DIY: Tackroom on a Budget

There are several tackrooms at my barn. One for the lesson program, 2 general ones for boarders, and one was dedicated to a specific trainer and her students. Well, that trainer has since left for greener pastures, so the tackroom became available. Our program currently has the most horses/boarders, so we were lucky enough to get to take over the empty space. Problem was, the other trainer who had it before us built the whole thing- and she took it with her when she left. So we had a shell of a room, but not much else. Working on a tight budget, we were able to complete the whole project under $250, and I am pretty dang pleased with how it turned out!

 

Although the room was empty, it did have a linoleum type flooring, and the walls were painted. We went to Lowe’s and purchased the following supplies:

 

  • 1 x 6″ 8 ft sections (3) lumber to use as the anchors for hanging saddle racks: $10.12 ea ($30.36)
  • 1 x 4″ 12 ft sections (4) to use as baseboards: $9.14 ea ($36.56)
  • 1 x 12″ 8 ft sections of primed MDF boards for shelves and bridle rack (3): $16.62 ($49.86)
  • 8 ft landscape timbers (3) for the saddle racks: $3.99 ea ($11.97)
  • Eye hooks, 6 pack (2): $6.20 ($12.40)
  • Stanley tarp/rope hook (12) for attaching saddle racks: $1.48 ea ($17.76)
  • Horizontal bike hook, gray (4): $1.18 ea ($4.72)
  • Steel shelf brackets, multipack w/ 5 (2): $17.48 ea ($34.96)

At hobby lobby we also picked up 3 yards of brown fleece for just under $20.

 

We found a can of brown stain at the barn, and I used some left over white paint from my house, so these items ended up being freebies. You will also need some tools. Thankfully hubby had a plethora of those, so we borrowed him (and his skillz).

 

Trying to figure out how far to space the saddle racks #difficult. 1×6″ after being stained.

 

 

Math is hard y’all. One of the 1×12″ MDF boards is pictures leaning against the wall near hubby.

 

Staining the 1×4’s that we are using as baseboards (because they are cheap)

 

Last Sunday hubby, MM, and I did the initial planning and shopping. This took about 3 hours to measure the room, decide on a design, and go buy all the supplies.

 

On Thursday evening hubby came with me to the barn, loaded with tools, and the 3 of us got to work. 4 hrs later we had made good progress hanging the saddle hooks, shelves, and getting the baseboards cut.

Initially we made the saddle racks 24 in long, but decided that was too long after putting a saddle on it and cut off 3 inches

 

We ended up taking one of the MDF boards home so hubby could use a different saw to cut it in half length wise, to use as the anchor for the bridle hooks. That took both of us together about 20 mins.

 

Basically made the shelves as wide as possible and eyeballed what we felt was a good distance apart

 

 

Saturday I brought back the necessary tools and the (now) 2 pieces of wood. MM and I spent 3 more hours getting the fabric to cover the saddle racks and finishing assembling everything.

 

 

Finished bridle rack. Used paint from my house, and hooks that the barn owner had already. Hooks are hella expensive fyi, so keep that in mind if you are budgeting and don’t already have them!

 

 

The dark brown section of the wall was already like that (feed room on the other side). Used the bike hooks as fan holders because Texas is hot.

 

 

We used a staple gun to cover the landscape timbers (aka saddle racks) with fleece fabric

 

 

Words of wisdom- get hooks for bridles at Hobby Lobby- if you catch a sale you can get them for $1/hook which is way cheaper then Lowes. We did not need to purchase these, as barn owner already had them. You could probably get cheaper board then the MDF board we used for the shelves- but it was already white so we went with it. Otherwise, we pretty much got the cheapest of the cheap. It was also good that we already had the wood stain because that would have been an additional expense.

 

Total cost for supplies listed including tax: $234.97

Total man hour cost: 27 hrs 40 minutes

 

 

Stock photos of some of the smaller stuff that isn’t shown well in the pics:

Bike hooks- we used these to hang fans in the corners of the room

 

These bad boys are essential and were super hard for us to find. You screw these to the landscape timbers so you can attach them to the eye hooks on the wall

 

brackets we used for the selves. Figured the extra hooks on the end couldn’t hurt and they were cheaper them a lot of other options

 

 

It was a TON of work, but I think it turned out really well!! Not bad for under $250!

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10 comments

  1. nice work!! projects like that always seem to consume wayyyyyy more time and resources than anyone might reasonably expect haha – the finished product is worth it tho! and i’m at heart a very DIY-oriented person lol. should you all require more bridle hangers, i’ve heard that tuna or cat food cans work shockingly well – just screw them into the wall!

    1. Omg that’s such a good idea!! Honestly, if we didn’t already have the hook I think I could have gone to somewhere like Home Goods or Marshalls and bought some of those multi hook hanger things for doors.They seem to have some of the less attractive designs for a pretty good price- definitely better then buying the individual hooks at Lowe’s which can run you around $4 a hook!

  2. Wow! It is amazing a what a little creativity and ambition can accomplish and all for around $250! You all did an amazing job.

    Lowes usually puts their landscape timbers on sale several times a year, too. There are so many different ways to make use of them around the barn. This is great!

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