Greetings, blog readers. I am writing this blog from my office. That’s MY office. My office, in my barn, eating Christmas leftovers while enjoying the contact high from the paint fumes.
At long last: our renovations and expansion are complete!
Here’s what’s new: 7 new stalls, 6 with runouts to all-weather paddocks, a second wash stall, three grooming bays (one double-sized, to allow veterinarians and farriers freedom to move, housing for four additional people, super-cool Polylast flooring, and, yes, my fabulous office.
Here’s what’s better: a seriously huge tack room (the barn had two small tack rooms, functional but inelegant), a feed room (we previously kept our feed in the garage, and feeding was a bit of an obstacle course), better bird netting and lighting and electric outlets and drainage and washer/dryer area and pantry and, and, and. There are so many improvements, particularly over things about the barn as it was built by its previous owners that just didn’t work for the way we do things, it’s hard to list them all.
There’s still some things to be installed. I forgot to order some crucial things (oops); the weather has made managing the dirt around the barn a little hairy (Virginia is doing its 50 degree days, 20 degree nights thing, resulting in frozen and buckling earth—not ideal); and we made a fatal design flaw in the tack room that will take a creative fix, but it’ll be done shortly.
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My clients all deserve a medal for their patience, but so far, they’ve all been as delighted as we are to be here. And we owe major kudos both to our friends at Morningside for hosting us for the last three months, and to our general contractor, Gretchen Yahn, for making all that happened happen in such a short period of time.
Here’s the punchline: the barn is big, beautiful and open for business. And wouldn’t you know it? I’m already full.
Come on a video tour of the (mostly) finished product. (And if you missed the before video, see it here.)
