Gates & Siding & T-Shirts...Oh My!

What the heck have we been doing for the past 2 weeks you ask?  Well honey, grab a sweet tea and sit down a spell, and let me fill you in....

Aside from the fact that I've been SOOOO bad about posting the blog, we've been quite busy.  Both working on the barn and also meeting with brides, stalking their Pinterest, designing tablescapes and all the FUN FUN Stuff that comes along with my amazing line of work!  
(Oh yeah, not to mention soccer & tee ball are now happening simultaneously...Good Lawd!  People with more than one "mini-you"...my hats off!!)

We've had a gorgeous several days of sun and we've taken full advantage of that.  I've donned my tank top in hopes of catching some rays while I work - I forget how tired you get when you do manual labor in the hot sun!  Geesh, I've been wiped out!  Alas, I digress...


Gates
Yesterday, we got the gate put up at the entrance to The Barn and worked on getting the road "aired" out and hopefully dried up a bit so we can add some shale or gravel.
I have a lot of refinishing to do on the gate.  As with everything else out here, it's an old piece of fence panel, the i've repurposed as a gate.  I'm going to paint it and sand it down to fit with our look - but that's the fun part :o)  I will post pics as soon as I begin the finish work on the gate...I am looking forward to it!!  Next step on that will be adding the gate opener (yes, because I'm too lazy to get out and open the dang thing every time I pass through it).

This is before we cut the panel and hinged it on....still lots of refinishing to do - it is going to be a great entrance gate once we're done...plus we will be adding "Twin Oaks Ranch" to it.  

& SIDING
Tomorrow, we will be getting the remainder of the siding to finish the back of the barn (that you can see here).  The remainder of the siding will also be what we use to build the big barn doors.  I cannot stress how much my iPhone pictures do NOT do this justice.

This is the back side of The Barn....we will be putting on rest of siding next week.
You can see the opening at the other end of The Barn...that will be the front double doors.

This is a refresher pic of the "other side" of The Barn - this pic is old, but I wanted you to be able to see both the front and back of The Barn.

Also, The Barn will be getting wired (as in electrically) in the next couple of weeks....Woo Hoo I'm Doing the Running Man - that means we can now listen to music while we work!  Not to mention, now that we have siding up, it's getting pretty dark in the barn...so we need a little light so we can see what we're doing.  Electricity = Greatness.
I'll be happy to kick that noisy generator we've been using to the curb.  I may actually go all "Office Space" on that thing now that I think about it!

This is a pic of the patio area getting the tin put on the roof. 

& T-Shirts are Here...T-Shirts are here!
The Keep Calm and Marry On t-shirts arrived this week and they are FaBuLoUs!  We had LOTS of sweet little barn heads pre-order shirts and now that we've accommodated all of them, we have just a handful of shirts left.  If you want one, I urge you to let us know via Facebook or email ASAP.   We may be down to only having around 10 shirts left, seriously!!

If you want one grab it while they last ($15 each)

...OH MY!
A few other things we've been up to:  Putting out bug killer (yes we are in THE NATURAL STATE, thus all things "nature" come with it), burning brush piles, planting seed, consulting with our landscaper  (New Digs = Amazing), prepping for photo shoots, oh yeah and.....
GETTING THE MOST AMAZING BLUE RIBBON EVAH.....

We haven't even had time to get them our profile info to post on their website, but when it's up, we will shout it from the rooftops!  If you don't know Southern Weddings Magazine, you are missing out on the best wedding magazine out there (Sorry Martha!).

That's all for now barn-heads....We've got some fun stuff in the blog for next week (and yeah, yeah, I'll post it on time, I promise).

B to the A-R-N!

Hard at work...yes we are!

I'm ecstatic at the progress that's been made in the last 2 days!  You can now actually start to tell what it is going to look like....kind of, but not totally.  There's still lots to be done, don't get me wrong...but the barn is definitely taking shape and taking on some attitude.  Yes, this barn has some major attitude!

The Barn...getting closer!

It's almost as if once we get out there and start working, we get in such a groove that we look down and it's 7pm.  Those days are exhausting but so rewarding.  I love taking pictures at 7am, then again at 7pm to remind myself how much got done that day.

My spur of the moment "I'm gonna build another swing" swing... this is where I take my breaks now!

This is our other swing.  Remember it from our Fall Photo Shoot?

I don't think this blog allows enough characters to tell you about my laundry list of things still to be done.  But we are quickly marking through them.

Remember my "Girl Power" Bridge?  It's pretty close to complete!

We have many fabulous weddings on the forefront, but we are also beginning to plan our Open Barn Event that will take place in July.  You will definitely want to score an invite to this event!  A few things on our program will be live music, yummy food, gorgeous details & fabulous people.  It's not just a wedding Open House, it's open to everyone.  

Get Your Little Ol' Self On The INVITE List!
We're starting a super fun new way to get  your little grubbies on an invitation to this event.  It's called our "Tell Us Your Story" contest.  Everyone is welcome to participate...if you aren't yet engaged, you're engaged, or you've been married for 12 years....we want to hear your story (or your dream story) about how you met your special someone or how he/she popped the question....or how you dream they will pop the question.  Everything is game!
The story with the most "LIKES" will win - so be sure and ask your friends to "LIKE" your story!

That's all for now Barn Heads!

Sunny Days = Progress!

 I am a happy camper today....for a couple of amazing reasons: 

Happy Camper Reason #1....ROOF
Houston, we have a roof!  Yes, that's right, the roof on The Barn is complete!  It's a fabulous thing and it gives life to The Barn.  It's a good thing we got done when we did because today we have wind gusts of a gazillion miles per hour.  Here are a few progression pictures:

Here we are halfway done with the roof.

Roof is Complete!

Roof complete from inside The Barn!

Happy Camper Reason #2....SIDING
The very first piece of siding went up!  Hooray...I've been staring at this gorgeous pile of Oak (yes I said Oak) siding for months now, and I finally get to dive into it and put it on The Barn.  One freaking heavy piece at a time!  Who needs a gym membership when you're building a barn.  I'm so banged up, bruised, and sore....but by golly, I'll have some strong muscles after all this is done.  Plus, we don't really have to worry about the wind when putting up siding.  Whereas on the roof, one gust of wind and we would have to call it quits, or else become a human kite!

That gorgeous Oak Siding!

So the next couple of weeks will be dedicated to siding, siding and more siding.  I can't wait to share pics when we get lots of it up.  This is going to transform this barn into what we all are dreaming of...a rustic, old-looking barn.

Stay tuned for more pics in the upcoming weeks.  It's coming along nicely folks....

That's all for now barn heads!!