A Charming French Inspired Barn
Last updated August 21, 2024
Amy and Mathew Mings are the creators of the lifestyle brand and blog Maison de Mings which they founded in 2016. After travelling the world and discovering their love for timeless, classic style, they decided to combine their skills of designing and crafting to create their dream home. Check out their **blog** for more inspiration.
A Note From The Home Depot
Amy and Matthew Mings from Maison de Mings love French farmhouse style. As they have been working through the years on DIY projects around their home, their goal has always been to bring a bit of France to their country life. They have a small hobby farm and partnered with The Home Depot to makeover their barn to achieve a charming French inspired feel. Read the blog to find out how you could achieve the same!
Table of Contents
The Barn Before
Inspiration
Mood Board
The Home Depot: Home Delivery
Painting The Barn Interior
Relocating Barn Entrance
Here are the original exterior and interior “before” photos of our barn, which was very...basic (and not at all our style). Still, it was there, structurally sound, and just needed a little DIY innovation to create something we could be proud to use as the centerpiece of our garden and farm. We are all about working with what you have - there is nothing a little hard work can’t improve!
The Barn Before
When we started our hobby farm, we built a lean-to addition on the existing barn for shelter. We also added a new metal roof to not only tie the look of the whole project together, but also dramatically improve the curb appeal. Even with these needed additions, the structure was anything but charming and we had a long way to go before it could be considered the dreamy countryside studio workshop we envisioned.
Inspiration
When it came to designing this outdoor space, we wanted it to be functional, pretty, and act as the centerpiece of our farm and garden. We glean a lot of inspiration from the French countryside in Provence and having a creative space for gardening and farm related materials was key. On our small hobby farm, we have Olde English “Babydoll” Southdown sheep, a guard llama, Pekin ducks and chickens.
Mood Board
The mood board we created for our barn and outdoor space included elements of copper, a steel pergola and new French patio door to let in all the beautiful natural light. Many of these accents are found on properties throughout Provence.
The Home Depot: Home Delivery
The Home Depot has so many options when it comes to DIY. Did you know that The Home Depot has free delivery on over one million online items. Since we purchased a French patio door, barn metal and more, we knew it would be much easier to work with The Home Depot delivery team. They handled everything with care and all items arrived in perfect condition! We would highly recommend their delivery service!
Painting The Barn Interior
Before we started our exterior makeover with The Home Depot, we painted the interior of our barn white and installed a vintage chandelier. Our plan was to remove the old plywood barn door and tiny window and install the new French patio door in the center to let more natural light in.
If you are interested in painting the interior of your barn, we recommend using the Wagner Control Pro 130. For our makeover project, we selected BEHR white exterior barn paint to help us achieve the light and airy look of a French atelier.
The paint will resist fading, cracking, peeling and blistering since our barn is not fully climate controlled year round. It is also livestock-safe and easy to clean.
Relocating Barn Entrance
As noted above, to let in more natural light and make the exterior of our barn more grand, we worked to relocate the entrance and replace our single plywood door (with no windows) with a French patio door. We simply removed the existing door, added new supports, cut a hole for the new entrance, and constructed a frame for the patio door installation.
Once the hole was cut for the new entrance and the wall was secure and level, it was time to install the patio door. It has made all the difference to our barn! We love all the natural light that pours in now.
After the new patio door was installed, we added metal to the exterior of the barn and finished it with off-white barn paint to complement the stone of our home.
For exterior styling, we added a steel pergola which we hope to have flowering vines started this spring. We also added some weathered urns and artificial cedar trees to help frame the new entrance. They can be used all year!
The Final Reveal
The outdoor string lights also add the perfect amount of ambiance at night. We leave them on all year to light the pathway to the barn.
Our barn now seems to exude a relaxed French countryside vibe which was exactly what we had in mind. It's a quiet, creative space near our animals that our family spends a lot of time in from warm spring evenings through chilly bond fire weather in the fall!
This post was created in partnership with The Home Depot. The author may have received compensation for this article and associated images or video, potentially in the form of products and/or services. All expressed opinions and experiences are the author’s own words.
