Barn Decor

[mdp9]

We have been at our new farm about a month and I am starting to think about decor. We have a lot of wall space! A bathroom/laundry room, viewing lounge, 2 tack rooms, and a hallway connecting a couple of these rooms.

I have loved these wall hangings from Ursula Dodge Design https://www.etsy.com/shop/ursuladodge

Another idea I had is to get an aerial shot of the property (maybe a drone?) hung in the hallway. Or if I can track it down, a photo of what the land looked like before or during construction 15 years ago.

We’ll have photos from competition, group photos from horse shows, a ribbon wall… Any other links to wall hangings or cool ideas you like?

[anon81364900]

You can get pretty decent aerial shots just using Google Earth and grabbing a screenshot. Can’t zoom in too too much, or your image would be all pixelated. Along the same vein, I wouldn’t print it in large format. But for a 12x14" kind of framed picture, it’d be totally ok. And free!
Here’s an example of a farm right near me:

[Bluey]

Our covered arena has a tack room/lounge with observation windows.
There is a short hallway, the bathroom is on the left and the walls along it have those laminated horse anatomy charts on them, so everyone can refer to them, especially useful for 4H kids.
Our vets love those.

The black/white picture was a present when we built the tack room and looks nice there.
You can see it from the outside of the observation windows also.
Here is a picture so you can see how it turned out:

[pony_grandma]

In our tack room I made a beautiful old wood bit wall. Vs bit box Many bits not in use anymore but it makes a nice display.

I’ve always wanted to wood burn all the horses names, over the years, in some of the wood also.

I have some old truck license plates hung, one a vanity plate that says HER F250. The annual State Fair ones. Wyoming always has the bucking horse plate I bought some off of ebay, made art pieces featuring them.

[Bluey]

Also, on the tip from another COTH, sorry, don’t remember who, we used these curtain rods to hang old bits.
The curtain rods come with little snaps on O rings just right to hang anything from:

[NaturallyHappy]

What a great idea! Thx!

[SCI]

I put Mixtiles (photos printed and framed) up around the top of my tack room. All the pictures are in black and white and a mixture of “artsy,” fun shots, and jumping shots. I also hung bits from a brass cafe rod (all the hooks in my tack rooms are brass).

[cowolter]

How about making western style? Old West pictures, horseshoes, and old cards ad signs on the walls? You could get large sheets of brown wrapping paper, cut into big circles, fold into half and then 3, and cut out the spokes to make big wagon wheels to adorn the walls with. (A bit like making paper snowflakes, but circular)

[NancyM]

I use the top of the tackroom walls for ribbons, which provides colour in an otherwise cluttered room, and someplace to put them that is out of the way, and a better option than putting them in a box somewhere, or throwing them away. The only other collection I have is stuff that I have found around this old farm, which was farmed by workhorses 150 years ago. So I have some old workhorse shoes, some mule shoes, and other small bits of broken and old haying machinery parts, a tooth off an old mower. These things are displayed up high, above the grooming stall, out of the way. There is not a lot of wall space available for other than storage of tack and accumulated crap. Oh, I have some win pictures from a friend’s race horse who boarded here as a coming two year old, and who I rode a bit in January, trotting around in my arena before she went into training at the track… and I was stunned by her brilliance, and predicted her greatness. And I was right, she was a superstar, multiple stakes winner, very special. She had been purchased for $500 as a yearling, so it was a race career worth celebrating.

[ayrabz]

i NEVER tire from seeing beautiful barns and tack rooms. SCI…thats just so lovely! (but this is what comes from a lot of room to hang ‘one at a time’…) one thing: I love collections and antiques. and found I was drawn to antique door knobs…some are wooden some white ceramic and some cut glass…it was a fun collection to enjoy (no $500 expense, just pick up a doorknob when I found one out antiqueing.) I realized they would be great, safe, and a fun collection in the widdle ghetto barn for halters, hose loops, tack, etc Now, for my real tack—any further decorating (my barn is VERY tiny) I always wanted a corner armoir. (just a space I could do for tack that would work) I’m going to look for photos and come back to add. also: I ‘hung’ my ‘first’ pony over the corner tack armoir…(my rockin’ on the metal frame pony! )

wish my pix were ‘closer’ up as far as inside. I splurged on the chrome hooks and saddle racks and bridle hangers everywhere inside. (just like the brass ones) . The ‘doors’ to the wardrobe I had a carpenter cut in half vertically and put on a ‘piano hinge’ so they fold completely back against it, out of the aisleway (they were big!)

got that huge sucker off ebay…(its old) loading it into my little beater truck bed was fun, but getting it OUT and into position was crazy!

[PaddockWood]

Wow. All great ideas. Love the anatomy displays and SCI your pictures and brass hangers are stunning.
Arabyz - love your armoire and rocking horse. And could you post some of your antique door knobs?
I was thinking of that idea but didn’t know where to look to buy. Sounds like so much fun and pretty.

[ayrabz]

PaddockWood…my ‘collection’ began with literal antique knobs my grandparents had…only a few, one porcelin, one wooden, one glass–. I’d always liked them and it IS an easy/low expense item to ‘browse’ for if you like antiqueing. I never ‘pursused’ them any other way…but now with Covid I may start to look on ebay/etsy, etc. Just know, like most things…there can be the REAL costly upper level ones, and the lower ‘farmhoue’ ones. I’m gonna add a photo off an ad selling some just to show the older more casual style ones. when my widdle ghetto barn was ‘converted’ from a tin shack boat shed…my builder had some amazing wood boards to line it with. it was reclaimed but NICE and thick these boards have circular holes every so often where they were drilled for connecting hardware. My ‘little’ beginning of using my collection I just slipped the knob spindles into these holes in useable spots. so I really don’t have an ‘all lined up’ shot of them…but this gives an idea of the age of the ones I have and use----ugh. having real trouble downloading a photo for you. will keep trying.

[PaddockWood]

Everytime I read “widdle ghetto barn” I laugh. It sounds so cute and I PM’d you my email and cell for sending photos. Whatever is easier and thank you for the inspiration!

I’ve settled on a theme for my tack room and porch from this one pillow I have:

I’ve got chinks and a big rancher hat and other goodies. Love the energy of this image and all the colors. It excites me to think of decorating someday after the gruel of building a barn.

[Atlas_Shrugged]

I have framed posters from the Devon Horse Show in my tack room - pretty !

[EverElite]

This is stunning! I’m convinced, and now will be slowly phasing out my old red plastic hooks for brass ones.

[eightpondfarm]

i hung some stars in the entrance to the horse barn

[Bluey]

@eightpondfarm

i hung some stars in the entrance to the horse barn

Neat, now add a chandelier to light the stars up?

[2DogsFarm]

@ayrabz I your armoire!
If I had such a piece perhaps I’d straighten up my Plain Vanilla barn to showcase it.

As it is now, a resin 2-door cabinet holds my miscellany.
Repurposed wall cabinet holds medical box & “stuff”.
Tack - saddles & harness - hang on hooks on one wall. Bridles on another wall.
Stalls have brass nameplates, but that’s about as fancy as it gets.
Right now my “decor” consists of a couple (fading) photos of the first horses I brought home, a laminated 24X36" poster found at a Tuesday Morning shop showing a horse tacked up & identifying - in English, German & French - each part of the tack. And a metal thermometer with a horse print gifted to me by horsy friends.

@eightpondfarm The stars are pretty, but at my place they would be festooned with bird poop & dust. Lots of dust…

[Delaney]

I have a “Hall Of Fame” in the corridor between the tack room/office and stables with a few bridles and halters (figured 8’ed and oiled, accordingly with name plates) of my notable mounts.

Keep in mind, my definition of notable varies from “first saint of a mare I broke my arm on” and “made it around my first course, barely” to “first cooler won” and “first 1.50m.”

[Bluey]

@2DogsFarm

@ayrabz I your armoire!
If I had such a piece perhaps I’d straighten up my Plain Vanilla barn to showcase it.

As it is now, a resin 2-door cabinet holds my miscellany.
Repurposed wall cabinet holds medical box & “stuff”.
Tack - saddles & harness - hang on hooks on one wall. Bridles on another wall.
Stalls have brass nameplates, but that’s about as fancy as it gets.
Right now my “decor” consists of a couple (fading) photos of the first horses I brought home, a laminated 24X36" poster found at a Tuesday Morning shop showing a horse tacked up & identifying - in English, German & French - each part of the tack. And a metal thermometer with a horse print gifted to me by horsy friends.

@eightpondfarm The stars are pretty, but at my place they would be festooned with bird poop & dust. Lots of dust…

We did that also, had this old white metal and glass cabinet, first used in our old 1950’s race training barn.
We repainted it and are using it for medical supplies in today’s tack room.
Looks and works like new:

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