Last night’s broadcast of “Fixer Upper” featured a home made from a barn designed by Joanna and Chip Gaines. I got to thinking about the possibility of other homes that were made from old barns and did some research. For you, I have photos of the Fixer Upper barn home followed by some other charming and outstanding renovations.
Enjoy!
First, we have photos from the Magnolia Homes blog: https://magnoliamarket.com/blog/
Above is a 17 foot table built by the Gaines’ carpenter. Think about it!
Next is a home converted from an 1850 dairy barn. Amazing!
Photos from this home are from the Hooked on Houses blog. http://hookedonhouses.net/2012/07/16/converting-a-dairy-barn-from-the-1850s-into-a-house/
…and one more from http://www.timberhomeliving.com/true-heritage-a-swan-mountain-range-timber-home-tour
When I was a girl my friend, Connie, and I spent an entire summer playing in the back of her parents’ garage. They had given us permission to take a small storage room at the back of the garage and use it for a playhouse. I had forgotten about this summer of decorating until I saw the photos of the many barn homes and their exposed old wood. Connie and I swept, added curtains to the one dim window, picked wild flowers and put them on the work bench, and tacked up pictures from magazines to brighten the walls. While other little girls were riding bicycles and playing croquet that summer we were engaged in making the garage workroom into the most beautiful place we could. My mother asked me why I did not work as hard at home as I did in the garage playhouse. I must have swept and dusted that place every day!
The barn homes featured in the photos above are more than charming. Charm fairly oozes from every board. It must be so comforting and special to wake up each day in a place with history….a place that is as unique as it is beautiful. If you are looking for a new home, don’t limit yourself to what is considered to be the usual. I know of a family in rural Missouri that made a spectacular home from an old red brick school. The floors were hardwood and there were plenty of rooms for bedrooms. Each one had an old slate blackboard on one or more walls. I understand that it is filled with arrow heads found in the streams and farm fields of the county.
The most unusual home I ever visited was in the Washington D.C. area. On the property was a stone chapel. The family could host weddings a few steps from the place where they lived. Let us say that the home and the chapel were both sanctuaries!
If you live in a place with history embrace it! If you, like me, live in a home that was built a few years ago, why not add antique pieces, old paintings, family treasures to make it sing. Create and be happy!
deborahwoodmurphy 