This category includes a broad range of blog posts all pertaining to post and beam building or the post and beam design process. Architectural inspirations, design ideas, tips for building new post and beam homes and additions and more!
You may not believe this wild story but trust me, it is absolutely true. It happened to my close friend and I asked him to recount it for this post: I live in a Yankee Barn that was built in 1979 – 30 years old! April 15, 2007 was not one of my better days.…
Lesson # 7: If Structure Matters, Aesthetics Are Paramount. This is where I’m probably going to insult some people and those who know me will never believe it, but tossing insults and sarcasm around is truly not my objective; at least not here. That being said, I have strong opinions on aesthetics in general and…
Lesson # 6: Structure Matters. The beauty of post and beam design is the number of options you have. The structure may be designed using either interior bearing walls when privacy is desired or a simple bearing post where openness is what you want. Instead of an entire wall, a post will suffice. This is…
Lesson # 5: Make It a Collaborative Effort: aka The Poker Game. As the women, I once believed I had exclusivity over all things aesthetic of our new post and beam home. My husband could have his indoor garage faucets, car attachments for the central vacuum and even a recycling shed. No problem. But…
Lesson # 4: Be Ready To Compromise. No matter how prepared you are, how many budgets you’ve formulated, or how many times you’ve reviewed the numbers, changes will occur that you never saw coming. Some may even turn out to provide you with a better structure than you’d have thought possible, but all will…
I love magazines for design ideas! The Design Dilemma: 7 Lessons Learned When my husband and I agreed to build a new home, I knew it would be a post and beam. In the last few years I’d become more familiar with the post and beam style through work, overseeing quite a few…
This fantastic seaside home sits on a half acre lot! Consideration 1 – It’s true – size matters…but not that much. It’s not the lot size that matters; it’s the aesthetic of the lot. There must be a good marriage between the site and the structure being built on it. Where people often go…
A really cute “Not So Big” post & beam house It seems that everyday, all day, we are hearing about this tough economic climate and how we should conserve. Last night, I ran across my dog-tattered copy of a remarkable design book, The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka, which discusses simplifying and reducing…