WELCOME to Nest by Tamara blog

WELCOME to Nest by Tamara blog
Hi- It's Tamara. I'm happy you've stopped by, and since 2010 I've been sharing my passion for interior design, history, art, entertaining, travel & fashion. I am an interior designer, textile designer and writer living and working in New York City and East Hampton, Long Island. My musings have taken me to international design, art, antique and epicurean events and I have lots to share. I'm grateful to have been listed as the #1 top design blog, blogs to watch, top design blogs and named and awarded Rising Star of Design by the IFDA NY industry organization. Please feel free to reach out to our team for an interior design consultation at NestbyTamara.com -Tamara

Our collective obsession with converting barns to residential homes

I love barns...
via Remodelista.com
As a kid, we lived in a converted barn, 
and therein explains my love and fascination 
with barn architecture

snapshot I took of a simple antique barn filled with rolled hay while driving through the Vermont countryside



my daughter riding outside of a Florida barn


my Instagram is filled with barn and barn architecture images

love these barn doors used in a residential setting
My love for barns goes way back, all the way to 1976 when our family moved into a converted barn that sat on a beautiful pastoral piece of property in Mt. Sinai, Long Island.  Way before her time, my mother longed to live in the open space and rustic charm of the interior of a barn.  Being from a family that loves horses (as can be seen by my regular postings of the equestrian world), my mother thought that barns were simply more interesting than regular, traditional homes.  Let's face it, the interior of a barn is more conducive to how we live today than some of the confined and formal spaces of older homes. I like the large soaring ceilings and open format of a barn.  This space is traditionally where the animals lived, so there is less emphasis spent on creating a regal environment, but therein lies the beauty.  The streaming light, the open beams, the sliding doors and over sized windows -- well, it's very forward thinking and works with our fascination with industrialism in interiors.  So, back to 1976 and this barn we lived in--It was set at the bottom of a hill below the guest house, and off into the distance the larger family home. Prior to our moving in, a local architect had gutted it and added lovely French doors which overlooked the back yard and property.  The living room/kitchen and dining room were all open and in one large, communal space, similar to homes today.  

This is where my love for barns began, and now all around us the fascination continues.  You see former agriculture centers, family owned barns being converted for their natural beautiful rawness and turned into residences.  
Houzz.com
there is perfection found in the simplicity,
and the lack of classic architecture void in a barn
I love this breezeway and architectural 
utilizing barn architecture in a home
Houzz.com
Today, there is a great deal of residential architecture taking bits and pieces from the agriculture and barn architecture
Check out this beauty is in Sharon, CT 


I love the placement of the windows, the large over-sized doors of barns
check out this slideshow and article in this September's 
about beautiful converted barns they featured in the story

gorgeous barn-like doors via Angie Helm Interiors
for more images, check out 
one small way to bring barn architecture into your home is to add
sliding barn door hardware and doors on a track, 
which work beautifully it today's home and 
can be used in a variety of architectural styles.


You don't need to live in a converted barn to get that utilitarian, agricultural feeling in a home.  You can add a barn door on a track relatively easy--
check out some barn door hardware options.
 sliding door hardware is made with a variety of materials and finishes, 
from hand hammered bronze to shiny chrome.
As I watch the rise of the popularity of barn architecture, 
I keep adding more images 
 to my collage boards in the hope that someday I too 
will convert my very own barn into a lovely little country cottage.  
Until that day, 
a girl can dream...

note:  
Barndoorhardware.com sponsored the making of this post

Happy Nesting
XO Tamara