Interior Design - Tack Rooms

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MyFriendFlicker

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My tack/feed room is nearly a blank slate. My husband is dying to go wild with it....
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We have one mini, will probably be getting another. We expect to have three full-size horses too. It's a six stall barn.

I need to measure the room, but believe it's 12x12. We put a window in it and have some left over insulation from our new workshop construction to insulate the room. It needs a new ceiling. I want the wall material to allow me to put screws anywhere without anchors for light things like bridle brackets and such. (So, no drywall.) We figure we may put in one of those through-wall A/C & heat units like hotel rooms have, but eh...maybe not. That make take up too much wall space. Same goes for a sink and small counter in there. Good or too much space?

For walls, we've considered tongue and groove pine board, installed at a 45 deg. angle or horizontal: http://tinyurl.com/yrr8kw We've talked about OSB with cheap MDF beadboard over it: http://tinyurl.com/25uqqq but to ceiling. We could just do rought OSB walls, but we want it to be pretty. Finish grade plywood is too $$ for the final look.

For the floors, we've considered vinyl floor, commercial vinyl tile (like grocery stores/garages), off-brand Pergo (fake wood), and just finishing the concrete.

We're going for attractive and stylish on a budget. The finish style should suit hot, humid Houston weather and western style. We could carry over the dark brown and "hawaiian blue" of the workshop and house, if that would look good. Eh......I know what I like when I see it, but am so bad at thinking it up.

I would be glad for this conversation to extend into things like saddle racks, whip stands, feed bins, et al.

I need to take some photos, for sure. Right now, it's storing the tools because the garage/workshop was just finished last week and it has rained all this week.

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We have a really big tack room and it's also the door l use to get into the barn. Winters are not good some days and with wet or snow tracked in cement floors got mighty slippery some days. The best gift l got was wall to wall non skid rubber floor put in. Love how it looks and cleans. Walls and ceiling are all painted 2x4 so hooks and anything to hang is a breeze. 2 windows for lots of bright and 2 way switches on either end of the room for turning on/off lights. Add outlets l never thought l would need more then 2 but have since added 1 more...

l really want a washer and tiny fridge in there one day so l don't have to do hairy coats and sweats in the house and keep pop/beer ice cream and meds cold. l do have a nuker in there for heating up water fast for beet pulp so l don't have to haul that from the house..
 
Setting up my tack room was the funniest part of building the barn. I was totally in my element.

I have a very modest tack room and I use every inch of it.

It is insullated and I have OSB board on top of that. I didn't have to paint it or do anything to it because the walls are basically all covered up with cabinets and shelving and hooks.

The flooring is the interlocking Rubber squares that you buy at Sams Club

Two walls have cabinets, wall to wall. Underneath the cabinets on the first wall are my feed cans. I have 4 feed cans.

Under the second wall of cabinets I have my trusty Rubbermaid containers where I keep my sheets and stable blankets, tool box, spare buckets and saddle rack.

On the third and forth walls I have shelves that go from the floor up to the ceiling. That's where I keep my grooming brushes, clippers and lots of other supplies.

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One thing I wanted was a sink and a toilet! Gosh I'm always running to the house......but then I would have had to give up even more space. So instead, we have a spicket for water on the inside of the barn isleway (pictured) and that works fine. Matter of fact it's even better there's no water supply in the tack room because knowing me, I'd just be making a wet mess in there. I also could have a little fridge in there also but then I am one to get paranoid of extra plugs and things and worry always about fires starting so instead, I have a handy dandy little cooler I keep in the barnyard on my handy dandy little table that also works just fine for my pepsi habit. No frills here, just basic nessessities, but I really still want that toilet put someplace out there. Been throwing hints to the boss it would be nice to have one maybe outside by the wash racks maybe. You know, old age does do things to a persons bladder.......

Have fun with it and enjoy!
 
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Marty you are so organized!
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I start out that way but cabinets all seem to get overly full and well, kind of a mess.

Best things we did in our new barn - 1. hot water 2. toilet 3. did I mention hot water?

My tack room is still a disaster after being a major storage facility while we built and moved, it's on the list this spring to be redone. I do have a separate wash/groom room where I keep my clippers, grooming supplies, little frig, fly spray barrel, etc.

Best thing I can suggest for a tack room is organized storage. It's like closets in the house - you will, sooner than you think, fill up every bit you have and want more. I opted for lots of shelves and rubbermaid containers on them for blankets, coolers, harnesses, fence supplies, you name it - and labeled the totes so I can tell from the front what I am pulling down.

Jan
 
I understand its insulated and such but I don't think pergo would be a good option, if it does happen to get wet, ie not just a little spill, it can be a complete nightmare (think about a sponge, or soaked particle board), vinyl can get slippery if wet, so finished concrete or some other not completely smooth floor would be good. Look at the pro's and con's of each and decide what you can live with or can't live without.

Karen
 
Definitely NOT Pergo.It doesn't do well with moisture under it.It swells and just comes up.Have fun.
 
I understand about the Pergo. We've had it in a house in the past, including the kitchen. Major spills were never too bad, though there was a little swelling upon close inspection. Our tack room floor is poured about 5" higher than the aisle and is about 9" higher than the dirt base of the stall next to it. So, the other spills that would worry me are spills from the potential sink and any work. So, for our particular application, I don't worry about swelling. The slippery factor is another story and the big reason I didn't just agree to it. We can get it for about 79 cents a sf, so it would be a great option if it weren't so slippery.

The vinyl is less slippery, but higher maintenance, since it has to get waxed. (I'm not talking about those stick-down, no-wax kitchen/bath type tiles. Like these: http://www.garageforums.com/?cat=12

Oy....everyone's going to bed without me. Gotta go!!
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Plenty of room for storage shelves and/or cabinets! You're never going to have enough! Oh, and hooks to hang stuff on too!

Electrical outlets for stuff you haven't even thought of yet........

If it's at all possible, get some piping for water into the room.........Yes, you can live without it, but it's a godsend if you can have it.

MA
 
Plenty of room for storage shelves and/or cabinets! You're never going to have enough! Oh, and hooks to hang stuff on too!
Electrical outlets for stuff you haven't even thought of yet........

If it's at all possible, get some piping for water into the room.........Yes, you can live without it, but it's a godsend if you can have it.

MA
The main incoming pipe line that supplies all the stalls comes in at the right rear corner of the room and is under the window....an excellent spot for the sink. I'm thinking to put an undercounter fridge right next to the sink if I can find an extrmemly efficient one. We're planning to go 100% wind powered here, so keeping the electric down is really important. There are several electrical outlets in there, but it all needs re-wired and we'll add more and put them in better locations. It never occurred to me that there wouldn't be electric in there.
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I spent my years from 8-20 dealing with fairly high end full-size horse breeding and showing barns. I am used to their, ahem...luxurious tack rooms with separate feed rooms. I look at my solidly built, but very basic barn with rusty stall chains and rusty "jail bars" and obsess over how to make it all more snazzy on a budget. :DOH! Like the horses care.

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The tack room is the walled in area to the left, just past the hay. The place where the last guy had all the tack hanging outside it. WTH?
 
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WOW, this is my first time on this forum and it is amazing that i found this subject. my husband built me a new barn in august and this month my son , my wonderful son is building me an air tight tack room. sooooo i am looking for hints and you all gave me a bunch of them. thanks so much. jeannie

Plenty of room for storage shelves and/or cabinets! You're never going to have enough! Oh, and hooks to hang stuff on too!
Electrical outlets for stuff you haven't even thought of yet........

If it's at all possible, get some piping for water into the room.........Yes, you can live without it, but it's a godsend if you can have it.

MA
The main incoming pipe line that supplies all the stalls comes in at the right rear corner of the room and is under the window....an excellent spot for the sink. I'm thinking to put an undercounter fridge right next to the sink if I can find an extrmemly efficient one. We're planning to go 100% wind powered here, so keeping the electric down is really important. There are several electrical outlets in there, but it all needs re-wired and we'll add more and put them in better locations. It never occurred to me that there wouldn't be electric in there.
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I spent my years from 8-20 dealing with fairly high end full-size horse breeding and showing barns. I am used to their, ahem...luxurious tack rooms with separate feed rooms. I look at my solidly built, but very basic barn with rusty stall chains and rusty "jail bars" and obsess over how to make it all more snazzy on a budget. :DOH! Like the horses care.

barn.jpg


The tack room is the walled in area to the left, just past the hay. The place where the last guy had all the tack hanging outside it. WTH?
 
My tack room is all tongue and groove, so you can hang anything anywhere. There are no windows so there isn't any way someone could get in and "Remove" anything they don't own. Access is through the barn.

It is completely insulated with carpeting on the floor....the idea of replacing it with a rubber floor sounds EXCELLENT! I'll put that on my list.

One end is all deep shelves from floor to ceiling. One long wall is full of saddle racks which I don't have any use for and longer, so they are coming down, and we're hanging up harness racks.

The other short end has a built in air conditioner which is so necessary where we live!!!! Humidville.

I already have a washer, dryer and raised tub in my dog room at the far end of the barn ( seperated by an alleyway ) so I don't need them in the tackroom. No water at all in fact....a very good idea for me!

I also have room for some lovely hanging pictures, a chair and a large bulletin board which makes it very cozy!

dru
 
Unfortunately, my tack room became the feed room!
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No room for tack, so most of it hangs along the walls just out of my horses's reach.
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I do have a wash stall with hot water (LOVE it!) so I have put a tall cabinet with doors just inside of it. Husband built the barn and fixed the wash stall so all the water goes out a drain which in turn goes out to the pasture. For those of you that have just shelves, how in the world do you keep the dust and webs off of them? I had a couple and they just didn't work for me.

Pam
 
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Well I spent 5.5 years here trying to figure out what to do with my tack room, I had cabinets that just didn't seem to work, all kinds of stuff. This is how I finally designed my tack room over the summer and I have to say this is the best gift I ever gave myself. It is so easy to keep organized and clean, I even labeled all the bins. Now my freinds do make fun of me for this but it has made life so much easier.....

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When I set up my barn I was doing paint halter horses and put a lot of thought into my barn. It was a 36 x 36 kit and I had them move a wall over to make a 12 x 16 foaling stall that still works great for the minis. I felt I didn't need a 12 x 12 tack room so have 8 x 12 with a door at the back going into a wash room. I have a sink, water heater( and yes it is worth it's weight in gold) and made it extra long and have rubbermade deep racks that hold the bins perfectly.

All horse people tend to accumulate "stuff" to go with horses that are not easy to store just in a tack room(blankets, ranch odds and end, Misc tack) The bins are perfect for that and everything stays clean and neat and easy to find.

The cheap hooks that you hand from the ceiling are really good too. I have 3, one in the isleway that has the halters I use frequently and 2 in the tack room for things I readily want to get to but don't use all that often.
 
For those of you that have just shelves, how in the world do you keep the dust and webs off of them?

Pam I also have shelves like the ones that Jenny is showing us.

Yes they do get a little dirty and dusty but not so much. It just doesn't get too dirty in my tack room. But for the most part, I also keep stuff on those shelves in Rubbermaids like Jenny does also if it's anything that would bug me if it were to get dirty, like my show halters and good stuff. The other stuff I have on them it doesn't really matter much like towels, rags, bug sprays, supplements etc. My grooming tools are in totes and I keep them washed anyhow. I keep my saddle covered up very well also. My biggest mess is the feed I spill on the floor.
 
My biggest problem in my tack room and barn is that I have to share with my daughter. She is 22 now, and is not near as neat as I am. When I feed hay, I use the blower and blow out the loose hay from the aisle (I have rubber mats going down my center aisle. The hay gets knee deep before my daughter notices. When I clip the horses, I sweep up the hair, she leaves it. I put the clippers back in the tack room in the cabinet, she leaves them in the wire basket in the aisle where we keep brushes and stuff. I think you can see the picture!
 

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