A dream come true: Bailey Barn Sale

ahhh, DREAMS, they are tricky little things aren't they? 

Since I was a little girl, I have dreamed of having a little "shop" of my own. As I have grown older, and life's responsibilities have taken over, the dream was forgotten. Then the internet happened, and I saw bloggers that I love and that I follow, pursuing their dreams by opening little Brick and Mortar shops ( like Shaunna did), hosting large sales (like Layla did), or even writing a book (like the Nester did). This sparked something in me that was long forgotten. 

So, along with my sister-in-law, and a lot of research....we hosted a BARN SALE! 

You see, I am married to a very creative man, and my mind is ALWAYS busy thinking and dreaming up all things decor. 

Our family business has a "barn-like" shop that is quite large, and was the perfect space to house all of our displays. We worked as busy little bees for several months....building, painting, gluing, staining, buying, styling, wood-burning....and hosted a ONE-DAY sale in October.

A few of our family members and friends also contributed some of their homemade or antique goodness to the sale. Which made for such an amazing day! All of these pictures were taken the night before, when all of the setup was complete. I so wish that I had taken pictures during the sale, but so much was happening, and we were having so much fun, sadly, none were taken! (insert sad face) 

The husbands built us these large pallet walls, which I LOVED! Our old shop had put on it's party clothes and looked dressed to impress! 

Along with homemade items, antiques and furniture, I cleaned out a lot of my well-loved decor items. And most of it sold! 

The things we contributed that didn't sell, (i.e. the amazing Queen-sized bed Baileyhusband hand-made) look great in their new home....ours! Actually that bed now belongs to our daughter, Sierra. She is one lucky girl. We joked that she secretly told everyone that looked at it during the Barn Sale, that it was already sold. 

I did happen to take one quick photo, this was my first customer....who arrived early, before the doors were officially open....and she snagged this barn-wood cross picture frame. I loved it and knew it would sell quickly. Actually all of our barn-wood frames were the first things to go!

{sorry, bad photo, all of these were taken with my phone}

What a fun day, what a fun DREAM this was. It was a ton of work, but well worth it. 

I think I would rule it a success, over 300 people came! When you plan these things, you kind of have to have faith. There was a FACEBOOK page, flyers made and distributed, signs made (I wish there was a picture of those, they were barn-shaped) to direct the way....and all the fun displays!

I honestly don't know if I will have another sale, or if this was a once in a lifetime thing....

but I do know that it was a dream come true to have that feeling of fulfilling a childhood dream of mine! 

I love these shirts that Layla from the Lettered Cottage has designed and will be selling to help with the adoption of their little Sweet P. 

 "Don't Quit Your DayDream" is a perfect quote for the ending of this post! And hopefully soon, I will be sporting that shirt....and I am so glad that I got to live out my daydream! 

It's almost SPRING people!! We are so close to seeing some new calves here at Irishman Acres...we are garden planning also, YEAH!! Can't wait to mow, get out our deck furniture, and even pull weeds....yes, it's been a long, cold winter if I am looking forward to weeds! :)

~Kim

One room, Three Ways (#3)

Today is the final day of my challenge One Room, Three Ways brought to you by Jennifer Rizzo, whom I have got the pleasure of meeting...and she is as sweet in person as she is on her blog! 

I have to say that my dear children were pretty helpful in this process. After every room "reveal" to them, my youngest son would proclaim "THIS is the best room you've done!" and then I would re-do it, and he would proclaim the same thing! :) And then I would ask the boys to carefully help me tear everything down so I could start over! It helped that I did not move any of our main pieces. No HEAVY lifting required! 

So without further ado.........

Here is the room as it ALWAYS looks:

And option #3....

Burlap, denim, recycled......playful!

I kept the jute rug alone, this room is more about summer with the kids being home ALL. DAY.

My favorite accessory: the large vintage globe. I also re-used some of the oil paintings.

My boys' little denim tent. We have some little niece and nephews that come to visit and have a ball in here.

Just covered some pillows in denim and seed sacks....and used some of my bagillian crates I have stashed all over our home.

And of course, the piece-de-resistance....our water trough recycled trunk made by our son for a 4H project that I blogged about HERE.

I have a lot of old barnwood frames, and used one on the wall, just turned it backwards for a little conversation piece. 

Well, there you have it. See, it wasn't too hard at all. I am a serial re-arranger and re-styler....but I don't believe rooms should ever stay the same. Mix it up a little, you would be surprised at how much it changes your perspective on your home. 

Now that you have seen all three...here is a recap:

Way#1: the turquoise.

Way#2: the winter white.

And Way#3: the denim and burlap.

I hope you have enjoyed my little project....and believe me, no marriage was hurt in the process...or backs. Just shopped my house....now GO and do yours!!

~Kim

OUR COMPLETED BATHROOM...finally!

As promised, but a little late....here is our completed bathroom that I showed you a couple weeks ago:

 Just a Shower Curtain . Though it only actually took a couple weeks to install (weekends only), being the very impatient person that I am, it seemed like an eternity. I will show you on another day how much this renovation actually cost....so much less than you might think! (thanks to a very skilled and good looking contractor)

I will start with the flooring choice....After many trips trying to find EXACTLY what we wanted, we chose the brick slate:

It is so warm...feels like we installed radiant heat flooring, but WE DIDN'T! Who knew slate could feel warm??

We fell in love with the brick pattern, definitely a statement piece. And worth it's price! 

Now for the "PIECE DE RESISTANCE".....

I talked Baileyhusband my contractor into installing yet another wall of recycled barn tin 

like we did in our laundry room. Only, I really wanted rusty older looking tin....and am so happy with the look it provided for this shower. 

 

I did not want the camo to overpower this room, so I cut the shower curtain in half and installed it window-curtain-style. By switching the cut ends to the outside, they are hidden and became a NO-SEW project! But for those "perfectionists", I recommend just sewing the new ends....maybe someday I will....(probably not:)

I played around with the wall behind the door, some eye candy for the wee ones....most of these items were Christmas gifts for the boys, Wyatt and Gunnar. They had seen the turkey and moose pictures at Bass Pro when we were there visiting Santa, and fell in love with them....being that they went with the outdoor theme and camo shower curtain that I was already surprising them with....we sneakily purchased them without the boys seeing!

For the mirror, it was a no-brainer....we used some leftover wood from our home renovation projects and made our own frame....and when I say WE....I mean Baileyhusband my contractor.

LOVE THE RUSTIC WOOD....

We kept the same vanity...just made new drawer fronts, and purchased new pulls.

I think the white and wood combo is perfect while keeping this room from being too dark...

and goes with the new trim beautifully.

We kept the same light fixture, just spray painted it and changed the lights....Baileyhusband my contractor was quite pleased with himself for finding these, the picture is bad, but if you look closely, there is a leaf pattern on them.

 The walls are painted a kind of khaki, greyish color called "Family Tree". Which makes this formerly bright yellow room a little more moody. warmer. cozy. inviting. (should a bathroom BE inviting? I think so!!)

The faucet was the first thing we purchased, and looks like a water pump; perfect style, perfect color, perfectly US! The countertops are also new....I REALLY wanted concrete or black honed granite....but finally decided on this Quartz instead. Price (and being impatient) trumped everything else. But I really like it and it's still in keeping with our scheme.

And for one last look at what this room looked like before:

And after:

 Before:

After:

 Before:

And AFTER:

YEAH!!! It's done, over, finished! Now the men- of -the -house have a room that is perfectly THEM, and also one that the lady- of -the -house is not embarrassed for our guests to use! 

~Kim

Linked to:

Recycled water trough...HELP ME FIND A HOME

Here is the story of our recycled water trough......

My son, Wyatt, made a TACK BOX from an old rusty WATER TROUGH we had here at the farm.

Before

After

Along with Daddy's guidance, he worked hard for days using everything recycled:

water trough

barn wood

powerline worker's rope

rusty hinges

our old living room carpet inside for the bottom

casters

This turned out beautiful and I am so proud to have this be added to the design in our home! And I am so excited about the storage potential!!

But I seriously need help! I need to find the perfect place to display this before Baileyhusband takes it outside to use in the garage....oh, the thought of it makes me cringe!

I know, I know....all of these items were once used outside...and it's supposed to be a farm tack box......

but my little man has made it a labor of love and I want to keep it nice forever! :)

So here is where I need help! I have drug this thing all over my home trying to find the PERFECT spot...

it was like Goldilocks and the Three Bears. 

1. Living Room coffee table (too tall?)

 2. Living Room under tree mural (too short?)

 3. End of bed storage (not long enough?)

4. Back into the Living Room as side table (too long?)

5. Front room coffee table (too tall and too long?)

6. Front room under window- replacing the bookcrate (too bulky?)

7. Or should I just throw caution to the wind and put it on my front porch where my bistro table is?
Yep, I was too lazy to drag it outdoors to get a picture here.....

Please let me know where I should put this masterpiece!! Can you tell I like to display my kids' artwork?

I love to re-design, recreate, and rearrange, but this time I am at a loss. ANY HELP is APPRECIATED :)

~Kim