The Barn

The Barn: The Beginning

I wasn't really sure how to present our big family project...Sometimes the best way to start something is to jump right in!


In September 2008, Southeast Texas was hit hard by Hurricane Ike. We live almost 100 miles north of Houston. So, we didn't suffer near the damage that a lot of our Southeast Texas neighbors did. Our Barn took the biggest hit.


We decided to build a new "bigger/better" version. Plans were drawn, and contractors called. In our new barn, everyone had their favored spot. My sister, and I, wanted a dedicated Craftroom, My brother, and sis-in-law, wanted their own room to stay in when they visited. We all wanted a common Game room/Gathering place, and a huge porch. And we also wanted a bunk-house for any weekend guests. We needed dedicated "Barn" space for the tractor, 4-wheelers, lawnmowers, tools, etc. I used a very inexpensive software program to draw the plan, at the top of the page. It really helped in being able to plan out the spaces.

We came up with a plan: 40' x 60' metal pole barn, with a 20' x 40' covered porch. We would use half of the barn for "barn" space, and the other half for all of the rooms we wanted. Work began on the new building in October, 2008. We had the shell of the barn built. And, finished the inside rooms ourselves. The rooms would be as follows: 20'x 30' Gameroom; 10' x 15' Craftroom; 10' x 15" Bunkhouse; 10' x 17' Brother's Weekend Hide away; 10' x 6' Bathroom; 10' x ~7' Tool Room. The other half of the building would house the true barn.


We were going for a very casual, rustic, grown-up "Playhouse". After all, it's "just a barn"! :)

In the next few posts, I will describe all of the rooms, with pictures, in detail. Throughout our rooms, we used 1" x 4" pine, for the walls. The absolute lowest grade of boards we could find. We wanted all the knot holes and bark-edged boards to add to the rustic nature of the space, and give it a log cabin ambience. All of the rooms had ceilings made from corrugated tin. The walls are 10' tall throughout the building/barn. This really opened up the spaces.