I’ve known plenty of people with loft apartments above the barn who’ve loved them. And i love just having the horses in our backyard. The one thing I’d make sure of it that the water and electricity for the barn and home are separate circuits. One of something acts up in one the other might still work depending on what’s wrong. And secondly most people I know who have a barn apartment end up renting it out. Have everything divided helped them keep track of bills.
960 square feet is plenty of room for two people, depending upon the floor plan.
We live in an 800 square foot house with 1-1/2 bedrooms (the “1/2” could be a child’s bedroom, but it is our music studio), and my husband and I have plenty of room. It does take careful planning, especially for adequate storage. Our house has an open floor plan with minimal hall space, huge windows, high ceilings, and a few, large rooms rather than a warren of small rooms.
Another thought for the house-barn connection would be a breezeway or carport between the two. A bit more space between, but you could still feed in your jammies.
Whatever insurance agencies and your local building code may say, I would plan on separate hay storage, keeping a bare minimum of hay in the actual barn.
Plan it well so that it will still work well and look nice when you build your “real” house.
I have an apartment in my barn. Things I did: 1) Concrete base of apartment is 5 inches higher than barn aisle to avoid blowing dirt in house. 2) There is double insulation in walls between barn isle and apartment 3)Apartment has a flat ‘roof’ with A/C unit on top. Barn roof serves as true roof for structure. 4) smooth tile flooring that is easy to vacuum. 5) did not duplicate washer / dryer as already present in barn. 6) kitchen has higher window into barn isle. No large or lower windows in barn isle for horse safety.
My apt is 1152 sq ft. Have 1 large kitchen / family room, 1 full bath, 2 bedrooms and 3rd bedroom which I converted to small gym. My only ‘surprise’ is the level of dirt my dogs bring in, rumba vacuum helps. I have a bench in the barn isle which serves as my ‘mudroom’. Can drive my truck into barn in bad weather or drive up to back door as needed. I love being able to check on horses without really getting dressed for weather.
Look at this super cool floor plan. I want to have the ability to add to my income. So, having 7 rooms to rent out to hunters or horse riders, since I will be living in the middle of a National Forest, is really appealing.
I like the Texan too.
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Here is a place that is on Zillow that is a barn with 2 bed/2 bath to give you some visuals on how a place could look.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1165-Sam-Ard-Rd-Bonifay-FL-32425/230582526_zpid/
That is super cute. 
In California, one thing is that surfaces that get a lot of horse traffic tend to be dusty and especially if the wind picks up. Bedding of any kind tends to get ground into fine particles that ends up as dust. It is shocking to me how dusty my sheep barn gets compared to structures that don’t host animals. This is a reason that the second floor apartment might work better if you want to be able to open the windows.
I would definitely budget for paving the aisles and exterior on an adjoined structure.
Bbommer was talking about vacuuming inside the house, I think, but I’d consider the option of being able to vacuum the barn aisle too! That might actually help a lot.
The FIRST thing you have to do is ensure that the local Alphabet Soup has not by zoning rules outlawed such things. In some places where the Nanny State has strong influence these things are often not permitted.
If there is no legal restriction then you can proceed with a build that is practical for your area. What will be a very good idea in No. MN might not be so in Central FL.
The Tryon design, above, is interesting. They call it a “barn with living quarters.” I’d call it a house with a barn attached!!! 
But maybe that’s just quibbling. I note that there is a very clear, largish space between the barn area and house area. This is important to maintain.
My ideal if I were to do this would be to build a covered arena (20m x 60m) and extend the cover on each end. Under one extension I’d put a house, garage, and the like. The other end would contain the barn, tractor shed, etc. This would take care of the house being too close to storage of flammables (hay, gas for equipment, diesel for tractors, etc.) as well as dust, smell and flies. In bad weather, of just summer heat, you’d never have to outside your cover to take care of your horses or equipment.
My ideal would NOT be “elegant”!!! It would be fully functional. In a warmer climate it would solve the problem of “hot barn” with the ability to build stalls of any size under the cover but not have to deal with a roof (it’s already there). In a colder climate there might be less utility to a cover but doing an indoor of similar size with an attached home on one end and barn/utility area on the other would make sense.
Consider, too, that this type of building project could be done in stages. Build the central structure first, and put very simple equine and housing elements at the ends (a simple shed barn for horses and a mobile home for humans). Then, as finances permit, build out the ends.
My ideal might also be difficult to sell, depending on location and general economic circumstances. For a person who is in a medium term location I’d not do it. For someone who is in their “terminal location” it might make great sense.
Good luck in your project!
G.
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Consider building ^ above on the sides, as an overhang.
Or at least be sure to keep the gable ends free of any structures, where bigger machinery can get in there to work the footing, add to it, etc.
In our covered arena, you can drive in one end and out the other.
That has been critical to being able to get in there to bring supplies like panels and roping chutes, extra footing and so on.
This thread is almost 2 years old and post #22 was made by a new poster with only one post. i reported it as spam.
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Darn, I fell for the old thread bump! :lol:
