A Horse Stable Transformed into a Country Home

This home renovation project has clearly made an effort to preserve the lovely exterior of this stable, the character of the beautiful red masonry still apparent. Traditionally, English stables were constructed with a symmetrical design, and this one follows that tradition with a central door and two windowed areas on either side. There was usually an upper loft that was created for storing hay, as well as a pitching door for using pitchforks to lift the hay onto the loft – the front door could very well have functioned as the pitching door at an earlier point in time.

The stable made for a roomy floor plan, and the kitchen has taken full advantage of this with an enormous stove and ample kitchen storage cabinets. Modern aspects like the round, metallic light and smooth white cabinets make for a sleek kitchen, but old traditional styles, like placing the sink by the only window in the kitchen, are preserved.

The kitchen is still visible off to the left, but this view affords a lovely look at the structural beams which are seen throughout the renovated home. These create plenty of visual interesting with their intersecting lines and thick, rectangular shapes, and they also tell an interesting story of the building's history. In the back, walls have been replaced with floor-to-ceiling windows that let plenty of light into the low-ceilinged common area.

This photo is an excellent example of how the designers have created a vintage country look in a brand new remodeling job. This dining room table is an elegant, antique piece, decorated with a simple tablecloth, rustic bouquet, and sweet wooden chairs. With the juxtaposition of modern windows and a new, smooth floor, this vintage piece helps to bring you back to the cottages origins as a farm outbuilding.

Up in what once probably once a hayloft, a bedroom is nestled in beside a nice sunny window. Once again, these homeowners have struck a balance between quaint and modern, with clean white walls providing a fresh palette for a bed whose linens are reminiscent of grandma's hand sewn quilts.

Here, a highly unexpected bathroom sits under a slanted roof, tucked away in a corner all its own. The bathroom is roomy to begin with, but the low-profile tankless toilet frees up an extra foot of visual space, and the clear partition keeps the water in the standing shower without obstructing a view of the entire room, creating even more space. The only thing that's left of this building's antiquity is the beam overhead; otherwise, everything in this room looks sleek, crisp, and modern. However, the marbled textures in the tiles work to create a more rustic, broken-in atmosphere.

The best part of this renovated stable is the way that the architects have taken advantage of the loft to create a roomy interior balcony. Standing on this interior landing, the sturdy intersection of many thick beams creates an interior space full of points of interest (and the blank walls allow your eye to fully appreciate the room's structural design). 

Hiding underneath the interior landing, you'll find a new model of an age-old technology: a wood burning pipe stove. While older pipe stoves often employed ceramic lids, doors, and handles, this new model is made of rounded metal, which  looks very sleek in comparison to it's older cousins.

A stove pipe (the origin of the coined term stove pipe hat) can be used as a decorative piece, but it's primary function is to heat the home, as temperatures inside this wood-burning wonder start to soar, heat emanates into the room. Bricks surrounding the stove pipe provide a layer of sturdy insulation that can withstand the temperatures of the hot stove.

In a nod to the days of old, the stove pipe has been surrounded by an audience of antique sitting room furniture, creating a congenial space to enjoy the warmth of the living room and the sociable, central atmosphere of this room's design. Notice how the living room's ceiling (or lack thereof) allows for heat to rise effortlessly to the upper floor of the home – in an outbuilding that was never intended to function as a family cottage, a heating and cooling system was never in place, and this open layout design encourages the new system to evenly regulate the home.

If you enjoyed the story that this renovated cottage has to tell, you might also enjoy a look at this fun ideabook: 10 Magic Homes Straight out of a Fairytale