When their clients told him they wanted a barn on their property to compliment their 19th-century farmhouse and serve as their guesthouse and entertainment space, architect Douglas VanderHorn started the search process immediately.

 

 

VanderHorn found this barn outside Albany, New York, via Heritage Restorations, a firm that scouts barns in disrepair for rehabilitation and reuse.

According to Houzz, the timbers were already numbered and coded, as that was part of the original construction in the 1860s, when the barn was built. This made it easy to keep things organized during dismantling and rebuilding. The wood was tented and fumigated to get rid of any insects before builders began to put the barn back together.

 

 

As part of the renovations, they replaced the barn’s original siding with fir reclaimed from another barn that was in better shape, and repurposed it elsewhere in the project. A conservatory, chimney and cupola are new architectural additions.

Below you can see some interior shots of the incredible transformation. You can see many more photos and find plenty of additional information for this project on Houzz.

 

 

Inside, VanderHorn used all the siding, timbers and floors original to the barn. He repurposed the original exterior siding to use as planks for the ceiling. The original floors are 2½ inches thick, and show their history through scratches and nicks. “You could still drive a tractor on them,” the architect says. The walls are covered in a rustic plaster treatment that has hay in it — a nod to the barn’s history.
 
On the top right side of the photo, a loft with a bedroom and full bathroom is illuminated by light from the new cupola. Pine trims the new custom windows. “We tried to design windows that were as simple as possible to match the era of the barn,” VanderHorn says. [source]

 

 

 

Architecture: Douglas VanderHorn Architects
Interior design: Linda Shockley and Associates
Lighting: Patdo Light Studio

 

 

 

 

 
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