barn

Chad and I are pouring all of our energy into this barn, we eat, sleep and drink it. Every thing is barn barn barn. Finally, the walls are up and painted! I wrote a barn update 18 days ago, but so much has changed, and this is the fun part! You have to see it….

unpainted barn

The walls are crazy OSB.

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Chad wears his sexy suit when he paints and primes.

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Spraying the walls went super fast. Says the girl who sat on the floor and watched her husband stand on a scaffold dressed in a full body suit in 90 degree heat.

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Do you know how meaningful this photo is?

This is what I saw, when after a year of living in this house, fixing up this barn and land, pouring a bunch of money and fears and Nellie Olsen moments into this dream that I thought to myself for the VERY FIRST TIME, “hey, this might actually work!”. A YEAR after we jumped in.

trim

Once those awful OSB board things were up, Chad and Sean trimmed everything out so it would look a little more purposeful and homey. Not too bad, huh?!

painting

All together, Chad sprayed a coat of primer on everything, then one coat of paint. My parents came Saturday and we primed all the trim, then yesterday, Chad’s parents came and we did one last coat of paint with rollers and brushes.

wood chandy

Did you notice something in the photos above? So, the wood chandelier isn’t actually installed, but Chad rigged it up so we could start thinking about the height we want it, and also, we wanted to go ahead and hang our ceiling fans, so I needed to see the chandelier so I could choose the best length for the fan pole things. Lighting is one of those things that I cannot visualize. I actually have to see it all together. Everyone that works with us loves me for that.

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So here’s the chandy all rigged up. and look, a ceiling fan!

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I agonized over even using ceiling fans. I KNEW we needed them, right now we don’t even have ac in this barn. But, normally I HATE the look of ceiling fans. Two things changed my mind. First, I noticed that on every episode of Fixer Upper, Joanna incorporates ceiling fans into the rooms she designs, she is single-handedly making me stop hating them.

Second, when it came time to pick out a fan, Caroline pointed out that when you stand on the floor and look at this specific model  (the 60″ Areto fans in White from Hunter/Casablanca) there’s nothing that detracts from the simple design–no big black grates, no motor parts showing, no blood, or pipes or puss (I have no idea what I feel like I see when I look up at some fans, but this one is so simple that it blends right in with the ceiling).

Remember how I told you that so many people are helping us with the barn? Well the Casablanca company emailed and wanted to donate fans for our barn–no strings attached. So even though this isn’t a sponsored post, when it comes to the barn, we need all the help we can get so I humbly, and excitedly accepted two simple, streamline, puss-less white fans with remotes for our barn.

I LOVE them! I also have a sweet spot for fans on poles, we ended up using 24″ extension poles for the fans and I think it makes them look old-timey or industrial or something.

PS, right now you can win your own fan from Hunter/Casablanca along with a fresh coat of paint (might I recommend white?) at their facebook page.

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And look at this!! Two fans that don’t make your eyes burn and a rigged up chandy! I’ve waited a year to get to hang the chandelier that was in our rental, the one I didn’t even want to cut the long cord for because I just knew it had a greater purpose.

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Next up, addressing this floor. I am SO ready to pour paint on it and call it a day, Chad is going to have to hire a team of body guards to keep me from putting rugs down and moving furniture in as he sleeps tonight. We’ve got one week until Chad’s hosting a trial mens event so we can work out the kinks before our first real event on September 27. That’s when my sister is putting on a sold out writer’s circle/workshop here with singer, songwriter Christa Wells. And we still have SO MUCH to do. I still need to find comfy, pretty, inexpensive seating for at least 10 cute hineys, order coffee carafes, clean the entire outside, move in furniture, install a sink in my office and design the kitchen in there so we don’t have to rip the sink out later…

mess

I am SO looking forward to Emily’s event here, because that’s where I can watch how this place is being used and make some adjustments, host and not feel like I have to be “on” for the first thing we have out here. Invitations for the Nesting Place community to come out here and craft, swap, hang out coming soon!

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For now, won’t you enjoy this teaser video that Dad and I made two weeks ago to announce the Hope*ologie event? Tickets will go on sale for Hope*ologists who aren’t members of Hope*ologie in two weeks. We welcome you into the imperfection with open arms.