How can we make our chicken coop look vintage?

We would love to add a fence around the coop and some signs, lights, etc to give it a vintage look.
  4 answers
  • Dysko7710 Dysko7710 on Jan 26, 2018

    You could try dry brushing a darker colored paint on in places to make it look aged. Dry brushing just means you put paint on your brush, then wipe most of it off on a paper towel or newspaper, so the brush is very dry but has some paint on it. Then paint in strokes and it goes on with a distressed look with the white showing through.

  • Ardale Ardale on Jan 26, 2018

    Are you planning on raising chickens or is this just for looks? The fastest way I know to make it look vintage is to take some sandpaper and sand all the edges of your coop to give it an aged appearance. You could even give it an aged appearance by dry brushing a little pit of wood stain on the eges and wipe it off to give it a used appearance. Real chicken coops look dirty! I'd also add a few nesting boxes with a little straw in them and you can purchase some old or new chicken feeders and water things of which I forget now what they are actually called but any feed store can help you out with that or like I did you can just purchase old ones on ebay. I love your idea of hanging a few signs. You could hang one that says eggs so much a dozen on it or anything related to chickens. I have a large sign I bought years ago at a flea market that someone handmade. It's has a large black rooster painted on it with a green background and has something printed on it as well but I don't remember now what the exact wording is but it is chicken related. I have it hanging on the side of our barn along with other farm related things and I've had so many compliments on how much everyone likes it. Another decorative thing you can hang on say your fence behind your coop is to take some of your old garden tools like rakes, hoes, shovels etc. that have lived past their prime or have had their handles broken part way off and just hang them on the fence as wall art. Or old wagon wheels also look nice hanging on a fence or barn. You can make simple shadow boxes out of old worn lumber leaving both the front and backs open and hang them on your fence where you can put a plant in an old coffee can, old pot or old funnel and add a resin chicken and wire basket with a little straw in it and some plastic eggs you've filled with sand or pea gravel for added weight. I had my hubby make me 5 shadow boxes, one of which is larger then the others and I hung them with the larger one in the middle and the 4 smaller ones on either side of it which made a pretty wall grouping. You can either hand something on the wall or fence inside your shadow box or place things on the shelves. I have mixed both in mine and it looks really pretty. You can get rustic metal signs of all kinds at Hobby Lobby that also look great with your old farm theme. I have an old metal ceiling tile hanging inside one of my rustic shadow boxes that looks wonderful and some metal tins that look like old time canisters sitting on one of my shelves along with a resin chicken or an old plain wooden birdhouse looks pretty as well, even potted fake flowers look beautiful in them and you never have to water the or worry if a storm blows the pot out of your shadow box. They also make pretty cloth windsocks or banners and I bought one of those that has a rust colored background with a white laying hen on it. I had my hubby make me an open picture frame using the same rough cut lumber that he used to build our barn with and I just cut my banner down to fit that picture frame then just stapled it onto the frame from the backside and hung it on the front of the barn as well. I expected it to fade within two summers at best but it's been hanging there for over 10 years and has only now started to fade. I have a wire shelve with wire sides on it hanging under my black chicken sign that hung and I made a nest out of straw a have it on that shelve but still need to make some eggs to put in it. I've also hung old potato forks and an old pitch fork all with there handles intact on the barn beside that sign and I put a little straw in the pitch fork. I have a flower bed across the whole front of our barn and I've put a few pieces as decoration in it as well like a couple of broken off hoe heads, a big tractor turning blade, an old push behind tilling blade complete with it's wheel and push handles. I've even got a working galvanized wash tub on it's stand and keep a big flower pot in it that looks very pretty in the summer and fall months when the flowers are blooming. I have two old metal wheels handing on the wall. These are smaller wheels that are very old and never had rubber on them. I don't know what they went to but they are about 1 1/2 foot across. Some day I want to make a little cart out of them and set potted plants in the cart. The sky's the limit on what you can use to age and decorate your pretty little coop as well as the area around and behind it. Good Luck, I know it'll look great!

  • 27524803 27524803 on Jan 26, 2018

    Cover the framing with salvaged fence boards or pallet wood and use shake or cedar shingles on the roof (or salvaged tin sheeting).. painting the other visible framing with a rustic brown paint to help it blend with the wood.

  • Julie M. Julie M. on Jan 26, 2018

    I went immediately to my girlfriends website to find the pix of her coop. Her coop is french themed, complete with a chandelier that her chicks like to hang out on. Alas, her website is down. In the meantime, here are some cool coops....

    https://homesteading.com/15-awesome-chicken-coop-ideas-designs/amp/