Perfect Imperfections
Our Creek House Journey

Our home is better with these imperfections.
We call them “Perfect Imperfections.” 

By Stacee Lynn

Our Barndominium journey actually began 25 years ago.  Yep, contrary to popular belief, Barndominiums have been around for a while.  My husband and I started building our first Barndominium in Kentucky in 1995. We bought 40 acres of land and started to raise a pole barn (a Barndo made out of wood rather than steel). We completed the shell, but before we could finish the project, we relocated to Texas for work and sold the land.  Over the years, I have designed, built and remodeled several homes, but we could not quite make everything line up again to build our dream Barndominium until 7 years ago. 

   In 2015, we found 14 wooded acres north of Houston on the edge of the Sam Houston National Forest and decided to call it home. We bought that land and slowly began improvements.  Two years later, we left city life, headed back to the country, and began our Barndominium build journey.  

   Right from the beginning, we were determined to put our own sweat equity into our new Barndo project and save money along the way.  So, we invested in a tractor and power tools and bought and borrowed other tools and implements from our friendly neighbors.  Then, we learned how to use them all! Eventually, we were cutting, clearing, digging, hauling, and hammering away.  In the course of about a year, we cleared the build site, thinned some of the wild pine trees and Texas hardwoods, installed a wood rail fence out front, laid the driveway, and hauled dirt to raise our build site by three feet.  

   By the end of 2016, we were ready to pour foundations for the garage and main Barndo.  The first structure that went up was our detached garage which included a heated and cooled shop area, full bath and an upstairs storage loft. We decided to move into the garage while we completed our main home to save money and to make it convenient for me since I was acting at the general contractor for the build.  So, we converted the workshop into a temporary living space and the upstairs storage into a temporary bedroom. We added a picnic table, refrigerator, washer, dryer, and TV in the garage for some extended elbow room.  And, with an improvised outdoor kitchen…voilà! We were in.  We lived in that makeshift space for almost two years.  It is amazing what you can do with odd ingredients when you must!  Then at last, in 2018, we broke ground on the main Barndo and finished it in 2019. 

   Now, we are living our Barndo dreams in The Creek House. We love welcoming friends, neighbors, and family to our county home. And with over 5,300f² of living space and 2,000f² of covered porch, we can have small gatherings and still social distance. Overnight guests can enjoy some private space in the upstairs retreat with a separate bedroom and full bath, bunkroom/theater combo and morning kitchen. It is the side porch that is the busy lane in our Barndo. This is where we entertain, enjoy morning coffee, cook most of our dinners and spend much of our leisure time. The side porch has a full outdoor kitchen with a 12’ outdoor island, a pizza oven and limestone fireplace that make the perfect gathering place for friends or for just Oliver, me and our two German Shepherds to lounge.

My other favorite place is our gable front porch – which I also think of as our foyer. The sliding barn doors leave no mistake that you’ve stepped up to a Barndominium. I tried to create a welcoming entrance. The great big rockers, wood-stained ceiling, and area rugs really say, “come on in and sit for a while.”  And, that is just what folks seem to do.

   Over the years, we have accumulated several large pieces of furniture and wall art to fit in homes of various styles. Today, our Barndominium is a collection of many of these pieces, some 20+ years old, along with some new finds plus, several items from second-hand shops – where I have landed some excellent deals! This motley collection of furnishings blends perfectly in our Barndo.  

   We wanted all areas of our home to feel natural and comfortable. We added outdoor curtains on our side porch, an antique ladder in our pantry that serves as a pot rack, and floor-to-ceiling bookcases in our private bathroom. These features add warmth and coziness to the big open spaces of our Barndo.

The one thing I obsess over more than Barndos is my family. From any place that I sit in my home, I am never more than a few feet away from pictures of our children and other family members. I have dozens of those cheesy photo mugs plastered with pictures of my kids. I am very excited to share that my favorite new mug announces, “Grandma, Est. 2021.” Our oldest daughter and her husband welcomed a beguiling baby girl to the world last year. It won’t be long before the oil paintings make way for macaroni art.

   Some of the features we wanted in our home were quite pricey, such as the large, wood-burning fireplaces, specialty door and window units, smart home technology, and high-end appliances. But those things were possible because we found ways to save significantly in other areas.  Just as we did a lot of the land prep ourselves, we also tackled several construction projects. We sanded, stained, and sealed all our doors, wall boards, and wood trim. If there is stained wood in our Barndo, then we did it! We also installed nearly all the wood inside ourselves.  

   We made other trade-offs too by taking on DIY projects that saved lots of money. I covered the rise of the stairs with wallpaper that looks like black and white porcelain tile. I reached way back to my high school home economics classes to remember how to make basic sewing stiches. (For those of you too young to know what home economics classes are, that’s where we, mostly girls, learned to cook and sew and balance a checkbook). I put those modest skills to work to whip up curtains for the sitting room in my bedroom and to cover the front of the kitchen and pantry cabinets. These cute café curtains not only add charm but costs a fraction of wood cabinetry doors. We painted, installed hardware, and did just about any project that a novice could reasonably take on.  

  Overall, we estimate that between my husband, Oliver, and me, our DIY projects have saved us over $75,000 on construction labor costs. Plus, we saved 15%-20% of the total build costs by acting as our own general contractor. Gotta love it.

   We built parts of our Barndo, which was memorable and richly rewarding. There may be a wallboard slightly out of place here or there and the stained wood on the walls may lack factory-grade uniformity. But these details give our Barndo character and remind us of the work we put into it ourselves to realize our own Barndominium dream. Our home is better with these imperfections. We call them perfect imperfections. They are welcoming. Should you ever visit us at the Creek House, we want you to feel welcome, too.