HOMEOWNERS NEWSLETTER

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Elwin and Eileen had a plan in mind for a new house – a standard cape but with an open living area. When the idea of doing a post and beam home entered the picture, they started to research the possibilities. First they searched online. "We looked at several companies," said Elwin. "Yankee Barn was the best of the bunch."

To be sure of their decision, Elwin and Eileen visited the Yankee Barn show home in Grantham, New Hampshire. "The visit to the show home was a big help. We had never been in a Yankee Barn. It was a great experience," recalled Elwin.

"The visit to the show home is a must," recommended Eileen. "You can see and feel what it is like to live in a Yankee Barn."

Convinced they wanted to live in a Yankee Barn, they confirmed their decision with phone calls and visits with several Yankee Barn homeowners in their home state of Maine. "All said wonderful, positive things about Yankee Barn."

With the research done and the decision made to build a Yankee Barn, Elwin and Eileen began the design process. With a general layout in mind, they began working with one of the Yankee Barn designers to adapt their plan to a post and beam.

The first priority was to create an open floor plan with plenty of light. Because they like to entertain, the size of the rooms and the flow of the house from room to room were key considerations.

The flow from the kitchen into the dining room and Great Room were key considerations for everyday living, as well as entertaining.

While they wanted a breakfast room to use on a daily basis, a large dining room was a must for entertaining. Eileen wanted a big kitchen with "everything," not to mention plenty of room and counter space. Their design had the master bedroom on the first floor and guest rooms upstairs. For the exterior of their home, they wanted the architecture and trim to fit into the Maine landscape.

Eileen designed a large central kitchen with "everything" for ease in entertaining friends and family.

"The first layout from Yankee Barn was just what we were looking for," said Elwin. "But the house was bigger in terms of overall size than we wanted. Yankee Barn had good ideas and suggestions to cut back the size. They figured out how to have cost savings without giving up what we were looking for." "After we downsized the layout and fit the house to the site with the glass facing south, the plan was perfect," confirmed Elwin.

Elwin and Eileen scheduled a visit to the Yankee Barn shop to watch their house being built. "Seeing our house being built was fun. Everything was a great experience," recalled Eileen.

Both Elwin and Eileen spent time on site at the barn raising. "It was amazing how quickly the house went up. Support from Yankee Barn was excellent. If there were issues, they took care of it straight away." In their home for three years and counting, both agree they made the right decision to turn their "standard cape" into a post and beam home.

The couple enjoys the breakfast room just off the kitchen on a routine basis.

Elwin and Eileen wanted their master bedroom on the first floor to keep their daily living space on one floor.

"I like the fact that it is sunny all day," added Eileen. "Yet, in the winter, the house is heat efficient, even with all the glass." "Our home is comfortable and well laid out," said Elwin. "The Great Room, the loft, all the rooms are very livable. Everything flows well when we entertain." "We love the beams. We love the house," agreed Eileen. "Everyone likes our home."

The Sales and Marketing Council of Home Builders and Remodelers Association of New Hampshire awarded Yankee Barn Homes with seven 2005 Cornerstone Awards for excellence in the building industry. The awards included two gold, three silver, and two bronze.

The Yankee Barn homeowners, the true winners, included Elwin and Eileen featured in this newsletter. Among the Gold Awards, Jane and Bob's Yankee Barn basked in the spotlight in New Hampshire Magazine's portfolio of winners for 2005. Featured in the Winter 2005 Homeowners Newsletter, Jane and Bob chose the Yankee Barn Olde Farms frame for a gambrel barn shape. According to Jane, "We liked the open areas inside and the overall look of a barn." The Cornerstone Awards agreed with Bob's assessment of their new barn home, "The layout works out beautifully. Visitors have plenty of room to move around. The traffic pattern is wonderful."

Yankee Barn took home, literally, a Silver Cornerstone Award for the show home in West Chester, Pennsylvania, featured in the Fall 2004 Homeowners Newsletter. Bruce Parsons, Senior Designer, noted "We envisioned a universal design with the flexibility to fit many different families and lifestyles. We envisioned this show home from both the inside out and outside in. We wanted the design and details to show well all the way around." Show well, indeed.

Sarah Conine and Eric Covill have been awarded Yankee Barn Homes scholarships, announced Tony Hanslin, Chief Executive Officer of Yankee Barn Homes. The scholarships were established in memory of Emil Hanslin, Tony's father and the founder of Yankee Barn Homes. Scholarships of $1,000 each are made available to Grantham students heading to college or technical school.

Sarah Conine will be attending Dickinson College majoring in Biology. Eric Covill will be attending Paul Smith's College majoring in Surveying.

Yankee Barn Homes introduced barn kits this spring to provide customers with a unique structure combining the authenticity of century-old post and beam barns with the design and construction to meet today's building codes. These barns have the benefits of a manufactured structure including ease and speed of construction and the quality of materials.

Instead of pole barn construction that are typically metal buildings built with pressure treated lumber, the BarnMakers kit reproduces the look and feel of an old barn with heavy eastern white pine rough sawn post and beam frame, along with eastern white pine roof boards and pine shiplap siding.

Much like a Yankee Barn home, barn kits are built at the Yankee Barn shop for assembly on site. In the shop, the post and beam frames are cut and numbered and the roof is built as panels for easy installation. On site, the barn can be assembled by you or your builder with the frame assembled, second floor deck installed, and roof panels set and ready for shiplap siding installation. An independent Yankee Barn Homes certified installer is available if you wish additional guidance in assembling the barn.

To provide information and answers to frequently asked questions, Yankee Barn Homes launched a new Web site at www.barnmakers.com. The site offers specifications for the three frames: 24 x 36 frame with hay loft, 36 x 48 story-and-a-half frame, and a gambrel-style frame with second floor storage. The Web site describes the standard barn kit specifications and includes floor plans.

For more information, contact the Yankee Barn Homes office at info@yankeebarnhomes.com or 800-258-9786.

Photographs: Suki Coughlin, Stylist: Paula McFarland
©2005 Yankee Barn Homes, Tony Hanslin, Chairman and CEO