We built a barn – a BIG one.
We moved into our big barn house almost 2 years ago, and I’ve yet to write one single blog post about it. I had such grand aspirations. All the stories – why we decided to build a big ass barn, and how, from the moment the idea came to us, we couldn’t stop it from happening. I know that sounds dramatic. It’s like everybody talking about their kids (insert eye roll), of course you think it’s special and perfect…it’s your kid! From the first day we started sketching plans on graph paper at our kitchen table, we had a gut feeling about this place. Like it was meant to be-a God thing. I try not to throw those words around lightly. I have felt like this home was supposed to be used for something special. I wasn’t even sure it was something that would come to fruition while we lived here, or if it would be someone doing something wonderful with this place 50 years from now. I always like to think of the way all things are connected-like a complex web. Yes, the things I do now affect me and mine now, but I’m always amazed at how even our tiniest decisions can start a ripple that will impact people not only half way around the world, but hundreds of years away.
Aaaaannnnnyyyyway….
The barn.
The Big Ass Barn.
I’m ready to tell you about it.
I’ve been overwhelmed (in a good way) with all the people who want to know everything about this place. And I would love more than anything to tell you all about it. So here we go! This is blog post #1 of How we built our Big Ass Barn.
We didn’t set out to build a barn house, in fact, it wasn’t even on our radar. Not long after we purchased our land, we began the design process of our perfect “Modern Farm House”. We worked with a very talented architect friend of ours getting everything just right. Once we finished the design process, we set out to do what normal people who are building a house do-we started getting bids from contractors so we could get this project started! Then something happened…NOTHING! Absolutely nothing. Every step of the way, we could not make this house happen. Contractors wouldn’t return our calls, no one would turn in bids, and the bids we did get back were turning out to be way out of our budget. After a couple of months of trying, we tabled the idea. We just couldn’t pull the trigger on the house we had designed.
So, we waited.
I just kept telling my husband that there was something out there that we were supposed to build, it just hadn’t come to us yet.
One night my parents were at our house and my mom started talking about this idea she had to build a barn house. I may have rolled my eyes at her. I DO love barns, the shape, the feeling it gives me when I look at them, but I thought this may be a little to trendy. Then she started talking about the FUNCTION of this place. The breezeway down the middle with big open doors on either end, being able to DRIVE THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF YOUR HOUSE, living in one wing with the shop/office in the other wing. I was sold. And as we jotted down rough numbers of what it would cost, we figured we would be able to build this structure, which was almost 3 times the size of our previous house plans for the same price.
That night me, my husband, my mom, and my dad started sketching out ideas on paper. The next night, we had purchased the graph paper and all the fancy little tools we needed to draw our own plans. My dad was a draftsman in the army, so together we laid out the whole structure. I felt it in my gut that this was the home we were supposed to build.
Within days of talking about this idea for the first time, we were pouring concrete-ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I’m not. When before, we couldn’t make the house happen, we couldn’t stop this. Before, we could hardly get the subcontractors to give us quotes, and now they were coming back at a fraction of the cost of the previous house. It probably didn’t hurt that they thought they were building a barn. It was big and simple, with 2 load bearing walls in the whole place. I’ll give you more details in the next blog installments, because I know that’s what so many of you want to know!
So this is the beginning of our story…how we decided to build our Barn House. I wanted you to know the heart of it before I started talking logistics. As we move forward, I really want to hear from YOU! How I tell this story and what details I give will come directly from what topics you want me to cover. So please please please leave me a comment or a question below!
Until next time!
Kelly