I heart old barns

I heart old barns...and old houses...and apparently old churches and school houses, too.

Many of you know that we have a passion for antique and vintage everything. Give us something that is rustic, rusty, patina-ed, and chipped and we'll consider it well loved and find it a place to be enjoyed.

We have made a very fun and successful small business out of connecting people with vintage and repurposed items. To further support our obsession, you should know that we live in an late 1800's limestone school house and we bought a historic church. And, I have been known to pull over to the side of the road to take a picture of an old place that has character. I love making up stories about the history and the people who lived in or used the space.

For this old barn, I don't need to make up much of the story. It used to stand on my grandparent's place. My dad owns the property now.

This old red barn always had a commanding presence in the farm yard and was used until the quonset was built.

This photo was taken on the weekend of my grandparent's sale. Even then, we knew that the barn's days were numbered.

And, it did fall down. My husband took this photo this summer. We didn't want to see the barn go to waste, so my dad and husband put some effort into salvaging some of the wood.

From the pile, they pulled some of the best boards and worked to get some of the flooring recovered.

A work in progress. We'll be back to try to recover some more.

And, the load for the trip home. This wood is now being repurposed into signs, benches and table tops.

For those of you who enjoy a beautiful, old building, here are a few images to enjoy.

 This is a lovely old barn that used to sit on Highway 24. I took this photo shortly before it fell down.

 This limestone barn was on Flush Road near our house. It was pushed over by the owners. I loved it in the background of the purple carpet of blooms. I think the purple blooms were actually weeds, but still really lovely. This photo was taken in early spring.

This might be one of my favorite photos...taken in Morris County near a camp where some of my student leaders held a retreat one spring. This is exactly the kind of place that I adore for the history and at the same time it haunts me. Why was it abandoned? Who lived there? How did they live?