Barn Charm Entry 48

We recently viewed a friend's family home

in regards to us buying it.

She and her sisters are selling the home they grew up in,

since their mother died almost a year ago.

The two sisters who live in town are quite content with their homes

and the sister from out of town chooses not to move back.

Since we have been looking for a home for two years now,

we went with an open mind and especially an open heart.

I have always liked this home, as I would pass it to take my mother

to work at the small community hospital up the street

(so that I could drive the 69 mustang to school).

It is a charming home and I will show photos of it at the end of this post.

However, it was what was in a field behind it

that caught my eye and utterly delighted me.

From this angle, you cannot be certain what is behind all that greenery.

This shot reveals a roof.

In this one you get a faint sense of an outline.

I redid it in back and white for contrast.

Now! From the other angle,

a barn is revealed!

There is quite a bit of land behind it

all owned by the owner of the barn.

Alas, it does not belong with the house.

There is a driveway that separates the two spaces.

It is not being used for much at all.

I would have liked to get closer

but I was in sandals and the overgrowth and high grass was daunting.

It turns out to be owned by another friend of my husband's,

a contractor who has been working with him

on building an RV park for the Utica Shale workers

who are gradually invading our county.

He told my husband that when he bought the land about 15 years ago,

he shored up the barn and did structural repair.

But it is falling apart again,

and he has decided to let it go. 

Sigh.

This is a view from the barn

looking up at the house.

A side view shows the design of the home and gives a glimpse of the front porch.

Here is the front porch I fell in love with many years ago.

It is beautiful inside, but the bedrooms are quite small and awkwardly laid out.

The upstairs is a huge room that was the bedroom of the two older girls

with a bathroom that has a humongous shower (not a fancy one like today's)

that could fit five of our grandkids.

There is also a storage room upstairs.

They put a new roof on,

but it needs much more, which they concede.

We would have to add on though,

so we would have a bedroom that was downstairs

and at the back of the house.

For a small town, our streets are busy and noisy!

I would want to include an expanded kitchen in that addition.

I could take the upstairs for my studio,

but that would leave Mike the old-fashioned basement

for his workshop, office, and TV room.

To make the basement  habitable would take a great deal of work

and of course some money.

Of all the homes we have looked at,

this could be liveable with much less work,

but it would not be ideal.

We would be compromising and ending up with a small yard,

so I would not get my goats and chickens.

As for those whose minds are racing ahead to us buying the barn,

the answer is no.

The owner will not consider selling even a portion of his land

and in fact is interested in buying the home,

now that we have decided it is not for us.

You got much more than just a barn shot today!

But I don't just want to show a barn.

I also want to tell a story.

Hope you enjoyed today's story

and photos.

For more barns,

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