Carriage Barn Restaining Begins

This evening, I take you to Rosslyn’s carriage barn where Glen, Tony, and I have been experimenting with sanding and staining in order to rehabilitate the carriage room (and eventually the rest of the first floor interior.) In addition to inevitable wear-and-tear endured across well over a century’s demanding use — first as a utility building for horses and carriages, and later as workshops and storage for vehicles, tractors, boats, bicycles, and more — we inherited some mysterious graffiti when we purchased the property. With an eye to the delicate art of rehabilitating a patinaed place without diminishing the wabi-sabi virtue that distinguishes it, I’ll share a few photos as restaining begins.

After many experiments with stain hues as well as sanding and stain application techniques Tony and Glen hit the ground running yesterday during the rainy stretches. Tony extended their progress today (when Glen returned to repainting the front fence.) So far we’ve focused on the carriage room which occupies the west side, about 2/3 of the first story.

The photograph at the top of this post illustrates the sort of graffiti that we set up to remove. Mostly painted in orange spray paint, the words were not removable by cleaning. The next three images document the process of sanding off the graffiti while minimizing obvious transitions from sanded to unsanded wood.

By alternating stain colors, as well as alternating light buffing with sandpaper, progress is being made to blend new and old together again.

By mid day Tony was able to pause briefly for a quick explanation of what was working most effectively. The time and life mottled interior is once again emerging, hinting at the importance of a carriage barn in the 1800s and early 1900s

Although the glare of artificial lighting in this last image diminishes the luster and patina, I’ll return to the challenge when the carriage room is complete. Perhaps morning light will favor the wabi-sabi wonder of this room!

Thanks, Glen and Tony, for returning to this project each time rain threatens!