For One Family, a Barn Home in Nebraska Is a Respite From Busy City Life

Wide-open stretches of Nebraska countryside make the perfect backdrop for a family farmhouse.

The view from inside is great, but in case that’s not enough, long, 10-foot-deep porches outside offer the perfect perch to sit and stay a while. Outside, the barn features rough-sawn, board-and-batten pine siding stained with Eco Wood Treatment.

Photos by Cody Wortmann, Courtesy of Sand Creek Post & Beam

When the owner of this timber frame home sought out an antidote to the busyness of city life, it came in the form of a 2,797-square-foot barn-style home on a hill overlooking 30-plus acres of idyllic Nebraska farmland.

The structure, made of rough-sawn pine with metal plate joinery, is based on Sand Creek Post & Beam’s “Great Plains Western” style, but as Cody Wortmann, the executive director of marketing, notes, “The design has been completely customized.”

Every detail has been tailored to entertaining. Upstairs in the loft you’ll find enough bunkbeds to sleep a crowd. Downstairs, the towering stone hearth takes center stage and is surrounded by places to gather, dine and play.

The kitchen firmly cements the home’s country charm — reclaimed barnwood sets the scene for a family-friendly gathering place. Details like a live-edge countertop on the island, and a mix of open shelving and painted upper cabinets balance rustic with refined.

“It has a very high-end feel, but they managed to keep that rustic quality,” Cody says.

Between a sleek, picnic-style table off the great room, the spacious island in the kitchen and a cozy breakfast nook with a booth, everyone has a seat at the table in this home.

Behind the grand, central fireplace, a shuffleboard table and an additional TV invites guests to kick back and relax. There’s even a few whiskey barrel tables to rest your drink on when it’s your turn to take your shot.

Up above, a mix of elegant chandeliers and gooseneck, farmhouse-style sconces show mastery of the high-low mix.

“The lighting in particular really works well to keep it a little more contemporary, but still root in the rustic barn theme,” Cody explains.

Aside from drawing in plenty of daylight, the large unobstructed windows throughout offer the chance to take in the views from every direction. “Looking out, you can just see for miles over the corn fields,” Cody says. Great views and good times have made this barn the place to be.