Barn Budget Facelift

Armour Horse Stalls April 22nd, 2015

Barn Budget Facelift – A unique way to budget and renovate your barn and horse stalls.

Ever look around your farm and see everything in bloom except your barn? What I mean is: has your barn seen better days? Fences falling down, paint chipping, horse cribbing marks. Want to do some updating but unsure where to begin? Well then, this article is for you! My first suggestion is to take a few photos of your barn, stalls and property. Then start a Pinterest.com account. If you are not computer savvy, then a poster board, glue, scissors and some horse, farm or barn magazines will do. Begin to scroll the internet or magazines for pictures of barns, stalls, fencing, foliage and special farm, barn or horse stall features that interest you. Pinterest.com will allow you to set up “boards” for each area of your barn for instance: Inside the Barn, Outside the Barn & Horse Stall Features might be “boards” on your Pinterest.com account or sections on your poster board. Consider using this as an opportunity to dream big! Choose what you love and not what you think will be in your budget.

Once you have your Pinterest.com boards labeled and “pinned” a few items or you less savvy individuals have cut and pasted some magazine pictures into each category: now you are ready to view and compare your “dream pics” with your “reality pics”. Start by creating a list of each component you will need to achieve your dream barn picture. Once you have all the components down that you need to achieve the dream begin to label each component with a numerical priority. For instance, if you have gates on your stalls that no longer swing because the hinges are falling off then you might consider this a numerical priority #1 as opposed to priority #10 horse themed art for the aisle or new feed buckets. Once you have labeled the priorities of your barn continue by making a list of ways to achieve the #1 priority, fixing the immobile horse stall gates. For instance you might need new hinges, need new lumber or need to completely replace the gate.

As you begin to list those needs associated with achieving the goal, scribble or browse online for the cost of the items, this will assist you in setting a budget for each of your problem areas. Likewise begin to browse and list the cost of the projects on your dream board. I suggest starting with one area at a time, so it is not so overwhelming. As you begin to list the costs of fixing what you have and pricing your “dream” barn or stall components, a budget for each numbered priority will begin to form. You might consider setting a 1, 3 and 5 year goal for each project which may also depend on your budget.

Now that you have a list of priorities, dreams and costs, now begin to research suppliers for each item to make your fix or dream come true! For instance in the need for a new gate hinge you might have found a handy store in town you never new existed that was running a sale or a lumber yard in the county over that had a surplus or if a new horse stall gate was needed you may have found a company like www.armourhorsestalls.com that can custom size a gate to fit that existing barn opening for a price within your budget!