Where We Live While Not Traveling
People frequently ask us where we live when we’re not traveling. And the short answer is we live in a barn.
Another short answer could be that we moved into my parent’s basement.
But neither of those answers give justice to our home. We live in a bank barn that was originally built in the 1870s. My grandfather, John Clark, started remodeling in the 1980s. And now, our girls are the fourth generation to live here.
How We Came to Live in a Barn
My grandpa wanted to be an architect, like his uncle, when he was young.
But instead, he went to the Philippines with the United States Army. When he came home, he hoped to go to college. His other uncle was an attorney, and both told him he had a position with either one of them. Instead, he took over the family farm because his dad had a bad back. Although he wasn’t formally trained as an architect, he had plenty of opportunities to exercise his creative side.
I can only imagine the look on grandma Dori’s face when grandpa said he wanted to live in this barn. Both my grandpa and grandma had been widowed, and the barn was her first husband’s family farm [I mention this only because I’m a genealogist too, and don’t want to cause any confusion. Dori is the only grandma I ever knew, so I don’t like the term “step-grandma”].
At the time, the barn was not in great condition. My mom remembers seeing it for the first time, and there were 18 inches of manure on the ground floor. But grandpa had a vision that most people can’t see.
It took about three years to make it habitable and finish the lower level. My grandparents lived on the first floor for several years while they finished the upper two levels of the barn. So, the first level is complete with its own kitchen, bath, living area and garage.
Repurposing Before it was Cool
Grandpa was reusing and repurposing building materials before it was popular. I think he drove his dump truck to every building that was being renovated or torn down in the Beaver/Butler/Lawrence/Mercer County area.
He incorporated many clever items. For example, our counter in the basement kitchen is the bottom of an old railroad car. Our kitchen cabinets were old doors that he cut in half. The floor and backsplash are bricks that came from a pizza place in Bessemer that was torn down. The cupola on the top of the barn came from an old Sunoco station. We even have a phone booth and an antique pull-chain toilet.
Many of the items in the barn are also very sentimental to us. The wainscotting in the dining room came from Westfield Presbyterian Church when it was last remodeled. Our Clark ancestors donated a portion of their farms…the ‘west field’ not long after they settled in 1802 to serve as a site for the first burial in their new community. The farm is still in the family. It is where my grandpa was born, lived and worked until he moved to the barn.
Several of the lights in the basement came from Strauss’s Department Store in Sharon, PA. My grandma Mary [my dad’s mom], worked there as a teenager. More lights on the second floor came from Mt. Jackson Presbyterian Church. My grandpa and grandma Dori stood beneath the one in the living room when they married in 1971.
The Barn Today
My parents inherited the barn after my grandparents passed away in 2014. My dad has made several changes as well. He made an overhead light from an old hay claw and expanded the pool patio area. Justin and I got to help design and build the new pool fence this summer. My dad also renovated the downstairs bathroom. He turned part of my great great-grandfather’s workbench into the bathroom vanity. It’s really nice to have family in one small town for such a long time. Heirlooms are squirreled away all over the place!
The girls have their own bedrooms and bathroom with an antique clawfoot tub on one of the third-floor lofts.
They have a loft as their play area. The third loft is my dad’s study, the pool table, tea parlor and of course, the little putt-putt course my grandpa made.
So, now, Justin and I have the lower level. It’s complete with a bedroom in a horse stall, kitchen with a train car counter, sauna, and a shuffleboard court. The space we occupy is much less than what we had at our old house, but much larger than our camper! Between the three levels, we have two kitchens, laundry and living areas, four bedrooms and 3.5 baths. We all have plenty of space to not be on each other’s toes.
We even get to help with the chickens and yellow lab puppies every year and a half or so. Check out my parent’s Facebook page for more info about the pups, Clark’s Labs, if you’re so inclined.
We’ve been home for about 6 weeks this round, and have been really enjoying it! Avery said the other day she misses the camper and is excited to hit the road. I agree! We’re planning to head south the first week of January (weather-permitting), so we’ll have a lot more to share soon.
What do you think…could you live in a barn? Read why we decided to sell our house and live in an RV.
