How to Design and Build Energy Efficient Homes
Yankee Barn Homes offers guidelines for designing and building energy efficient homes.
Emphasis on Designing the Entryway
Introduction Designing an entryway might seem like an after-thought, but it should be anything but. The entryway is the first step inside the interior of a home. It needs to be welcoming. It also needs to be functional as it is one of the most used areas of a home. Your entryway sets the tone…
How to Revitalize an Older Barn Home
You’ve fallen in love with a rustic barn home; its beautiful timbers, great wood beams, wide board ceilings and heavy plank floors. It has great bones but is just a bit tired looking… and dark! How to spruce it up? Begin by setting a realistic budget. What do you want to accomplish and how much…
The Master Bedroom; Stop Telling Me It Needs To Be On The First Floor!
People often suggest the need to design a house with the master bedroom on the first floor. You hear things like “someday you may not want or be able to climb stairs”. Possibly, but it may also be true that we could stay in better shape as we age if we are climbing stairs. My…
Why Building New is Better
Yes, even in this economy. I know you’re saying to yourself “Is she nuts?” but please hear me out. I have a point or two that may resonate with some of you non-believers as I, too, would have fit into your category not so long ago. Having just built a new post and beam…
If You Don’t Know How to Cook, Stay Out of the Kitchen
It occurs to me that unless someone knows how to cook they should not design a kitchen. It’s a simple but totally practical theory. If you don’t know the basic steps for boiling water, don’t mess around with kitchen design. Here is where I have to insert a disclaimer: I love my husband dearly;…
Exterior Design Do’s & Don’ts for the Aesthetically Challenged – Part III
Exterior Do’s & Don’ts Part 3 Do Give That Wonderful Deck A Great Body – Or At Least Great Legs! Maybe you’ve seen one of my personal favorites (she says sarcastically); the deck off the first or second floor of a home with spindly-looking four by four posts as its only means of support. They look…
Exterior Design Do’s & Don’ts for the Aesthetically Challenged – Part II
Exterior Do’s & Don’ts Part 2 Do Concern Yourself With Window and Door Placement. While many of us spend time pouring over drawings of our floor plans, picturing where walls will be, how furniture will fit, the layout of the perfect work triangle for the kitchen; this thought process does not necessarily include how…
Exterior Do’s & Don’ts for the Aesthetically Challenged – Part I
As promised in my previous post, The Design Dilemma, I’d like to talk aboutthe exterior aesthetics of a post and beam home. I’ll do this over the course of three blog posts so as not to cause your eyes to cross and/or your mind to go numb! Exterior Dos & Don’ts Part 1 Often…
Second Floors, to Plank or Not to Plank?
Planked kitchen ceiling by Yankee Barn Homes One of the beauties of a timber frame home is the gorgeous planked ceiling contrasting with the beams. It really complements what a post and beam house is all about. But the 2 ½” planks used by some builders for second floors leave the homeowner with quite…
I’m Not Getting Any Younger…
The other day I asked a friend of mine what would be important to her should she design a house at this stage of her life. Her response was so funny I asked her to write it down. Here she is in her own words: “First, I feel that I must admit something: the…
Post & Beam Architecture is NOT Synonymous with Log Home Living
Many people see the terms academic help “post and beam” or “timber frame” as synonymous with log home living. Nothing could be further from the truth. Log homes tend to be more rustic with a sometimes overwhelming amount of wood exposed on the interior. Post and beam homes expose the timber structure in the interior while still allowing for the warmth…