Architecture Wednesday: Timber Frame Barn House

Y’all know I love a barn, and this one, in the countryside of Highlands, North Carolina—a hop, skip and car ride from Smallville—is a perfect fit. It used to be an old, weathered, and rustic barn and yet it’s become a comfortable—and a sizable 3600 square feet—Timber Frame Barn House.

There’s a great room, open to the surrounding spaces, with a metal spiral staircase that leads to a loft space. And while it’s a large room, it feels cozy with all the woodwork and the massive stone fireplace that covers the full height of the room from floor to ceiling. In keeping with that spacious feeling the adjacent dining room features glass pocket doors that open onto a patio.

And while it’s open and spacious, yet still comfy and cozy, it still looks and feels a bit like a barn. The exterior of the home is quite clearly the actual facade of the old barn, with the original timbers still in place, though bolstered by frame updates and modern renovations …like the interior flooring, a combination of wood and concrete.

The part of the home that keeps the “barn house” vibe intact is the actual, original barn door itself, which can be closed over the much newer doors with glass insets. Once the barn doors are opened, the glass doors can roll like sliding panels to disappear entirely on warm days, giving the entryway an even more rustic feel when only the big barn doors are visible.

And, in order to keep the barn house, and all that wood, from feeling dark and oppressive, bright ceiling lights are everywhere; inset lamps and pendant lights are in every room and on the porch to make sure guests and dwellers are never in the dark, even on days that are too chilly for indoor-outdoor experiences and leaving the barn doors open for a nice breeze.

The place I like the best, though, is the front porch, with its own seating area and stone fireplace that overlooks the yard and the forest beyond,

It looks like a perfect place to get away for a weekend or so, but I’d like to stay there … permanently.

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