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A screen porch connects the exteriors of the
main house with the original guesthouse and
creates space to enjoy the quiet wooded setting.
"When we looked around, all the houses we liked were Yankee Barns," said Walter. "We liked the open construction, the ability to shape things the way you wanted. We liked the flexibility."
 Joan and Walter wanted to build a retirement home, one phase at a time. With the big picture in mind and a piece of property, they worked with Arne Rebne, one of the Yankee Barn designers to create the overall plan. The guesthouse would be built first as a vacation retreat. The main house and a connector would be built five to ten years later as their permanent home with the guesthouse serving as the guest quarters for friends and family.
"We talked and talked with Arne going over books and ideas," said Joan. "Yankee Barn was so easy to work with. They listened to what we wanted and made good suggestions. The plans evolved."
"We didn’t want a lot of small rooms. We wanted a small number of large, complementary spaces connected to each other," said Walter.
"We wanted to be able to stand anywhere in the house and see the rest of the house and to the outside."
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Joan and Walter created conversation areas for entertaining both small and large groups. The tall cabinets visually separate the dining room from the kitchen and also serve as a buffet area.
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The overall plan for Joan and Walter’s retirement home included the Yankee Barn Guesthouse frame built in phase one; a connector to enclose the entry, stairs, hallway and catwalk; and the Yankee Barn Mark I frame for the main house. In the Mark I frame, Joan and Walter created a Great Room, formal dining room, and kitchen on the first floor with their master bedroom, bath, and balcony on the second floor.
"This house is great for entertaining. We created lots of conversation areas by arranging the furniture. We never feel overcrowded," said Joan. "It is wonderful for house guests. Everyone has their own space."
A brass rubbing from their days in
London and a window artistically use
the vertical wall space in the Great Room.
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"From the kitchen you can see the four points of the compass. From the guesthouse you can look all the way through the rest of the house," said Walter. The siting of the main house and connector in relationship to the guesthouse was important to Joan and Walter. "We didn’t want a u-shape or just a long rectangular building. We wanted angles and to create a courtyard effect to set the house apart from the wooded setting."
"Yankee Barn had all the things we wanted. Most importantly, it had the feeling we wanted in our home," said Joan. "I had always dreamed of fixing up my father’s old barn. A Yankee Barn and the post and beam reminded us of the old barns."
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"Yankee Barn had the style and design flexibility we wanted. This is a house that will never go out of style. There is an enduring quality to the house. It has longevity," said Walter.
"We looked at several other possibilities but always came back to Yankee Barn. The people, the materials, everything is quality. Yankee Barn suited us best for overall value."
"With Yankee Barn, you can be comfortable and confident that it will turn out the way you expect it to."
A guesthouse is often added to a Yankee Barn for extra bedrooms, a private guest suite, or a home office. Some people, like Joan and Walter, build their guesthouse first, living in the space for a few years until they are ready to build the main part of their Yankee Barn. Other people add the guesthouse years later to accommodate the growing list of visitors or an expanding home office.
"Once we had property, we wanted to come up and enjoy it," said Walter. "While we had in mind a future retirement house, the guesthouse fit what we needed for the first several years." |
The master bedroom suite, located upstairs, has a window to look into the Great Room and through the window wall to the woods outside. |
The two-story connector between the
main Yankee Barn and the original
guesthouse encloses the entry, stairways,
hallway and a catwalk.
For five years, Joan and Walter enjoyed the first phase of their Yankee Barn. The guesthouse had just what they needed with a two-car garage, half bath, storage area, and laundry room on the ground floor. Upstairs, their floor plan included a large living room, full kitchen with dining area, and master bedroom and full bath.
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The guesthouse now serves as separate living quarters for visiting friends and family.
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When the main house kitchen was ready, the appliances were moved from the guesthouse and a kitchenette put in place. The guesthouse now serves as separate living quarters for visiting friends and family.
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 Sheri and Richard DeBro built their first Yankee Barn after they checked out many timber frame companies.
"Yankee Barn was so solid. We were impressed with the soundness of the structure," said Sheri. "Plus, everyone at Yankee Barn is terrific to work with."
Though they hated to say good-bye to their first Yankee Barn, Sheri and Richard had purchased 160 acres to establish a winery. To get started on the property, they built a Yankee Barn guesthouse. The first level has three bays to store vineyard equipment, as well as a tractor and car. The upper level has a large living room, dining area, kitchen, and two bedrooms, one she uses for her office. With decks on both ends of the guesthouse, the living space extends outside with sweeping views of the vineyard and an acre and a half pond.
"You can do a lot with a little space," said Sheri who downsized from 5000 square feet to 800. "You can walk up the stairs to the deck, come into the kitchen, kick off your clogs, hang up your coat and relax. The space is incredibly comfortable and functional."
The DeBro’s have big plans for this Yankee Barn guesthouse. Complete with classic  red barn doors, a painting of the barn and its reflection in the pond proudly represents the winery on the DeBro Vineyard label. After the winery is in full swing and their main Yankee Barn is built, the guesthouse will become a tasting barn. Thinking ahead, Sheri added antique beams on the first level where she’ll introduce customers to DeBro wine at tastings. Upstairs, the living quarters could be turned into two suites for guests.
"We’re crazy about this place. Soon we will be able to say, ‘Come on in and taste wine in our barn." |
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place  like the Guesthouse to begin or add on to a Yankee Barn. The Guesthouse Frame can be added to other structures or stand alone as a vacation or retirement retreat.
The lower level of the guesthouse is a two-car garage with extra storage space. The upper level is comfortable living space with sturdy timber framing. Within the standard 24' x 28' foot-print, there is plenty of room on the upper level for a comfortable living area with two bedrooms, spacious home office, exercise area or large family room.  The length of the guesthouse can be longer or shorter in increments of 2 feet to provide needed living space. The ridge height of 25 feet gives a feeling of vertical space with the cathedral ceiling.
Over the years, Yankee Barn has made modifications to the frame. The current frame has beams running the length of the guesthouse rather than the A-frames shown in Joan and Walter’s guesthouse. This allows for 5-foot kneewalls on both sides of the frame, rather than only on one side. This provides more living space and allows dormers to be added on the eave sides to take advantage of views.6. |
"You can learn a lot from staying in the model home. We did," said Joan. Over the years, she and Walter stayed in the last three Yankee Barn model homes. "So many great ideas to see plus you get a feeling of what it’s like to live in a Yankee Barn with the open spaces. After this, it would be hard for me to live in a house with ceilings."
