This is an exciting week here at Sugar Maple Farmhouse because we are getting new animals! I’ve shared the news over on Instagram @rachelquenzer and @sugarmaplefarmhouse but I’m going to wait to share here until they get here. But in the meantime, I wanted to show you our new prebuilt, Amish, Shedrow barn space for them.
Where to put more animals
When we decided to get new animals in late June, I started the process of looking for a barn space for them. We, of course, have the pole barn space that we renovated here but that space functions as our garage and living quarters.
We also have a small, scary barn that’s on the verge of falling down that I won’t go into. Kevin keeps the lawn mower in there, but it’s not really a place I would keep animals. More than likely it’s safe…but I mentioned it’s scary, right?
When I started looking into where we would put more animals, I started dreaming about pretty, gigantic barns that you see on TV. But if you have ever looked at pricing for those big, beautiful barns then you know they cost a fortune.
Benefits to a Shedrow barn
When all was said and done, I decided to go with a prebuilt, Amish Shedrow barn.
Full disclosure: This was mostly due to cost and space constraints right now.
The Shedrow barn was half the cost of a high-profile large barn, and it was $20,000 cheaper than a low-profile barn with a similar number of stalls. Not to mention, the prep work for something like this was significantly less.
Additionally, since a farmer is using half our land – probably for another season – we really only had one other space a barn could go. (Unless I wanted to knock down the scary barn, which will happen in the future.) That space could only hold a certain size of barn, that was a certain footprint and still allow us a pasture for the animals.
I decided the Shedrow barn could be a steppingstone for us. It’s large enough that I can house a few animals in it while also using one of the stalls as a tack room. I also made a center space for farrier (A farrier is someone who trims animal hooves.) and vet work.
This space gives us a safe, clean space for our new animals while also allowing for a little growing room. If we outgrow this with animals, we can also add additional Shedrow barns next to it. Or, we can add a larger barn on the other half of the property.
Our Amish barn builders
We designed and built the barn through Horizon Structures. It’s the same place we purchased our chicken coop. We did not get any sort of discount or anything for free in doing this and this is not a sponsored post. I’m telling you in case you want to know who made it.
I like Horizon Structures because they create beautiful, Amish, board and batten buildings. They’re high quality and even though they have templates, you can customize them as I did.
I dislike how much I am charged for shipping from their facility in Pennsylvania to Michigan. It ends up being 1/4 of my cost for the building. But, I haven’t found anyone closer yet to make barns of the same quality and of a large size for less.
You can also finance through them now if you need to.
Shedrow barn specifics
Our barn is 60 feet long and has five spaces inside, including four stalls and a breeze way for the farrier work I mentioned.
The barn also has a 10-foot overhang. I hemmed and hawed about this but ultimately decided was needed with the Michigan winters. We also don’t have a lot of shade in this space. I wanted to make sure the animals had a breezy place to hide from the sun during the hot summers.
Each stall was designed to be 12 x 12, but when you take into account wall separators, they really end up being about 11.5 x 11.5. We found this out when we added stall mats to the space over the weekend and couldn’t get them to fit.
The barn is painted the same color as our chicken coop – black and white. It matches our home, big barn, playhouse and greenhouse. It also has a copper cupola that I adore.
We are adding electric to the space this week with a light above each door, a light in each stall and outlets in each stall. The outlets will be for heated water buckets in the winter and fans in the summer. In my mind, the fans are the biggest necessity because they will help with the flys.
Thank you so much for visiting today, friends! I hope you enjoyed this barn tour. You can watch the video above to get a better visual. I hope that you will come back and see what else we have happening at Sugar Maple Farmhouse.
It’s beautiful! I’ve often dreamed of living in the country (I did as a child) and this place looks dreamy! 🙂 You must love it.
Your barn is so beautiful! Literally out of a magazine!
I love this barn. It’s so quaint. I would love to have something like this. It would make a gorgeous backdrop for photos.
This was so beautiful to see!! When I was a little girl, I always dreamed of living on a farm with land and animals. I still tell my hubby that someday we are moving out of our city to live somewhere like this 🙂
That barn is so so gorgeous! Thank you for the tour, it literally looked like something out of a magazine.
You do a great job of explaining why you chose that barn – cost, etc. It is absolutely gorgeous to boot!!
Such a beautiful, elegant and classic barn! Makes a statement for sure!
Oh wow! That is the prettiest barn I’ve ever seen! I love all the little touches you gave it.
What a beautiful barn! We have the classic red barn built in the 30’s at our farm. It’s nice but I like this one better.
What a beautiful barn! I would be so excited to have that!
That is one nice barn! Back when we had horses, we built a barn for them. It was NOT that nice. That is beautiful.
It looks like a beautiful barn!
That is beautiful. It is very creative.
Your Sugar Maple Farm life is expanding. You are a hard worker and are doing it with love.
Wow this barn is so beautiful! Ive always dreamed of having animals and this is like my dream barn
Wow that barn is so gorgeous and well built. I would love to see something like this or have it!
That is a gorgeous barn! I would love to have a barn. That is one thing that I would always dream of having too.
The barn looks so great,you did a great job!
Thanks for sharing this! Your barn is so beautiful, love the details.
I hate it too when a shipping cost is so expensive. But the barn looks so great. The sweat is all worth it.
It looks so beautiful! I seriously love your style
Wow such a lovely looking barn, the design looks perfect! Looks like a great place for it too
Your barn is absolutely gorgeous!
This is absolutely GORGEOUS!!!! Beautiful pictures too 🙂
Your property is soooo pretty! And that is a really nice barn. Can’t wait to see what you fill it with!
Shedrow barn is wonderful place for your animals. Raising animals in a country barn is one of my dreams but it’s not possible yet. Thanks for sharing this.
wow! This Shedrow barn space looks perfect for animals. Such a beautiful space for them!
Absolutely gorgeous!!! This is a barn goal!
I enjoyed reading this article. I learned a whole lot about Shedrow barns which I never heard of before this day.
Beautiful and Clean Barn. Well done.
I have never seen an actual barn and reading this post makes me more interested to see something like this. I hope everything will be back to normal so we can travel back again.
this looks like a great time. i’d love to visit in person
That barn looks amazing. Very spacious and classic. I love the vibe and I’m interested to see and have a little tour around it.
What a lovely barn! It’s spacious and neat😍. I thoroughly enjoyed this barn tour, would love to watch a video as well🙂
Wow this is so dreamy. I would love a studio since I can never own horses.
So beautiful! I love country living. My husband on the other hand…..😬
Such a beautiful barn! I used to ride horses all the time and it is nice to see such a well designed space.
would you be so kind to give a final price for your nice 4 stall barn with center grooming isle including entire project price? I am building a barn now & trying to compare & do my due diligence & getting finished project prices (grading, water, I don’t see any concrete), electric? It is very hard to get even ball-park figures from anywhere unless someone is willing to divulge this information. or email it to me? Thanks