I once heard a friend refer to the fixtures in her bathroom as “jewelry for my home”. Her off-the-cuff comment stuck in my head; first because I thought it was funny, then ultimately because I realized it was true.
This Rococo mirror from Wisteria would add FLASH to any room, bath or otherwise!
Once your post and beam home has been built or bought, the fun part begins. Think of decorating and accessorizing as finding jewelry for your house, and like jewelry, pieces can be large, small, flashy, elegant, refined, showy or understated. It’s all in what you like and how you decide your home will wear these pieces. With that in mind, here are a few jewels I’d like my home to be wearing this spring:
This sideboard could work many places, indoors or out.
First on my list is the sideboard from Charleston Gardens. I love the acid-washed effect on the rought iron legs and the weathered wood of the top that give it an aged appearance. An added bonus is it’s size. Only 13 inches deep yet 31-plus inches tall, it would work equally well behind a sofa topped with a great lamp or out on a patio as a bar/serving table. Tres chic!
This British Campaign chair, The Roorkhee by Lewis Drake, is another piece that is equally comfortable inside the home or out.
The Roorkhee chair is so named because of its use in the late 1890’s to the end of WW II when the British controled India. Military officers needed furniture that was durable in all-weather conditions yet light weight and easy to assemble and disassemble quickly. This chair has no pegs. It is held together by the canvas (or leather, as it comes in both) of the seating and arms. The more weight put on the chair, the sturdier it becomes.
This "home office in a trunk" is from Restoration Hardware. How cool is this?
Restoration Hardware has really come a long way. This office on wheels would look fabulous in any post and beam home; imagine the leather of this trunk in combination with those beautiful beams. Use the Lewis Drake Roorhkee chair and your entire office is complete!
This swing arm lamp by Circa Lighting is classic. There are very few places in a post and beam this lamp wouldn't work.
The Dorchester by Circa Lighting is a great all-purpose floor lamp. It comes in many finishes and has several shade color options and the arm adjusts to different heights. I could see this lamp in an office/study, a living room or a bedroom as it’s extremely versatile.
As always, I have many more jewels to share so check back soon for more of my favorites and please feel free to send me some of your great finds!
Recently, I was talking to an acquaintenance about building a barn-style home and she asked, “What exactly is barn-style? Does it mean converting a barn into a house?”
This question started me thinking about how best to describe barn-style. Converting an old barn into a house definitely affords the home a barn-style look, but you don’t need to begin with an antique barn to build a barn home of your own. Some are old, some are new. They can be found in any geographical region of the US (and even in Europe). In size, they range from miniscule to monstrous. In style, they range from a strict adherance to historical details to irreverently ultra modern. So what makes a “barn style” home?
After pondering my friend’s question and flipping through some books and photos noting common recurring elements, I’ve developed a list of 4 essential structural elements that define the barn-home style.
1. A barn-style silhouette. The silhouette of a building is the first detail your mind processes when you look at a house, so a shape that the brain will instantaneously associate with a barn will set the basis for the barn-style look.
This contemporary home is unconventional yet unmistakably barn-style thanks to the striking silhouette of the silo structure.
The frame establishes the proportions of the house. Most barns and barn-homes are proportioned to look tall. Most are rectangular in shape with a pitched roof, although gambrel roofs are also somewhat common.
This is a cute barn home that uses the gambrel frame and stone exterior to resemble an old English carriage barn.
Cupolas and/or weathervanes often adorn the roofline of a barn or barn home. Cupolas are often centered, as pulling them “forward” towards the front of the building evokes the silhouette of a church. Large barn homes often have multiple cupolas to fit the scale of the frame size.
This home's silhouette is clearly barn-style. Notice that the owners used multiple cupolas to fit the scale of the long frame.
2. Post & beam construction. It could probably go without saying that post and beam construction is an essential element of a barn-style house. When you walk into a barn, the first thing you notice is the heavy beam frame.
Barn frames come in a variety of shapes and sizes. There are King Post Truss frames and gambrel frames. There is the aptly “A” frame, where the roof line and the horizontal cross tie for them shape of an A. More common is the “barn” frame – where the roof line is also shaped like an upside down V but there is an upside down U-shaped beam structure on which the roof sits.
Craftsmen call this a barn with a King Post Truss Frame. I call it a barn with a frame shaped like a bunch of triangles.
The Gambrel barn frame affords more height and headroom at the roof line.
I eloquently describe this post and beam barn frame as the type that's "shaped like an upside down V supported by an upside down goal post."
The heavy timber frame is often the dominant feature of a barn’s interior. Naturally, heavy timber frames are therefore used by those striving to get that barn-style look and feel on the interior of their home.
3. Barn windows. Barn windows are square and small – typically 2′6″ or 3′. They are traditionally awning-style (meaning that they open upward), although updated casement styles (opening out from the right or left side by turning a crank) have been available for a number of years.
Because of their small size, they are relatively inexpensive and thus an easy way of adding more barn-style elements to your barn home without breaking the bank.
Barn windows are popular for ground-level bedrooms or bathrooms in barn-style homes. They are large enough to let in light, yet small enough to keep private rooms (like bedrooms and bathrooms) from being on full display to the outside.
The first floor master bedroom and the second story bedrooms of this barn home use barn windows for privacy.
Since they are small you will also see barn windows used in space constrained areas like on the front face of a gable dormer.
This barn window is a perfect fit for the small gable dormer.
4. A “Great Room”. This is different from a “great” room (as in, a room that’s really nice). A “great room” is a space that almost always has cathedral ceilings for an impressive look, whose function is to combine a living room and a family room into one central location of the house.
The owners of this post and beam barn home look out the great room windows to a beautiful lake view.
Great rooms evoke the feeling of stepping inside a barn. The high vaulted ceilings and wide expanses of wall-free floor space are made possible by sturdy post and beam or timber frame construction. The great room often has a fireplace and a panel of windows soaring up the cathedral-height exterior wall.
There’s nothing I love more than flipping through magazines and books looking at gorgeous homes. When I was building my house, photos from books and magazines were my primary inspiration in designing our Victorian carriage house.
Now that the housing market has begun its rebound, I’m beginning to consider ideas for the main house (to be built on the same site as our carriage house). I am not sure what I want this time, but my starting point is this: a gorgeous post and beam home that suits New England and complements the Victorian-style of the carriage house (which will then be used as our 3-car garage and guest house once the main house is finished). As before, I am turning to magazines and books for design inspiration. Here are 6 books that are my current favorites.
1. Creating a New Old House: Yesterday’s Character for Today’s Home, by Russell Versaci. The Taunton Press. Copyright 2008. $39.95.
"Creating a New Old House" showcases new homes designed and built true to historic architectural detail. These homes are just gorgeous.
This book isn’t specifically about timber frame homes, but it does feature some beautiful homes that have great beam work. I absolutely love photos of the Spanish Colonial Revival home, starting on page 25. Many people think the post & beam is synonymous with colonial, barn or lodge styles but these photos do a great job showing how beautiful timber frames can be used as the framework for European influenced homes.
Check out page 27 to see how to do a post and beam Spanish Colonial porch, or refer to page 29 to see gorgeous beams used to evoke Spanish Colonial style in the entryway.
2. Barn Style Living, by Tina Skinner & Tony Hanslin. Schiffer Publishing Company. Copyright 2005. Available for $29.95 through Yankee Barn Homes.
Every home in this book is a post and beam structure.
This book shows photos and sample floor plans for 30-plus timber frame homes. I just love these:
I love this post and beam colonial farmhouse. The floor plan and additional photos are featured in the book.
Another home I love in this book is this summer cottage in the Hamptons.
This post and beam home has an amazing hickory railing, often seen in Adirondack style camps and lodges.
3. Ultimate Horse Barns, by Randy Leffingwell. Voyageur Press. Copyright 2008. $34.95.
You will be very jealous of the horses that live in these beautiful barns.
This book is aptly named. The horse barns in this book will make your jaw drop. Check out my absolute favorite – the barn at Grand Central Farm in Brewster, New York on page 161. Click the link to see the barn. Due to copyright issues I couldn’t post the photo here, but it’s worth the jump!
Another show stopper is the Hamilton Farm in Gladstone, New Jersey on page 111. When the building is the historic headquarters of the United States Equestrian Foundation, you know it’s going to be good. Follow the link to see the photos. The brick and tile work on the interior is absolutely amazing.
4. Timberframe Interiors, by Dick Pirozzolo and Linda Corzine. Gibbs Smith. 2000. $39.95 (hardcover).
Heavy duty timber framing is front and center in this book.
If you love timber frame, you will love this book. My favorite room is on page 164, where an owner used the timber frame great room for a full bar. The timbers give it a saloon feel, while the cathedral ceilings of the great room evoke the feeling of a church! What a contrast – a bar that feels like both a saloon and a church!
5. Creating the French Look, by Annie Sloan. Cico. Copyright 2008. $24.95
This book explains the differences between Chateau, Country, Provence and Parisian styles. It also has 25 step-by-step crafts projects!
You might think French style is not synonymous with post and beam style, however, weathered beams are often a hallmark of true French Country or Provence-style homes. If you are inspired by the casual, effortless elegance of that aged French look, you will find this book to be a wealth of information.
6. The Farmhouse: New Inspiration for the Classic American Home, by Jean Rehkamp Larson. The Taunton Press. Copyright 2006.
I'm seriously considering this house as a starting point for our new home. It would look great with the Victorian style carriage house.
This book is a gold mine for taking the classic farm house and showing what’s possible when applying today’s modern features and technology while never losing the essence of the original style. I love every house in this book!
When building a home it is important to have two things in mind: a budget and a detailed plan, while understanding you’re likely to amend both as you go through the build process. It is easy to go over budget when building a home or home addition. That’s why I wrote an earlier post called, “Building A Post and Beam: 5 Tips to Keep Costs Down“.
However…as important as it is to save when building a post and beam, there are five things I spent (not scrimped) on when building my post and beam carriage house, and I’m here to tell you it was the right decision. Sometimes it really is better to spend, not scrimp. Here are the things I am sooooo happy I didn’t downgrade in order to shave some money off my total construction costs:
1. WINDOWS!!! Sorry for the caps lock and exclamation points, but I really can’t emphasize how important my Anderson 400 windows are to the overall look, comfort and energy efficiency of my home.
Most post and beam homes, especially those done in the barn-home style, have at least one room (usually a great room or a master bedroom) with a cathedral ceiling and floor-to-ceiling windows. Windows, as most of you already know, can be far less insulatory than walls. Imagine a time you’ve felt cold sitting by a window. Now image living in a house that has a wall made of cheap windows with a low R-value. I’m shivering at the thought (literally). The windows in my home are the Anderson 400 series; well insulated, well constructed, and well worth the money. By downgrading to smaller windows, I may have saved about $3,000 (for my whole carriage house) but the comfort and energy efficiency of my home would have decreased (as my heating bill increased).
Is that snow outside? Good thing those are high-quality, well-insulated windows.
2. Doors and door hardware. Most timber frame homes are made with a high quality kiln-dried Douglas fir, giving the home a solid look and feel. The doors shouldn’t sound hollow and the door hardware (the parts of the home that you touch and move fairly often) should feel like something substantial and solid when you grasp the knob. You know the type of door…the “wood” appearance is a little too plastic and the hardware doesn’t look or feel weighty. Since timber frame is all about quality construction, cheap doors and knobs stick out like a sore thumb.
The home owners wisely opted to forgo southern yellow pine interior doors. Instead, they choose Douglas fir interior doors that more closely matched the Douglas fir timbers of their post and beam home.
3. Insulation. Boredom alert! Just kidding. I like the pretty aspects of home design – paint colors and fabrics and furnishings. I’m the type of person who zones out immediately when someone starts talking about insulation, so I’ll make this short. Insulation is important. Very important. I have foil-backed polyisocyanurate insulation in my True Wall (R-28.4) and True Roof panels (R-34.7) and my heating and cooling bills are almost nothing. I never feel a draft. And if I’d downgraded to a less expensive insulation, I would have only shaved $1,500 off my total construction costs. Enough said, but I’m sure you get the point!
Polyisocyanurate insulation, shown here on the factory cutting board, is the highest quality insulation available on the market. It's found in the True Wall and True Roof panels of my Yankee Barn carriage house.
4. The Heating System. Seriously consider a forced hot water or radiant hot water heating system in your post and beam home. Even though forced hot air can be less expensive, hot water is the better choice; here’s why.
Post and beam or timber frame homes have a lot of wood on the interior. Even though most post and beams are made from a high quality soft wood such as kiln Douglas fir, the beams will still be sensitive to changes in heat and humidity in the air. Wood, even kiln-dried wood, is like a sponge and it will absorb the moisture in the air. When the air dries, the wood will also dry out, making a “popping” sound as it contracts. Forced hot air heating systems circulate very dry, hot air. Some home owners who have forced hot air heating systems reported the popping noise as so loud that they thought gunshots were being fired in the house! This not only scares the heck out of you when you’re sleeping, but also results in “checking” (cracking) in the beams.
These beams show slight "checking" (i.e. cracking), which is typical and not too much of a structural or aesthetic problem. The photo below, however...
These beams are badly, BADLY cracked. This is not typical, and obviously was the cause of something more severe than an overly arid forced hot air heating system.
5. Fixtures and faucets. The reasoning behind spending, not scrimping, on fixtures and faucets is similar to the reasoning for #2 (doors & door hardware). Timber frame homes cost more per square foot to construct than stick built homes, but people like the sturdiness, quality and longevity that epitomizes post and beams. Every fixture in the house that you touch/manhandle/twist/turn/swing/flip/switch should feel just as sturdy as the beams that hold your house up.
This Adirondack post and beam home's kitchen has high quality faucets that complement the rugged sturdiness of the heavy timbers.
If you have three bathrooms and spend an extra $300 on your sink and tub faucets in each, that’s only an extra $1,800 to your overall construction costs. Upgrading your kitchen fixtures and key lighting fixtures to higher quality materials can be done for less than $2,000.
Should the day come when you sell the house, potential buyers questioning the quality (and therefore price) of your home because they’ve been influenced by flimsy faucets, toilet handles or light switches would not be a good thing. Spend the money up front. Take it from one who knows; you’ll be glad you did!
This carriage house in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston is topped off with a French-style Mansard roof
The Fairmount Coach House in historic Fairmount, Indiana has a classic brick exterior
At this point you might be thinking “I’m with you on the creativity part, but “innovation” - how so?”
My modern Victorian carriage house, built by Yankee Barn Homes, is both energy and space efficient. And it
This New England carriage house epitomizes the regional style, with steeply pitched gable dormers and few architectural frills.
The further west you go, the more likely you are to see signs of the Arts & Crafts style, while in the mid-Atlantic states and to the north along the coast the Shingle Style dominates with it‘s use of weathered shingles and naturally quarried stone.
This carriage house has all the arts & crafts elements - the square, tapered bungalow half-columns on brick pillars, the shingled siding and the contrasting colors painted on the decorative trim.
One thing they all have in common are those great carriage house doors! Today’s newly built carriage houses are often a combination of these geographical styles. Many architects enjoy designing carriage houses because they are a challenge spatially while great fun aesthetically.
Click through the gallery below to see more images of great carriage houses.
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- This carriage house in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston is topped off with a French-style Mansard roof
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- The Fairmount Coach House in historic Fairmount, Indiana has a classic brick exterior
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- My modern Victorian carriage house, built by Yankee Barn Homes, is both energy and space efficient.
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- This New England carriage house epitomizes the regional style, with steeply pitched gable dormers and few architectural frills.
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- This carriage house has all the arts & crafts elements – the square, tapered bungalow half-columns on brick pillars, the singled siding and the contrasting colors painted on the decorative trim.
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- This carriage house has classic Georgian elements.
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- A modernized kitchen in a converted carriage house.
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- This carriage house has been updated and is now used as a gift shop.
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- The carriage house at the Mark Twain house in Hartford, Connecticut.
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- This newer carriage house is rustic but luxurious, with a field stone exterior, detailed trim work and that gorgeous mountain view.
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- This southern carriage house looks like a delicious cake with its yellow clapboard and ornate white trimmed details.
