At Home In a Barn: From Dairy Barn to Cozy Home

By Johannes Postma

Living in a barn may seem an unusual ambition, but an abandoned Minnesota dairy barn captured author Johannes Postma’s imagination in 1976 and enticed him to devote years to making it his home.

This account of Postma’s do-it-yourself building adventure begins with the barn’s early history as the heart of a small dairy business. It then moves to the various stages of renovating the structure into a unique rural home. In addition to keeping much of the barn’s beam structure exposed, Postma preserved the barn ambience by using weathered boards from some of the farm’s outbuildings as wainscoting in much of the hayloft living quarters. Now he describes the interior and exterior transformation made over the course of twenty-four years.

Including images and illustrations, At Home in a Barn offers a great transformation story for all those interested in barns, the preservation of old structures, and do-it-yourself ventures.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Jan 16, 2015
• ISBN: 9781483423692

Book preview

At Home in a Barn

From Dairy Barn to Cozy Home

Johannes Postma

Copyright © 2015 Johannes Postma.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-2368-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-2369-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015900146

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 01/09/2015

Table of Contents

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

1. DISCOVERING THE BARN

2. VANISHING AMERICAN ICON

3. A BARN WORTH PRESERVING

4. PREPARING FOR RENOVATION

5. DESIGNING THE HOME

6. FINANCING THE PROJECT

7. SALVAGED TIMBERS AND BRICKS

8. CATHEDRAL CEILING

9. CHIMNEY AND FIREPLACES

10. LIVING QUARTERS

11. HELPING HANDS

12. MOVING INTO THE BARN

13. WINTER AT THE BARN

14. LANDSCAPING THE YARD

15. THE DEEP RAVINE

16. AN APARTMENT DOWNSTAIRS

17. MARRIAGE AND DOMESTIC LIFE

18. REVAMPING THE LITTLE BARN

19. THE WOODVIEW COMMUNITY

20. THE CUPOLA AND BALCONIES

21. A SILO WITH POTENTIAL

22. EXPANSION AND A NEW LOOK

23. MODIFICATIONS IN THE NINETIES

24. PARTING WITH THE BARN

25. LOOKING BACK

SEASONS AT THE BARN

PHOTOGRAPHS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

CREDITS

FURTHER READING

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A barn would not be regarded by many as an ideal place for a home. But an old abandoned dairy barn enchanted me into making it my home for nearly twenty-four years. My son Peter, who was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, occasionally responded to reproof for slight misbehavior by saying: What do you expect, I was born in a zoo and raised in a barn.

I had never seen a barn converted into a home, nor had I read about such ventures before beginning mine, but I subsequently learned that I was not the only barn enthusiast. Several books have been published about old barns and their transformation into homes or other quarters. To my regret, I did not explore the available literature before starting my renovation project, so I had to learn fashioning a barn-home the hard way.

As I worked on the makeover, I decided that the experience and its outcome were worth sharing with relatives and friends who were not eyewitnesses to the process. So I began to take pictures of the project’s progression, and during my final year at the barn I started writing my story. We sold the barn in the year 2000, moved to the East Coast, and did not see the inside of it again for thirteen years. When I discovered how much the new owners appreciated their home, I decided to finish my story.

Although the book is based primarily on my own memory and records, several individuals have contributed information and expertise. Members of the Watts family have shared pictures and stories about the barn and life on the farm. I am especially indebted to Gary Watts, who was born and raised on the farm and still lives on a portion of it, for providing much information. His wife Judy, his sister Betty Rupp, and his cousin Curtis Dornberg also shared pictures and relevant information with me. I am also grateful to my friend and former colleague Chuck Lewis, who photographed a few of the interior scenes of the barn, places I had neglected to photograph, which are included as illustrations.

I also thank Patricia Banusewicz and Lee Hamburg for reading early drafts of the manuscript and suggesting improvements. I especially want to thank my wife, Joelle Million, for providing valuable suggestions and critique during the entire process of preparing the manuscript. She read and edited the manuscript thoughtfully, and without her support and assistance this book would not have been completed. I also thank Tad Runkle for his advice about publishing and improving photographs, and Gene Kennedy for drafting the layout of the completed living quarters.

I also thank Heather Harron of the Blue Earth County Historical Society for providing statistical information of the Watts family, and David Gagnon who led me to an important illustration about the mechanics of dairy barns. Finally, I want to express my appreciation to Keven Foran and his team at Lulu Publishing Services for their advice and efficient work of preparing the book for publication.

My account is both a memoir and a technical description of barn renovation. It is written primarily for the younger generation who shared the barn as home with me. To them I dedicate this book.

To my children and step-children,

who have all lived in the barn.

Mark Paul Postma

Peter Anthony Postma

Shelley Marie Roppe

Sara Joelle Runkle

Tad Aaron Runkle

Barns Bring Charm to the Countryside

01.jpg

1. My first view of the barn from a distance, 1974

1

DISCOVERING THE BARN

It was in the spring of 1974 that I first saw the red barn that would become my home for more than two decades. A lawyer friend, James Manahan, had invited me and several others to a barnyard picnic to show us the farmland that he and two other local entrepreneurs had purchased for establishing an upscale housing development. Manahan planned to build his own home on the property and use the barn for