to find some treasures that I had forgotten about. Here is an old 1894 hope chest I had purchased for my daughter, Elisabeth.

Elisabeth also fell in love with a set of Limoges china when she was a little girl. I finally found the original set of dishes and some linens to match.

Each piece needed cleaning as years’ worth of dust had settled on them.

But slowly things sprang into life.

Here is the barn, all fresh and clean.

Susan and I need to decide what to do with the remaining items in the barn. I personally LOVE this piece I got at Round Top antique fair. Originally a display counter at one of the high end retailers in the early 1940s, it would make a fabulous kitchen island.

You may not know this but my website has a STORE tab with items that are still available. They’ve been all wrapped up and protected. If you are interested in any of them, please email me directly at [email protected]. I imagine that we will try to sell the rest on eBay, once I get my act together!

If you have a big project to tackle, happy cleaning! This was a very satisfying project.