Tri-level to Farmhouse
Growing up, I always dreamed of living on a farm. One that sat at the end of a quiet fence-lined dirt road, with a beautiful old farmhouse and red barn, full of character, beams, and history.
When we bought the home where I grew up, a 1960’s tri-level, I was determined to pay homage to that dream. While I couldn’t recreate history, or plunk a 100-year-old structure onto our property, I wasn’t ready to give up on the vision.
What I could do, was repurpose what we already had. I’m a big proponent of “shopping” our home before buying something new. So as a nod to that fantasy historic farmhouse, I thought, why not clad our attached garage with wood board and batten to “faux” the look of a barn? I even took the idea a step further and plotted to do the same on our addition in the back of our home, to resemble a carriage house.
Luckily our builder (Cale Wood Construction LLC. out of Haverhill, MA) was right on board with these ideas and before I knew it we were off to the races.
For months I’d catalogued my favorite shades of red to paint our new barn and carriage house, and finally narrowed it down to Benjamin Moore’s Caliente. It’s a bright, happy pop of red that doesn’t pull too orange or brick.
Next challenge? How to make our 1960s house ‘look’ like a farmhouse. The most indicative characteristic of this style home is the large overhang from the second floor in front. Determined to disguise this “chin” I designed a large porch to go around it, bring it out of the ’60s, and pump in a bunch of farmhouse charm.
Truth be told, I lost sleep over this part of the design; I really wanted to get every bit of it right. I sketched three different options and went back and fourth on which to choose up until the very last minute. Metal roofing, Sleek thick beams, simple trim, wide “x” railings and a light grey stain were the key ingredients here and we couldn’t be happier with how it all turned out.
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