Welcome to the Barn
Quilt Walkways: Part of the 2025 Barn Party Fun
Year One: How it all began
This 1930's era barn was built to store grain, but sat unused since the 70s. To give it a new purpose, My sister and I decided to paint a mural with family. The idea has continued to grow—especially since this barn, perched on our favorite sledding hill, held so many memories.
The first year was about stabilizing the barn, keeping it from deteriorating further without committing to a full restoration, which would require much more time. We started small, adding supports to the roof and using mostly recycled lumber, including wood salvaged from the old farmhouse that once stood nearby.
One side of the barn became a family portrait built from objects each member chose; the other, a Kansas landscape where everyone added their own creative touch.
Watching my family dive in was the best part—sharing stories, imagining the barn’s past and future, and learning more about each other through the art. Visible from the road, the mural has sparked conversations about restoration and the potential of community projects that bring new life to forgotten spaces.
Year Two: Playfulness
Year two had several moving parts. There were murals, concrete work, a slide and mosaic detail work. Definitely the biggest leap we made from one year to the next.
On one side of the barn, the wall was practically floating. Pouring concrete pillars seemed like the logical solution.
I have always found similarities between abandoned barns and cathedrals. The way the light shines through the cracks of the rafters evokes a similar feeling of light pouring through stained glass windows. To forward this connection, I wanted to build a buttress on one side of the barn. Historically, buttresses added strength to wall as cathedrals grew taller. A pipe dream of mine was to add this type of reinforcement to the barn. When discussing my buttress plans with an aunt, she mentioned that my drawing looked like a slide. That immediately changed the course of the design, one of the reasons collaborations create such exciting results.
We used wood from a collapsed barn for our new addition, as well as floorboards I salvaged from a house before it was torn down. After the slide was built, we primed the entire surface using recycled paint from waste management.
I added a mural of insects and quilts on one side of the barn. Thinking about predator and prey, which are both vital to a healthy ecosystem.
The final side of the barn was painted as a group. We didn't have a plan in place, just a lot of ideas and left over paint from the year before. Everyone just started painting. The end result was a quilt made from a collection of personalities.
The final touch to the concrete pillars was a small mosaic. I’m deeply sentimental and had saved broken plates from the pre-wedding celebration my husband and I shared. In Germany, this tradition is called a Polterabend, where guests break dishes for good luck—and those pieces became part of the design.
Year Three: Cathedral Revival
Since there was already a slide on the barn, adding a swing seemed like the next logical step! My personal woodworking project was building a flying buttress and a cathedral window detail to jazz up the facade of the existing slide.
As a family, we re-roofed the barn. My mom, dad, sister and husband all swung a hammer on this undertaking. What a delight to know the barn is buttoned up from the elements!
Year Four: Welcome to the Barn
This year was about making the barn feel more inviting. I built a Dutch door and an entryway buttress, creating a proper threshold that welcomes people inside. To mark that sense of arrival, I painted a mural featuring animals from the family farm. The mural honors the animals that still live here, while also serving as a symbol of the barn’s history as a working agricultural space.