Step #1 Buy Land
First on the to do list; Buy Land. I purchased an 8 1/2 acre lot in southern Indiana to fulfill my life long dream of owning my very own Barndominium.
While this is a daunting task, I knew deep down this is what I've always wanted, I knew if I keep my mind to it, that this dream could become a reality.
Clearing the Land
"Easier said than done" - Me, one week after starting this project!
Once the land purchase was complete, It was now up to me to start the difficult process of clearing the land to make room for the massive 40'x60' Barndominium of my dreams.
I had about 150 trees to clear. All from a few feet tall to a few gigantic ones that had to come down in order to make room.
Literally, Ground Breaking.
Just over a year after purchasing the land, I was ready to break ground.
Of course, If you know me, You know I HAD to paint the shovel gold for this amazing day!
More about the Golden Shovel:
Gold signifies wealth and prosperity.
The symbolic act of using a golden shovel to unearth the first soil from a development site is a ceremonial ritual meant to bestow success and good fortune on the project.
& let me tell you, I need all the luck I can get!
Just like that
One 2x4 at a time, The structure started to go up and it actually started looking like a real Barndominium.
This is when the real emotion started to shed some to light.
The excitement I felt when I showed up that day and the builders had the walls up and the roof on, Man I can't even find the words to describe that feeling.
Lifelong Dreams finally coming together.
In the Meantime
Although I had to cut down so many trees to make room for this monster project, I decided it would be a good idea to plant some more trees, Not really a super environmentalist, But I figured while I had a few extra days I might as well plant a few.
Going Together like a Puzzle
Every day I showed up, more and more was getting completed. From the wood to the windows. Each piece made me more and more excited.
Then Came the Metal
Once the metal started going on, I started to realize the amount of work I had just ahead of me, was going to be insane.
Spray in Foam
I have never seen so much insulation in my life.
Spray foam insulation is much more effective in many ways over traditional foam board with excellent thermal barrier with R value of over 5 per inch thickness, much better than fiberglass. Spray foam is an air barrier, this means air will not penetrate through the foam. So it is also a great vapor barrier.
Although spray foam is a bit more expensive, it does the job of three membranes thermal, air and vapor barrier, in one application.
Here comes the real work
While trying to think of ways to save money, I realized the more things I did on my own, the more money I could save.
Paint for this monster project alone was going to be around $10,000.
Needless to say I went to Harbor Freight and bought my very own paint sprayer.
I was able to paint the entire project for about $800. Yes that's a $9,200 savings.
At least I'm not afraid of heights!
Its not what I wanted to do, But I knew that I could do it.
This got me thinking, What else could I do to save some more money?
To the Floors
Even something like floors were very expensive.
After seeing some other people do epoxy floors and how effective they are at protecting the concrete, I decided to give it a go. And let me tell you, I'm sure glad I did. These turned out amazing!
Check them out on my Youtube.
Down to the Nitty
Then there was the shower.
Man, Ive been putting this off for way too long. I mean, Can you blame me? Look at this thing. GIANT. Once again, My learn as you go theory was to pay off yet again. Didn't know anything about tile work and decided to take it on anyways. Looking back, Im sure glad I did. This thing turned out great.
Stairs?
Once again it was like, Man here we go. Stairs, Something I don't know anything about, But in the name of the dollar, I decided yet again I would give it a go.
Sure glad I did. Because these turned out great.
One more step on my journey on the Eccentric Homestead complete.
Kitchen Cabinets, On the Home stretch. Or at least I think.
Like I said in the video (if you watched it) Im finally on the home stretch, finally about to get this complete and be able to move on to the next project at the Eccentric Homestead, I had some old cabinets I decided to paint and see how they looked. Although they were cheaper I painted them then decided, Man they just don't look good enough for this homestead.
So I took matters into my own hands and made my very own.