A portmanteau of the words “barn” and “condominium,” a barndominium is a barn turned into a living space complete with the comforts of a home. Barns that no longer serve their original purpose can be converted into homes using fewer materials than building a home from the ground up. Some barndominiums are built from scratch.
While barns give plenty of floor space to work on, it’s easy to get too complacent and make poor design decisions. Custom barndominium plans must prioritize comfort over all other factors, whether as a family home or vacation rental. Allow this guide to help you create a unique living space you can be proud of.
Know Its Strengths and Weaknesses
A barndominium or “barndo” benefits from an open-floor design because of what a barn is designed to do. As a farm owner’s all-in-one storage space, barns are built to be spacious for all the equipment, livestock, and supplies. However, the design also means that a barn typically doesn’t have enough interior walls for partitioning.
Wood has been the traditional choice for building a barn, with aluminum and steel gaining popularity in later decades. That said, an all-wood frame and exterior are vulnerable to the elements and pests that feed or thrive on the material, especially if the structure has seen better days. As such, you may need to spend a bit more on retrofits.
On the other hand, aluminum and steel have been known to stand the test of time. Given that they only became popular in the latter half of the past century, they’re likely erected using modern building codes and construction techniques. However, metals conduct and radiate heat, and undesirable sounds can echo around the interior.
Decisions on things like adding new interior walls and lining the barn walls with insulation affect the amount of space available for the living quarters. The good news is that you can find prepared barndominium floor plans online and find one to turn even the most antiquated barn into the space of your dreams.
Unify Common Areas
The main appeal of these structures is their low cost. HomeAdvisor estimates the average cost of building a new barndominium is USD$300,000. By comparison, the Federal Reserve of St. Louis reports the Q3 2024 median price for sold houses in the U.S. at USD$420,400.
Of course, this is an oversimplified comparison, as the actual cost varies based on several factors. Experts cite that a barndo’s cost is comparable to that of a small house and higher than a traditional home with the bare necessities. This is to be expected, but when your barndo costs more than the median price of conventional real estate, it defeats the purpose.
If there’s a chance you can save on costs while retaining your vision, there’s no reason not to seize it. For example, unifying the dining area, kitchen, and living room into one common area reduces the need to erect additional partition walls. You’d want seamless flow among these areas, anyway, so merging them is a sound plan.
Alternatively, the savings from forgoing said walls can be allocated to creating more rooms or adding more features. The more unified areas a barndo’s interior has, the easier it’ll be to renovate or expand should the need arise.
Harness Vertical Space
Barns are typically built with high ceilings for three key reasons: animal safety, ventilation, and natural lighting. Horses and certain farm animals don’t like closed spaces, which can also trap the stench of manure. By providing ample vertical space and stagnant air outlets, farm owners save on costly ventilation systems.
This leaves you, the aspiring dream barndo owner, the opportunity to incorporate vertical space into your design. A cost-effective measure would be to keep the high ceiling to take advantage of natural lighting and ventilation. If you need more rooms than the ground floor can provide, adding a second floor is an option.
The downside of the latter is that the design must account for changes in the flow of stale air and natural light. To address this, you may opt for larger windows, HVAC systems, and more energy-efficient light fixtures.
Opt For Dual-Use Rooms
Should a bedroom just be a place to rest? Should a living room just be a place to kick back and unwind? Perhaps, but if you want to make every square meter count, certain parts of the barndo need to serve more than one purpose.
Remember that bit about unifying common areas from earlier? With that much space, you can host an explosive party complete with a mini-DJ station and dance floor at the center. The furniture needs to be light enough to be moved aside to make room for dancing the day or night away. Barns may be large, but they’re still best used when every space is working.
Another example is your home office doubling as an additional bedroom. A sofa bed would work best in this case thanks to its ability to switch between sofa and bed mode. A Murphy bed isn’t advisable due to the cost, not to mention the dangers of improper operation.
Conclusion
Barndominiums are quickly becoming the next major real estate trend due to their low cost and the flexibility of their open-floor design. Whether sprucing up a barn that has fallen to disuse or constructing one from scratch, you can’t go wrong with a barndo that maximizes every bit of space.
This article was written in cooperation with Tom White