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360° Barn Home Tour: Garage With Living Quarters

garage with living quarters

DC Structures’ post and beam building kits are designed to bring you closer to your passions—literally! Guided by the idea that where you live and what you love should be one in the same, we offer flexible and functional packages that can be modified to suit your unique lifestyle.

This garage with upstairs living quarters in Bend, Oregon is a shining example of the ways in which home can effortlessly combine with hobby—all without sacrificing on luxury. Adapted from an Oakridge 60’ barn home kit, this stunning barn-style house features a large garage and storage space on the ground floor and sweeping open-concept living quarters upstairs.

Watch the full video tour here!

Ready to turn your hobbies into a lifestyle? Request our digital catalog to get started on your dream building today!

Where the Party at? Backyard Party Barn Ideas

party barn ideas

Remember the good ol’ days when you could avoid the humdrum of homework and chores by escaping to your backyard tree house? Or, if your own childhood was devoid of tree house adventures, then perhaps you secretly long for the return to innocence that was those easier times. Either way, a backyard party barn could be just the thing that’s missing from your property.

Party barns are what you make of them, and can serve a range of purposes from work space and man cave to backyard bar and gaming room. Just think of it as a place you’d like to unwind after a long day of grinding away at your regular 9-5, or the place you’d like to practice your craft after hours.

DC Structures’ flexible line of post and beam barn kits are easily reimagined for a number of party barn ideas. Our designs can be modified to include anything you think would add to the personalization of your backyard getaway.

This backyard party barn in Damascus, Oregon is the perfect mix of your favorite pastimes and some much needed relaxation. Starting with a Columbia 24’ barn kit, these floor plans were modified to include a workshop, man cave and upstairs loft. A custom bar and handcrafted timber frame stairs add to the rustic aesthetic, while upgrades to the sweeping deck make this structure the perfect all-seasons hangout.

Are the wheels of inspiration turning for your own party barn ideas? Request our digital catalog for more!

Video: Cornelius Apartment Barn Testimonial

apartment barn

For the team at DC Structures, building relationships is just as important as helping customers build their dream barn or barn-style home. We take pride in the quality of our product and service offerings, making client connections a priority both during and after completion of their projects.

One of the many benefits of maintaining an open and honest line of communication with our customers is that they are happy to share their thoughts about what it’s like to work with DC Structures. We can sing our own praises for days, but we know the most valuable insights will always come from clients themselves.

Sustainable Living at its Finest: Apartment Barn Testimonial

The apartment barn is an efficient structure that makes good use of space with its hybrid design. Combining home with hobby, our apartment barn kits offer the benefit of bringing you closer to the things you love the most. Not to mention a reduced carbon footprint!

This sustainable apartment barn in Cornelius, Oregon boasts two horse stalls and two dog kennels on the ground floor, and a cozy living space upstairs. Modified from an Oakridge 36’ apartment barn kit, this functional and attractive structure boasts an array of energy-efficient upgrades. Skylights optimize natural lighting for the upstairs living quarters while a solar panel and electric car charging station reduce energy consumption.

Hear what the owners of this sustainable apartment barn have to say about working with DC Structures in the apartment barn testimonial below!

Thinking about an apartment barn for your own property? Request our digital catalog and get started on your dreams today!

Barn Conversion Cons: Why Remodeling Might Be A Bad Idea

barn conversion

Thinking about a remodel for that old wooden barn sitting unused on your property? Here are a few things to consider when planning for a barn conversion.

The idea of restoring an old barn into a rustic barn house might sound great in theory, but most of the time it’s a lot more costly and painstaking in practice.

The biggest barrier to a barn remodel is without a doubt financial. Hidden expenses will crop up in the form of things like fumigation costs and re-engineering fees. In other words, it won’t take long for the cost of the barn conversion to exceed the cost of an entirely new barn-style home.

If you’ve got an endless cash flow and a zen-like capacity for headache-inducing regulatory hiccups, then maybe a barn conversion is for you. If you’re like most people, however, you’ll probably prefer the path of least resistance.

Barn Conversion Woes: The Rotten, the Infested and the Costly

Before you begin to plan a barn remodel, it’s important to identify whether your barn is even worth converting. If your structure is a pole barn, don’t even bother.

Pole barns have short life spans because they rely on treated wood posts in concrete in lieu of a proper foundation. This means that, regardless of what chemicals are used to protect the lumber from the concrete’s moisture, the posts will inevitably rot.

As such, appraisers, banks and lenders do not always recognize pole barns as permanent structures. This complicates financing requests for your already spendy barn conversion. Further, many pole barns are not properly engineered to meet the structural requirements necessary for a residence. And good luck getting permits for that kind of project!

To add insult to injury, you’ll likely need to hire an architect or structural engineer who can create blueprints of the existing barn. If you don’t have the old plans, you can’t get permits or accurate bids for the new plans.

Even if the barn you’d like to remodel has a proper foundation, existing blueprints and adequate structural integrity, there is yet another roadblock to make you wary. Six-legged pests such as powder post beetles will wreak havoc on the timbers that support your barn.

Fumigation is expensive enough, but costs will be astronomical if you delay the process until after your old barn has been remodeled. Would the financial burden and logistical nightmare of vacating your residence be worth that rustic barn conversion?

The Post and Beam Barn House Alternative

DC Structures offers a diverse and highly modifiable line of post-and-beam building kits that will stay standing for two-to-three times longer than their pole barn counterparts. Whether you’re looking for a barn-style home, hybrid apartment barn, or a workshop or garage with living quarters, DC Structures has a kit to suit your lifestyle needs.

Our pre-engineered barn home kits are both efficient and cost-effective. We offer our clients the benefit of a rustic barn aesthetic that is built to last—all without the headache.

Request our digital catalog for a better sense of how we can make your barn house dreams come true.

Project Preview: North Carolina Horse Barn

north carolina horse barn

Oregon-based DC Structures partners with clients across the U.S., turning unique visions into pre-engineered materials packages. From apartment barns and barn-style homes to wineries and wedding and event venues, DC has several projects under construction at any given time.

Relationship building is the backbone of our operation, which is why DC Structures provides builder support to your chosen contractor throughout the duration of your build. We keep in contact with our customers long after the plans and materials package have been shipped—and even after construction is complete just to make sure you absolutely love your finished structure.

Learn more about our process here!

North Carolina Horse Barn in the Making

This past fall, construction finished for our client’s Tryon, North Carolina horse barn. Modified from a Columbia 72’ horse barn kit, this barn with caretaker’s quarters and upstairs viewing loft is an equestrian enthusiast’s dream.

The ground floor boasts eight horse stalls, a double-size tack room, a wash bay, and a full bathroom with shower and laundry. Upstairs, a 72’ center-aisle loft with heavy timber framing and fir tongue-and-groove decking offers a wonderful vantage point to check up on the horses.

The horse stalls are complemented by Classic Equine Legend Series stall fronts, and include such necessary amenities as stall dividers, rubber stall mats and chew protection. Black powder-coated steel-framed Dutch doors enhance the aesthetic, while also meeting DC Structures’ high standards for barn animal safety.

Additional upgrades to this Columbia horse barn kit include custom 12’ timber trusses, powder-coated breezeway doors with windows, and a steel-framed hayloft door. Natural lighting is optimized by the windows of two Nantucket shed dormers, as well as those of the iconic cupola.

Stay tuned for photos of the finished project this spring!

Thinking about a horse barn for your own property? Request our digital catalog to learn more about our top-quality post-and-beam barn kits.