Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Homesteader Barns

The barns I'm showing you today are closer to home than usual. This one is across the street from our neighbor's horse corral. We're told this was the barn for the original homestead where we live now. This is a side view.



This is the front view of the barn.



And another front view.



This is the barn on our property which originally started out as a log cabin for the homesteaders, who also built the barn shown at the top of this page. (Still with me?) If you look closely you'll see the loft door. Story has it the loft and the barn doors were added later, after the homestead was sold to  Estes Park Dairy.



We converted the barn to an art studio for my husband, removing the barn doors to install a window. I love this shot because it shows the reflection of the mountain in the glass. By the way, we reused the wood from the barn doors to build the wall for the window. We wanted to maintain the barn's integrity.



This is a view of the studio/barn interior.

Hope you enjoyed the tour.

Blessings,

Nancy

Today I'm joining all the wonderful bloggers @ 
Barn Charm. 
Sashay on over there and catch the barn fever.



and
 
Our World Tuesday
Get an Eyeful of Great Photos from Around the World



24 comments:

  1. love that you converted the log cabin/barn to an art studio! i bet those windows let in a world of light and inspiration for him!

    but i LOVE that top barn. such a conglomeration of wood and planks and doors and windows! very special!

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    1. it is special. An amazing structure. I can see it through the window over my kitchen sink and it fascinates me. I'm glad you stopped by.

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  2. such interesting materials that those barns are made out of... great shots. (:

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    1. Thanks, Beth. The first barn is pretty funky, but I love funky. :)

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  3. I totally love your hubby's studio.

    Also, that top barn could be converted into a house too, or so it appears to me. I really like the "bones" of it.

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    1. It would take some work to make it a home, but it could be done. We completely did our 1926 cabin from the ground up.

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  4. That's really cool! I wonder what it would have been like to build a cabin and live in it like that. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Ellie, I wonder that same thing. Maybe that's what I lave Little House on the Prairie so much. ;)

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  5. Hello Nancy! I loved the tour! The shot with the mountain reflected in the window is beautiful! I also like the top pictures and the inside of the studio. Thanks for stopping by my blog.:)

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    1. Thanks for your nice comments. I feel very blessed to live here and enjoy sharing our surroundings. Thanks for taking the time to visit and comment. God bless.

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  6. Such a lot of beauty in these old barns, and what a neat place for your husband's art studio.

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    1. I've tried to get my DH to switch places with me. He can paint in the house and I can write in the barn, but so far he hasn't jumped at the idea. I think he kinda likes it out there. Thanks for visiting and commenting, Denise. Love your blog.

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  7. Absolutely AWESOME! Love the history here & so glad it was saved & not destroy.
    It's so beautiful & I love the dark wood. What a great place for a studio, too.

    Thanks so much for sharing this post w/ Barn Charm =)

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  8. Oh my goodness, I got so excited about the studio that I forgot about the 1st barn in your post... I've never seen one put together quite like that & I'm amazed that it's still standing... the history saved in these two barns is just awesome! =)

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    1. I agree. It's really cool to have these barns still in use. I think the first barn is mainly storage now, but I just love the crazy quilt look of it.

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  9. These two rustic buildings are wonderful! I can't tell you how much I would love to have a studio like the one your husband has! My dream home was always to find old cabins and take them apart and re-construct them into a home. I have an uncle who moved and rebuilt more than one cabin. I love the older logs and chinking. Modern "kits" just can't come close to the beauty and rustic charm of such buildings, and my husband always tried to get me interested in doing the kit thing. YUK! :-) Or, if not the cabin then I would have wanted an arts & crafts house. Well, we haven't seen our dream home as a reality, but that's OK. God's plans are sometimes different than what we imagined, but they are Perfect. He knows all that we only can only see a tiny bit of, and His care for us is Perfect. Have a great week, Nancy!

    Great Our World Tuesday!

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    1. Marie, we must be twins separated at birth. I feel the same way about cabins and craftsman homes. Well, you know I LOVE cottages, too. I guess I've always been intrigued with architecture. You're so right about God's plans being different from what we imagined. And how they are perfect. When I was widowed in 2007 I was living in Columbus, OH working for a big corporation. Never imagining that I would ever remarry (I was married to my high school sweetheart for 36 years before he went home to the Lord), much less live here in the beautiful Rockies. Jeremiah 29:11 - God knows the plans He has for us. Blessings, dear lady.

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  10. Beautiful barns.

    Regards and best wishes

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    1. Glad you like them. Thanks for visiting and commenting.

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  11. Wow, are these every amazing barns! I love that they are so old and built by homesteaders. I'm glad you are preserving the one on your property. Very nice.
    Pamela ~ Canada

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  12. Thanks for visiting and commenting Pamela. I stopped by your blog and really enjoyed your photos of the barn and house, as well as your hometown. Nicely done.

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  13. Wow, those are very interesting barns. Glad you can use that one for your husbands art studio. Just being inside must give you a sense of the people who once used it. I just love old houses and barns.

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    1. Me too. Thanks for visiting and commenting. Much appreciated.

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Thanks for taking the time to comment.