For the past few years, people have been ruthlessly shedding the excess in their lives to squeeze into a home smaller than a walk-in closet. Well, move over tiny houses, millennials are trading their minimalist, cramped space for the expansive lifestyle of the barndominium.
A barndominium is a play on words originally used to describe a living space built inside a barn or auxiliary building primarily used to house on-site employees. Over time, it morphed to include guest suites or rental units over garages and now it incorporates a new design style. Barndominiums typically are mixed-use structures, including either a workshop, garage or other utility room.
Modern barndominiums use simple barn or industrial buildings and convert them to spacious homes. Often these can be added to an existing structure, but home builders have latched on to this growing trend with building kits or quick-install prefabricated buildings. All incorporate wide open spaces; a blank canvas for the homeowner to use in creating the perfect home for their needs.
Merging farmhouse rustic with contemporary industrial style, these homes offer big open rooms that often house living, dining, and kitchen areas. Because there is minimal internal construction – few walls, open ceilings – building costs are lower than traditional homes, making this an attractive option for younger home buyers who don’t want to sacrifice style to save money.
Barndominiums bring the simplicity of an urban loft to the softer, rustic design of an upscale farmhouse. After years of craving the simplicity of a tiny house, modern homebuyers are finally taking the concept of an easy lifestyle but enjoying the luxury of expansive living space.
