Project #1: a new barn floor

The barn floor was not on our bucket list…until dancers from two events last summer made it evident the barn floor needed repairing or replacing. We went with replacing. My brothers planned it, ordered the materials and set about putting in a new barn floor. Each board was edge sanded before it was installed. We “roughed it up” before they created a custom stain to give it a weathered look. As long as we were doing the floor, we decided to knock out some structural pieces that used to separate the old hay mow with the main part of the barn. {Growing up in the 60’s, I remember jumping down into that hay mow.} This opens up the barn and creates one continuous floor. [Those pieces were no longer structurally necessary given all the structural work that has been done to make the barn more solid] The hay mow, or visual reminders of it, no longer exist...loosing the past, repurposing and moving forward. It looks awesome…but also will hold up to whatever the dancers pound down. We tested it this summer when Evan Jennison and The Grift played for neighbors and friends. What a dance we had. The floor stood the test of dancers. And that was the goal.