Emily and Paul Marshall are into barndominiums. Paul builds them, Emily helps plan them, and they live in one that they planned and built themselves. That’s how they got started in the industry!

We asked them about their experience building their post-frame home and they agreed to share their story.

Emily said she wanted a home in the country where there would be room for the kids to play, and the family could hunt and pursue their recreational interests. She was also drawn to the idea of a spacious, efficient, low maintenance home.

“We had been talking about it for years,” Emily said, “We had remodeled many homes, and we would discuss what we liked about the completed projects, and what we didn’t like, and what we thought could have been better.”

Getting Started

Sometimes to make your dreams come true, you have to make sacrifices, and that was certainly true for Paul and Emily. Paul quit his job to build their home. “We couldn’t afford to hire a builder to build the house we were thinking of,” Paul said, “but I had been doing things on my own for almost 20 years, so we thought,” Why not?!”

Once they had a plan for their dream barndominium, they cleared the lot only to find themselves in the middle of Iowa’s wettest spring on record (2019). The build was delayed. Paul and Emily had planned to document the build as an educational video for YouTube which added on eight or nine months to the timeline, and in between time, Paul ended up taking on a few clients. All these delays ended up pushing the timeline from finishing in 2020 to finishing in 2022.

“Thankfully, we were half-way through the project before we took out our construction loan,” Emily said. “Then, the lender was willing to work with us, allowing us extra time to finish the work because we had all of the progress well documented and they could see the quality of the build, too.”

Emily said that the usual 12-15 months that construction loans allow can be doable if your house has a smaller footprint or you have an efficient contractor. They will not try to teach and document the process; they will just come in and get it done. However, a weekend warrior will have difficulties with the timeline on a construction loan she said.

Paul added that when it comes to timelines, one thing that can be difficult is scheduling and lining up all the sub-contractors. However, in this case, he didn’t have to do that because he and Emily were doing it all themselves. With his many years of construction experience, he knew the order tasks should be completed which is a huge help from an efficiency standpoint.

The Wish List

When it came time to make decisions about the home they were going to build, they sat down at the kitchen table with graph paper and started drawing. “We started out thinking we were building a 2400 square foot house,” Emily said, “and ended up building a 4000 square foot house.”

One of the first questions they asked themselves was: are we building a ranch house or a two-story house? They had already purchased the land, and based on that they had their answer. They wanted a two-story home with a lot of windows to take advantage of the incredible views of Madison County, Iowa.

Emily had a number of things on her wish-list that were non-negotiable.

“The most important features to me,” Emily said, “were an open living room with lots of windows, 2-stories high with windows everywhere; a large kitchen with large island and pantry; and a large closet in the primary suite, big enough to have an island, or furniture, or both.”

“I was concerned with the practical side of things,” Paul said, “so when Emily said that she wanted an open living room with the kitchen on the side, I provided her with options because I knew how to lay it out so the mechanical room was in a good location, and the bathrooms were laid out so the plumbing didn’t meander all over.”

The Kitchen

The house is built on a slab, and Emily chose to take advantage of it, covering it in an epoxy coating for color and protection and a poly satin covering over the top. She liked bringing a little industrial style into the home and with radiant heating incorporated it’s efficient and very comfortable.

The ceiling is covered in shiplap, a look that coordinates with the big, expansive wood ceiling in the living area. The shiplap was whitewashed with a 50/50% mix of white paint and water to prevent the pine from yellowing. It was a matter of experimenting, Paul added. “I like the rustic touch that seeing the knots in the wood added.”

The Bathroom

Emily wanted to make a statement with the shower room in the bathroom, yet she knew that whatever went on the wall was going to be there for a long time. That meant that picking the tiles took some time and thought. Eventually she picked interesting tiles with blue that drew the eye.

Paul said that the tiles’ pattern raised the bar on skill needed, requiring thoughtful placement. He adds that he should have looked at the tile before completing the framing as he could have simplified the project, making fewer cut tiles necessary.

The Living Room

An impressive design from any angle, the living room really ticks the box Emily had for a two-story room with windows everywhere. She said that she wanted the windows so much that everything was planned around that…where to place furniture, TV, everything. The TV in the living room ended up being very high on the wall, and it is for things like Super Bowl parties. “On a day-to-day basis, we watch TV in the loft,” Emily said.

Paul said that configuring the room was not difficult. “I build 8 foot on center. I knew what I could get into each bay, and I knew that I wanted to stack windows. I wanted our living space to feel like we were outdoors; that was very important to me.”

The Family Room

 The loft is floored in white oak, cabin grade. Paul said that he moved in that direction because you get the same quality wood, the planks are just in shorter pieces and you have more variations in color and character.

“I like to mix lots of styles, rustic, industrial, and traditional,” Paul said. “It adds some character to the room.”

Paul and Emily agree that everything that goes into their home needs to be durable. “Our first home was built by Paul’s great grandfather,” Emily said. “We would like, potentially, to keep this home in the family,” she added.  

Storage

The Marshall home has no basement other than a 20” x 14” storm shelter under the garage.

“We wanted a low maintenance home. That’s why it’s metal sided on a slab with a concrete porch. Basements, on the other hand can flood.” Paul adds that he built the home atop a hill to help avoid water issues.

The garage is very generously sized, the kitchen is complemented with a fair-sized pantry, the bedrooms all have good-sized closets, and the master suite boasts a huge closet. As the home was designed, Paul and Emily kept in mind that storage would be important as there would be no basement. 

Emily said that, practicalities of storage aside, she’s always wanted to have a closet big enough to contain furniture, though she doesn’t have enough in the way of clothes and accessories to fill it. However, that is one of the nice things about building your own barndominium: you can add special, custom touches all your own.