The Big Project: Farm Apartment (in which we make plans to raise the roof…literally)

August 16, 2013 by Anne 6 Comments

Since Kenny and I live in a 670 square foot apartment, we frequently escape those confines and head to my parents expansive farm.

ESPECIALLY now that they’ve embarked on a very exciting, very big new project.

You might remember the master bedroom makeover we gave my parents for Christmas?

Well, this project is on the farm, but it’s not in the house at all. Let me explain.

There are a bunch of barns on the farm, all with different purposes. Some are older and some are newer. And one such barn (an old one) needs to be remodeled for a new purpose. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll have received several sneak peeks of our progress…

Let me introduce you to “the workshop,” which is what we call this barn. Each barn has a name–the yellow polebarn (that, incidentally, hasn’t been yellow in 10 years), the sheep barn, Grandpa’s barn, etc.

Here it is, on the very righthand side of the picture. The one with the flat roof.

And here’s another, summerier picture–it’s on the right again.

My guess is that this barn was built sometime in the 1940s or 1950s (though my mother can correct me). In it’s lifetime, it’s been a garage, a chicken coop, a shop for wool wares, and a woodworking shop.

It’s time now for the barn to get rebuilt. The plan is to raise the roof (literally) and create a gambrel roof (more of a traditional barn look). That will then create a whole second story worth of space, which we’ll divide into an apartment and a studio for my mom’s hobby, weaving (with gigantic looms). The first story will continue to be half shop, half woodworking area.

All photos were taken from my mom’s farm blog, which you should click over to read. And check back Monday for a progress post–we’ve already started work!