Painting our barn blue

CheriOUTDOOR SPACES, RECENT

wintery blue barn
blue barn in fall

Blue barn

We’ve been talking about painting our “barn” (read: gigantic shed) for over a year now. Kirk recently replaced some of the rotting trim, which meant it was time to paint. I had already decided to paint the barn blue and when I saw a beautiful blue barn in Indiana my color choice was confirmed. My goal was to duplicate this beautiful and weathered blue color. However, wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be with the varying shades of blue and gray because it was the aging patina of the blue that I loved.

Old Blue Barn

I tried many different colors of blue and used online color painting tools. I also physically painted six different colors on the barn. Two of the colors turned out to be very close in color and were my preference. When choosing colors for anything it is always a good idea to purchase some samples to try out. Seeing a color on an exterior or an interior wall in different lighting makes it easier to imagine the color in your space.

The color we chose is a Behr paint color called “Undersea” that we had mixed in a Benjamin Moore paint.

blue paint samples
blue barn with white trim

The paint store owner recommended a more satin finish. I should have gone with my instincts on the finish because flat paint would have looked better. Keeping perspective though, it is a (gigantic) shed – and it will fade.

It took us about 10 hours to paint the shed including the trim. We started painting one Friday evening for a couple of hours then painted 8 hours on Saturday. Kirk did all the ladder painting and rolling and I painted as high as I could reach doing the cutting in and painting in the wood grooves.

painting barn
berry stand and hydrangeas
cottage barn

The blue looks so pretty against the fall colors and the green grass.

blue barn cottage

But I absolutely love how it looks with snow!

blue barn winter

Exactly 10 days after we painted the barn it snowed!

wintery blue barn

We have clearly run out of nice days to work outside, so next spring or summer we will add electricity, a barn light over the doors, hydrangeas on the side of the barn, and some black hinges.

Maybe I’ll try stringing some twinkle lights out there for Christmas too!