What can I do...

[firstlovesong]

So I have a pretty cute little place.. its not bad but I would like to spiff it up some. When I first moved there about three years ago I painted the front of the barn and the side. Describing the inside it has a very wide aisle way with three stalls on the right side and a tack room on the right side. My whole barn is concrete block cinder blocks I guess they are called. Its painted greyish tan on the outside and the doors are dark green (to match my house). The stalls all have a window to outside. I will find some pictures later so you all can see but does anyone have any ideas to spiff it up? I could plant some bushes or something I suppose but its the wrong time of the year for that now and its almost a bad time to paint. The inside of the barn I would like to do something to. Its just so blah.. Ideas? Thoughts? Suggestions?

[WashingtonBay]

We have to see it before we can make suggestions!

It already sounds 'spiffier' than mine LOL.

[firstlovesong]

sorry im at work lol I dont have any pictures on this computer I will post some when I get home though.

[oursarge]

Inside of the tack room area I have a vintage looking cowboy valance on the window of the door and some posters. Our Relampago is a Colonial Spanish boy so we have a Hidalgo poster on one wall so he remembers his roots [He came from the screenwriter's farm] Outside we have vines growing up the side on a trellis and a bird house on the trellis too. The horses can't get to that vine though, I don't know if it can hurt them or not so it's where they can't touch it. Other than that ours looks pretty plain. Where we got Rompy they had DayLillies planted all along the front of the barn, it looked so pretty, they had laid up stone walls too and a barrel to catch rain from the roof but it was also part of the decor. It looked real nice and if I ever get $ I want a place like that, the barn has living quarters in it. The horses never ate the flowers. They were way off the road so alot of the horses if they could be trusted were just let out to graze they weren't in fences, they just came and went as they pleased. It was pretty comical, one horse would get in stalls with another or he'd come in one door and leave by another after checking things out, it was just so comical and something I've never seen since all the horses I know are in fences but when you live on a mountain by yourself I guess your horses can roam. The do have fences too but if the horses stayed around the barn they were allowed to be out of a fence. I guess they knew they should leave the DayLilies alone. I wish I could put pictures up because it's such a beautiful place but it's a private home and I can't invade their privacy, I mean I can but I don't think I should but I love the barn and surrounding area so much I never wanted to leave.

Pictures will help then the people on here who really know how to decorate a barn [I'm not one of them] can give some good ideas. I'd like to make mine look nicer too, hopefully we'll add some stalls in the near future but it still won't be the kind of barn I really want with an aisle and nice stalls with a tack room, wood paneling and then the living quarters!!!!

[Suzi]

Whatever you plant be sure it is safe to be eaten. A wrong curious taste.....As for decorating, be sure whatever you use is easy to clean. Barns get dusty. Do you ride western or english? That could out you in a themed direction. Maybe a wagon wheel, or hitching rail, or a short split rail fence, with plantings. I see you are in colder climate. I'd go with an evergreen planting, so it will have something year-round. You could also put lights on it at Xmas.

[KittySawrus]

Pictures would definitely help. Painting something always makes it look nicer - I know white is a pain to clean at times but it doesn't half make the area look much brighter! Some stables have hanging baskets on the outside of them, but only if the horses can't get at the plants.

Pretty name plates/boards always make the place look brighter :D

Wood panelling is nice in tack rooms. And nice bright tack hangers, with names above the tack. Colourful anything - like skips or buckets for spare bits n bats - always add a bit of colour.

I like this idea of themed objects too, like the wagon wheel etc.

[Gliderider]

You could maybe use stencils to paint around the door ways and windows. Like a flower looking vine or western theme type stuff. Name plates painted with a different theme and colors for each horse.