Work from home/barn?

[jonem004]

Does anyone have their home office set up in their barn?

I am beginning to seriously shop for a horse property. My career field allows me to work from home for the most part but is quite demanding of my time. My current home office has a ton of natural light, about 15 plants, and is my dogs favorite hangout. The only way it could be better is if I could see my horses out the window.

Our climate allows for a completely open “mare motel” style of barn/stalls with runs. To have a clean, climate controlled office I imagine I would need to buy shed/mobile home to use as my office and set it up with my viewing pleasure in mind. Who has this set up and what advice would you give? I don’t care to reinvent the wheel if I can help it.

[splitrockfarmnc]

I posted a thread about this very thing a couple months ago. Got some replies although I was hoping more people would have this kind of set up (and would share pictures! )

WFH Office in the Barn

Does anyone have their “home office” in their barn? Not a barn office that you manage the farm out of, but rather a work from home space in the barn, for a non-horse related career? I only knew one person who had something like that but it was not her sole workspace (and was considerably nicer and more expensive than I could ever pull off). I’m curious to know if anyone here has done this, and how it has worked out for you. I would love to see pictures too!

[jonem004]

Thanks, that’s super helpful! I figured I couldn’t be the ONLY horse person with such aspirations. I love the idea of having a window looking out to a walker. Seems like that would be a great multitasking tool in my area. There isn’t grass here so turnout usually involves standing and eating hay.

[Foxglove]

Not quite sure my answer is you are looking for —I have a house built on a hill. Two sides are glass that overlook my 20 acres of pasture that are (for the most part) in the valley -though one includes a second substantial hill. While retired from 40+ years of teaching, I amuse myself by painting. Since I occasionally sell my paintings, I suppose my small (5x6) studio in the corner of a room might be a “home office,” as I “work” there. I set my easel facing West --skylights give me perfect light overhead. As I paint, I can look out and see my horses in the pastures.

While quite pleasant, I find I generally don’t look at them while I am painting --I find I become absorbed in the canvas --trying to make a shadow just right, or a a portrait just so —what brings me back to earth is the loss of light --usually about 4 PM, I ‘lose my light’ and the sun starts coming into my view from the West.

As a teacher, I was best at dog-work (grading papers) in a closed environment --best was an airplane! Little table, no way to be distracted, the hum of engines, husband reading a book beside me. Were I able to see my horses as I was grading papers --I would NOT be grading papers.

My long winded answer is --an office that over looked my horses wouldn’t work well for me!

[wsmoak]

If you have power to the barn, then you can build out a small room that is just like a room in a house. Insulate the walls and ceiling, seal it up against moisture and bugs.

Here is a thread from when I asked for advice on finishing my ‘feed room’ (which could be repurposed as an office if that’s what I needed.)

Help finish my feed room interior walls and floor

I need suggestions on materials to finish the walls and floor of my 12x13 feed and hay storage room in the barn. See below for photos of what it looks like at this point. Or watch a short video tour: https://vimeo.com/355816177 The floor has a moisture barrier on top of the wood deck, then plywood. I’m considering just painting the floor with Behr DeckOver [1] and calling it done. What other floor coverings would you suggest? It’s going to have metal trash cans dragged around, rolling cart…

[ElementFarm]

My home office (I telework 1-3 days/week these days) has windows looking out at one of the pastures. Admittedly, it’s not the pasture we use most (smaller size and poorer soil, so it needs longer rest periods than the others in the rotation) but it is nice when I’m sitting at my computer and can look out and see the horses grazing. That being said, I admittedly get much less work done on those days. I love having my own farm, and we can see 80% of the pastures from our livingroom windows. But I do prefer staring at my fur-babies to actually reading emails or participating in virtual meetings. I would probably design any future office to be removed from those sort of distractions. (and I don’t love my job, so I’m very easily distracted).

[Madhouse]

I just put the finishing touches and furniture into my wife’s new office. Back in the day this lean-to was home to a couple abandoned stalls.

Extra time was spent with hardware-cloth, steel-wool and spray foam to keep the little grey critters out of the walls. This place is insulated better than our house. I even put insulation between the concrete slab and the wood deck so her feet won’t freeze. The hydrant is insulated so it can stay on all winter so she has running water. The low roof height was a bit of a challenge - but 80% of the space has a full 8’ ceiling

Complete with coffee maker and microwave. She needs to put up some wall hangings and find an area rug for in front of the fireplace. In the spring I will need to paint the exterior doors.

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[splitrockfarmnc]

Oh wow @Madhouse, that is awesome! What a great work space!