Interior Barn-Style Design

By BeamBabe on March 11, 2010 in Building & Design, Post & Beam Barns, Post & Beam Home, Styling & Decorating, The Beam Babe, timber frame

I’d like to preface this post by saying that one can design the interior of a barn any way one likes; all styles of interior decor will work with barn architecture. However, this post is particularly for those of us who like the idea of living in a barn; you know, the kind that looks like cows or horses used to live there, but has been cleaned up and is now outfitted for residents of the human variety.

I am hard pressed to tell by this picture whether this barn was converted or built specifically as a residence.

I purposely used the word looks, so I could make this point; it is indeed the look that matters. The barn could actually be brand-spanking new. It’s all in the esthetics of the structure that get you where you want to be when we’re talking about interior design and decor used to achieve the “barn look”.

This gorgeous barn home happens to be the brand new residence of famous chef Ina Garten, better known to many as The Barefoot Contessa.

While the above picture of Ms Garten’s home at first looks like no cow barn I’ve ever seen, if you squint your eyes while imagining the fireplace and doorways gone, suddenly it’s not so hard to see this might have once been a barn; admittedly a barn with great bones, but still a barn.

Again, who's to say if this is a converted barn or new construction done beautifully in the barn-style vernacular. Either way, it is stunning!

In my opinion, the picture above says it all (and correctly, I might add). Who cares if this is an old barn or a new one; it’s flipping fantastic. I LOVE the way the polished cement floor (scored on the diagonal) is juxtaposed with the rustic post and beam structure and that fabulous field stone fireplace!!!!

Timber Frame Great Room by Yankee Barn Homes

Speaking of great fireplaces, here's one in a barn home I happen to know is new; but again, who cares? It's great!

In closing, no pun intended, I’ll end with a picture of a new barn home with pitch-perfect interiors and my favorite barn feature: the sliding barn door!