It took me nearly 5 years into my retirement to discover something about myself.
I ALWAYS NEED A PROJECT!
Up until early last year (2019), I had been busy with selling my big house of over a decade, then renovating, downsizing and moving into a condo with about 1/4 the square footage of my house. (This is one sure way to discover what are necessities and what you can do without!) So I was able to consolidate and it was now time to decide what to do with the “Farm”. Twenty-eight years had gone by and I still owned the special place on Whitetail Lane. As I looked at all of the various options, one thing began to become clear to me; there was no way that I could bring myself to sell it (for sentimental reasons)!
“The Barnyard” Oil on Canvas Steve Testerman 2016
So the plan developed over a 6 or 8 month period; I looked at Log Cabins (too expensive), building a house (still expensive, but possible), a doublewide trailer (wheels), a tiny house (nope), an airstream (still too small and, again, wheels) … then somehow an idea emerged (I’m still not sure of the genesis)…a BARNDOMINIUM!
Texas Barndominiums was probably the first time I learned about what could be done … the answer is pretty much anything!
Check out some of the high end Barndos being built in Texas; mostly in the hill country around Austin on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/user/TexasBarndominiums
About this time a friend, by chance, was able to go on a tour of a Barndominium in Alabama belonging to author and celebrity chef Trace Barnett. She fell in love with the quant, farmhouse feel of this place; there is a great story of his place and what he is doing with it in his book (and some great recipes)!
So with some encouragement, and validation that … this was not a CRAZY idea; the project began!
to be continued…
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