Looking east down the barn in 2008
We bought this barn in 1983. While I did put some stuff out there (a wicker couch in the loft, shutters in the workshop, a metal basket stand for the farm stand in the end bay, etc.) mostly I spent the best part of 3 decades keeping the barn organized and neat and clean.
I even built his workshop for him with wood saved from an old fence and collected the cabinets and chests of drawers from tag sales to hold his tools. Put his sorted hardware in labeled jars and hung his hand tools on the wall, with outlines for each one, so they could be put back where they belonged.
Looking west down the barn in 2008
When I got real sick in 1999 it started to go downhill. My husband, who was never taught to clean up after himself, would work out there and everything lay where he dropped it.
When we started raising our own food in 2008, I again cleaned the barn up and put everything back where it belonged. I kept it up for about 5 years and then I gave up. I could not keep up with him and all the other things I had to do.
The butchershop got cleaned out 2 – 3 times a year, the chicken coop every months, and the cold room as needed. I would pick things up and put them away if I had an empty hand and was headed where they belonged. But mostly, it turned into a disaster.
It’s been like that for about 7 years. He has to work out there, and there just was no room left. He’d clear a small space, mostly by piling stuff on top of stuff, so he could work, like when he built the barn doors in January.
Looking east at the end of the barn April 2019
He’s been making noises for over a year about “going out and cleaning up” in the barn. He’d drift out there, but was soon back, I suspect overwhelmed by the job.
Looking west down the barn April 2019
These 2 photos were taken after he’d started hauling some of it out. He quickly reached the point where he couldn’t put most things away because of this:
North wall of workshop April 2019
There’s a bench and hardware jar storage under all that.
South wall of workshop April 2019
There’s a bench with a grinder and I think a lathe on this wall.
West wall of workshop April 2019
The cabinet in the back was to hold his power tools and extension cords.
But about a month ago he really started working out there, off and on. He had a scrap dealer come out and haul away some of the metal last week.
Then he decided he needed a 30 cubic yard dumpster.
He had it parked out near the east end of the barn.
As soon as it arrived he started loading it.
I had stored 11 pairs of wood shutters against this east wall of the workshop back in about 1992. I intended to scrape and paint them and hang them at the house. But I had a toddler at the time, and by the time he was older, I was getting much sicker. It just never happened. So he took them out of his workshop and this wall was freed up.
I’ve offered them on BuyNothing and 7 pairs were claimed right off. I hope someone will take the last 4 pairs.
Yesterday he got this corner organized and started putting things back in the cabinets and drawers. The tall metal cabinet we bought last weekend at a tag sale. It was part full of new electrical items: outlets, switches, circuit breakers, etc. That will be a big help during construction.
This barn, an old tobacco shed, has 7 bays. Each measures 15’ x 30’. These photos only show the eastern most 2 bays. There’s 5 more to do, plus the loft which measures 105’ x 15’. And then there’s the north side of the barn, where stuff got thrown that was no longer useable. So he’s got a BIG job ahead of him.
Wow great work so far, looks much like my tiny shed can't move for stuff, but can't really tidy up as i can't get in 😅 its on the list of things to do eventually. But I'm also not great at tidying up...
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Damn - I want to renovate that into a fine living space... I would have kept those shutters and repurposed them as an indoor feature. Yay you and bigger YAY to your husband for the mental shift that precipitated this big clean up. LOTS of abundance coming your way with all this debris out of the way. Letting go can be such a joy. :)
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The first set, 8 of them (4 pair) left to be turned into a cabinet. I thought that was real cool!
The next set, 3 pair, are for "a project". She was supposed to pickup today, but I had to postpone as we went to 12+ tags sales this morning. She's coming on Friday and I'll find out about the project then.
I have a barn in very similar condition. So many years of piling stuff in there. Cleaning it out is definitely on the list, your post has inspired me, maybe just one small area at a time.
Ain't it funny how it takes a decades old disaster to get us to clean?
"I'll get around to it." 20 years later: "woah, that's a mess!"
😂😂 Sounds like a good opportunity to remind him how helpless he'd be without you. I get a reminder every time Melissa goes to her mom's for a weekend. Like right now 🤣
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LOL Nate! Oh he knows, that's why he finally tackled it himself, because I WAS NOT GOING TO! LOL