Barn conversions with a modern look

From old to new – how we turned two old barns into modern new homes

Barns are old and it’s always high on the priorities’ list to keep their character and preserve as much of their history and working life as possible.

But once they are retired from agricultural life and head into the future as a home, modern living must meet history.

In some barns, more can be preserved – but it depends what condition the structure is in.
Here are two old barns that now feel very modern – inside, anyway.

A luxury holiday let
When we first went to visit this barn, we found a derelict ‘Tyler’ agricultural barn with asbestos cement sheet cladding.

A ‘Tyler’ barn is a basic steel reinforced concrete portal framed building, originally constructed as an affordable agricultural building. They were never intended for residential use, so creativity and vision is needed to turn them into homes.

The brief for this conversion was a high-end, luxury 5-bedroom holiday home.

Holiday-makers are now leaving excellent reviews after staying in this beautiful rural property, enjoying open-plan living, a bath with a view, cinema room, games room and luxury bedrooms.

Take a look at the full project here

From a steel frame to a beautiful home
This barn required complete demolition apart from the existing steel portal frames – and even these needed restoration to keep them to meet conservation criteria.

We decided to use them as part of the design, to keep them visible and a focus point. They are the only part left of the barn’s story – and now they can be seen and talked about!

We created an interesting, contemporary home from a most basic and forgotten building.

Take a look around here