How To Update A Metal Barn With Paint

I feel confident to say that summer is really here now. The weather has been fantastic, and I have been able to spend a lot more time outside with my horses. I love it!

And with being outside almost every day, I have noticed that my neighbors have been doing a lot of work on their houses lately too. I guess I wasn’t the only one feeling the blahs of winter. Everyone is taking advantage of the good weather and longer days it seems.

And while I have been riding around in my arena, and watching my neighbors, it really got me thinking about when I am going to make the time to paint my house. But one thing that has been holding me back is my barn.

Summer Projects

I have had goals of getting a new barn. But for now, that is going to have to go on the back burner. We don’t really have the money to make that happen right now. But we will be painting our house gray because my husband doesn’t like the “baby puke green” anymore.

So we decided on a really pretty gray paint with a white trim. I have the paint, and everything I need to make that happen, now I just need the time to get it done. And in the back of my head I kept thinking about my barn and how different it will look from our house. So I started thinking about painting the barn to match the new house color.

How To Update A Metal Barn

My barn is a metal lean to type barn. It’s cute, and it serves a purpose, but it’s metal. You can’t just paint metal the same way you paint wood. So for as long as we have had our barn, we have been stuck with the color which was a light tan-ish color and cream trim. The color combination was nice, but didn’t match the house.

And a few years back I painted my horse trailer with Rustoleum paint and a light bulb went off over my head. I wondered if I could paint my barn with Rustoleum paint too?

So on my lunch break on Friday, I ran over to Home Depot and bought paint, a paint tray, and some small rollers. All in I spent around $98.85 for everything I would need to attempt my painting project. And then Saturday morning I got to work.

Now I have no idea of how much it would have cost me to have someone else paint my barn. But I’m sure it would have been a lot more than $100.00. So I was super excited to get started.

I woke up early to get out to the barn and get started. The Rustoleum paint is oil based. So it dries VERY slowly. And the weather forecast had storms forecast for the afternoon, so I needed to get at least the body of the barn done several hours before the rain could potentially come.

I started on the end with the tack (jump locker) room. The paint went on easy, and I was finally able to cover up the white tack room door. I was happy already.

I started around 7:00 AM, and gave myself a guesstimate of an hour per side. It ended up taking longer than that, but I like having a time frame for what I am working on.

The far side of the barn was my favorite side to paint, because it was the easiest. And this is also the side that people see when they drive by. So I was anxious to get it done.

The Rustoleum paint I bought was smoke gray. And it went on the metal so smoothly with the 4″roller I also bought. It was actually fun to see the transformation take shape!

I did have to get up on a ladder a little bit. I hate ladders, especially seeing all of the injuries that happen when people fall off of them at my work. But I just took my time, didn’t hurry, and did a little bit at a time.

And the bottom of the panels was a little challenging. I kind of pulled weeds as I went along the bottom edge of the barn, so I could paint all the way down. And it helped to turn the roller on it’s side to get to the very bottom.

And just as the weather people had said, late in the afternoon, the storm clouds started rolling in.

Thankfully I had finished the body color of the barn a few hours earlier, and the paint had time to dry.

Painting The Trim

Once I had recovered from all of the work I did on Saturday, I woke up even earlier on Sunday to get the trim painted. I was hoping the trimming out would take less time, because I was still tired from all of the work I did on Saturday.

Thankfully, trim painting went MUCH faster. I was able to use a roller for most of the trim work, and saved the paint brush for the small detail work.

And if you are planning on doing this to your own metal barn, take my advice, do not skimp on a detail brush! Spend the extra $5.00 or so and invest in a good brush. The brush I chose was a Purdy 2″ angle brush. And even though it makes me sad that it’s a one time use, it is so worth it!

The roller worked great for the bigger trim though, and then I used the brush for the finer detailing.

Yes You Can Paint A Metal Barn

Overall, this was a weekend well spent updating my little barn. And even though I’m not getting a new barn, I am happy with how my barn looks now.

In just two days, I was able to transform my barn, and make it so that it will at least somewhat match our house. Well, when I get it painted!

But starting off with an easier project was not only fun, but rewarding in the fact that I was able to do it myself.

The next project for my barn is the paddock makeover. That project will probably have to wait until I am officially on vacation. And I think I am going to pay to have it delivered by Home Depot. Sometimes you have to pay for extra time, and on this project, I am willing to pay for it.

So be sure to sign up for my e-mail list, in case you want to see how I get that project done. And start a list of projects you want to get done around your barn too! Maybe this will motivate you to go and paint your barn!