My mom and I often disagree about taste and style particularly when it comes to architecture. She can not understand why I am such a huge fan of barn homes. As long as I can remember I have always had a love for barns. Barns are romantic symbols of our past. If not your personal…
As the weather gets warmer and yet another long winter has come to an end, our attention turns to outdoor living and the spaces we love to inhabit during the warmer days and nights of summer. There is nothing like beautiful blue water to evoke thoughts of SUMMER! Post and beam homes have an inherent…
The decor was not my style. I discovered one of the best, most cost effective and immediate ways to create a totally fresh look was with paint. I also learned the importance of choosing the correct shade of a color. Do you have any idea how many shades of white exist out there in the…
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…
Remodeling a post & beam is a piece of cake compared to a similar project on a stick built home. One of the primary reasons is because the post & beam frame supports the structure, while a stick built home’s structural support is provided by the interior walls. In the year 2000 friends of…
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.…
Lighting a timber frame home has a few specifics you may not find in other homes. Having just done one myself, I’ve discovered the use of chandeliers, track lighting, up lighting, pendant lights, wall sconces, floor lamps and table lamps were all necessary for properly lighting different areas of my carriage house. Here are 3…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…