TikTok's "Barndo Lady" explains what Barndominium is, how much it costs to build it, and how she became a graphic designer.

Who is "Ms. Barendo"?

How much does a barndominium cost?

What can you put in barndominium?

They are all over social media. Barndominiums is the latest real estate fashion to fill the Instagram and TikTok trends. But these steel structures are far more than what their labels suggest.

"When we say'barndominium', it is designed as a residence on purpose. It is not designed as a studio, you may also add a living space," Oliver Bell said.

"Some people might think that barndominium is a barn," his wife Stacee Lynn added. "You see a lot in the upper part of the Midwest and East Coast. This is a wooden barndominium with metal sides and a metal roof. Here, it is a steel structure."

Stacee Lynn and Oliver should know. They not only run Our Barndominium Life company; according to Luxury Barndominium magazine, she is "the top Barndominium floor plan designer in the United States". Stacee Lynn is also affectionately referred to as "The Barndo Lady" on social media.

Barndominium is a non-traditional home, and Stacee Lynn's path to becoming a barndominium designer is also non-traditional. You can go all the way back to when she and Oliver married 28 years ago, but the short version of this story began two years ago.

"We want to build a barndominium, and Stacee Lynn is looking for a contractor," Oliver shared. "She drew it. She couldn't find anyone to do it, so she was not only a designer, I suggested that she build it, and then she took it from there."

Stacee Lynn became the general contractor of the project, and she was very interested in the development of Cleveland.

"While we were building it, many people started to stop and say,'Wow, this is a beautiful design,'" she recalled. "I think we are beginning to feel that our journey here is correct, not only is we in love with this design, but other people are also very interested."

These visitors encouraged her to share the progress of her barndominium on social media.

"I did it. I didn't dance, I didn't sing, I didn't spin," Stacee Lynn said with a smile. "I'm talking about metal construction. Our number of followers on TikTok is rapidly approaching 400,000, and we have only been on the platform for more than a year." 

Nearly 80,000 people follow her on Instagram, and it is still increasing.

"A lot of people on social media said'The Barndominium Lady' and the name got stuck," Stacee Lynn said.

As her followers grew, so did the number of inquiries about whether she would design more. In June 2020, Stacee Lynn launched Our Barndominium Life.

"People do this and build these buildings for many reasons," she said.

So what are these reasons? There is a lot of space.

"You can use barndominiums and high ceilings to get these large spans," Stacee Lynn said. "This is where everyone seems to be very interested these days."

In barndominium, the weight of the building is carried by the outer wall, so unless you want a second floor, you don't need a load-bearing wall inside.

“You can get the benefits of metal buildings, which are energy efficiency, low maintenance costs, and building construction speed, so you can save money,” explains Stacee Lynn.

Related: "Fixer Upper" barndominium sold near Waco

How much you save depends on many different factors, the most important being where you plan to build. Labor and material costs in southeastern Texas are cheaper than in central Texas.

The general formula for calculating how much a barndominium will cost is: design plus materials plus labor. As with anything related to barndominiums, the design can range from simple to luxurious. 

On the cheaper side, you have DIY kits, such as those from Absolute Steel, Texas. They provide steel frames, paneling, and all door and window structures at prices as low as $40 per square foot.

One important material is missing: concrete. An additional $4 to $6 per square foot is required to cast the flat plate.

The labor cost here depends on how much work you want to put in rather than hired work. Hiring builders, carpenters, HVAC technicians, electricians and plumbers can be expensive. For example, the builder may make you spend an extra $4-5 per square foot.

Learning some carpentry skills helped Stacee Lynn cut the cost of her Creek House.

"We did a lot of work ourselves. We did a lot of carpentry ourselves. A lot of painting and dyeing. When you walk in, you might be surprised by the mixing of these things," she said. "But it gives you the opportunity to say that you are proud of an additional feature because, hey, we made that accent wall ourselves. Or we made this work ourselves."

Related: Luxury Texas barn? ! They exist. They are called Barndominiums.

Stacee Lynn also saves money by designing custom products by himself. Now she works full-time at Our Barndominium Life. Like other companies that specialize in property management, she provides inventory floor plans, but Stacee Lynn says she really likes working on custom projects.

"We have made a lot of special rooms. We have made a lot of combination rooms," she said.

Creek House is full of examples of combination rooms, but the best example is probably the game/media/double-storey room upstairs. In this space, the whole family can gather together on the table to play games, watch movies on the large-screen TV, or fill three different beds in the design and sleep at night.

Another popular feature is the secret room, the door of which is hidden by a cabinet or shelf.

"This may be to escape in a big storm. It may also be someone trying to break in and you want to retreat for a while until rescue arrives. Some people use them as a gun safe," Stacee Lynn said.

Not all secret rooms are storage rooms, but the smuggler’s storage room is a very popular room. Originally it looked like another cabinet in the kitchen, but when it was opened, something else was completely exposed.

"The smuggler's pantry is great," Stacee Lynn laughed.

Creek House does not, but it does have many other required features, such as glass garage doors, outdoor kitchens, high ceilings, claw-foot bathtubs, 20-foot kitchen islands, and functional barn doors outside.

In the design and decoration of Creek House, you will find many examples of saving and splurge. Stacee Lynn said that she carefully considered which products are worth investing in, such as claw-foot bathtubs, while she is looking for deals in other products, including turning a ladder into a hanging pot rack.

"You can save money to build a barndominium," she said. "Sometimes. It depends. There are many variables out there."

Many of her clients are not interested in how much they can save. They are looking for special products that can uniquely meet their needs. Stacee Lynn shared some of them on her popular social media accounts.

They range from a 21,000-square-foot apartment with two-story in-law apartments to an 8,000-square-foot entertainment apartment south of Dallas.

"This will have a commercial kitchen, bowling lanes, and a dance floor for the family to dance socks," Stacee Lynn said. "It's a super cool project."

It doesn't stop there. She and her team are also preparing special shows for the traditional ranch properties near Cat Spring.

"It has a floor trampoline system, a rock wall, and an amazing, top-notch home gym system, comparable to some gyms outside," Stacy Lynn said.

Why stop on one barndominium when you can have five? Yes, Stacee Lynn is currently doing this work.

Her message: barndominiums have been around for decades, but today's barndominiums have a brand new look and feel.

"Barndominiums are special," she added.

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