You can’t channel surf these days without stumbling across a new DIY show or real estate series dedicated to remodeling or redesigning homes. Who hasn’t lost themselves in an episode or two about tiny houses, old school busses transformed into mobile cottages or shipping containers turned into vacation homes nicer than anything we’ve stayed in? Although anyone can walk through a beautiful home and appreciate its appeal, it takes true vision to see beauty in a home’s potential.
Just north of Platte City is a house on a hill surrounded by trees and nature, a home built on vision and potential. Its presence is not uncommon on acreages of farmland, a 40 x 100 metal structure typically used to store farm equipment and big “toys” like those used to catch a few fish on a sunny day. The structure itself might have started as a typical machine shed, but a labor of love later, it’s now home for owners Eric and Candi Rawlings.
“This land was Eric’s grandparents, which they farmed and lived on for years,” Candi says. “My father-in-law had always wanted to build a big barn on this land and, kidding around with him, I told him that if he built it, we’d convert it down the line to a house and have a place for him.” What started out as a not-so-serious suggestion quickly took shape, however, when her father-in-law took her up on the offer and asked her to start working on blueprints.
It wasn’t long before a new shed stood on the land, but one constructed with a future house in mind. After storing farm equipment for a few years, the real fun began when Candi tapped into her love of interior design to transform the shed into something so much more.
“It’s not a traditional house, so I didn’t want to try to make it look like one,” Candi says. “I think that’s where people go wrong sometimes because they try to apply traditional home design concepts. You need to embrace the barndominium.”
Working with Built Rite Buildings and Morrow Contracting and Construction, they were able to transform a blank canvas metal building into a warm and welcoming home that rivals any you’ve seen on TV. “This could really be cold because it’s so spacious, so I use warm colors for that cozy fall and winter feeling,” Candi says. The walls, although all white, are given texture with board and batten that extends to the ceiling. The concrete floors, original to when it was used as a shed, have a certain aged charm from where stains remain.
“I like to paint, sketch and draw, so I would do mock-ups to show what I was thinking,” Candi says. Not everyone involved shared her vision, however, and it took a bit of convincing on her part to sell them on a few of her choices. The exterior, for example, is painted all black to add a modern feel. And, because more barndominiums have been built recently, Candi was able to research what other people have done to avoid design pitfalls that come with converting such a large space. “One of the mistakes that I’ve seen in barndominiums is trying to incorporate a traditional kitchen, but you have a twenty-foot wall,” she says. To avoid proportion challenges, Candi designed their kitchen without upper cabinets, instead incorporating extensive storage in the large kitchen island.
A true medley of style and functionality, the neutral colors with barn doors and black finishes attain both an industrial modern and farmhouse flair. Like any great interior design, the space is both beautiful while providing efficiencies that are key to maintaining a busy household. Interior walls have been built where needed for bedroom and bath placement on the back side of the home, but the front great room is a welcoming open space that maximizes the natural light of giant front windows. When walls are used, they provide storage, as in a hallway lined with floor-to-ceiling cabinetry off the kitchen that adds a design element while serving a function.
With two sons, one in college and the other a sophomore at Platte County High School, the style and design elements of the Rawlings’ home had to also provide a coziness surrounding family holidays, be comfortable for groups of boys to hang out in and host the occasional baseball team end-of-season gathering. It accomplishes that with a garage space large enough to have its own recreation area for viewing any big games and an outdoor entertaining area with firepit for chilly nights.
With a separate entrance to an in-law suite, it seems nothing has been forgotten in this home’s design…including the family dog. The spacious mudroom off the garage has a walk-in dog bath area to hose off the little rascal when she’s had a bit too much fun outside or tracked down the only rain puddle on the property like every dog likes to do.
Beautiful home, ample storage and a dog shower station? Yes, please. The right design really can make life better.