Book excerpt: At Home in the American Barn examines the fascinating possibilities for living and adaptive reuse provided by the expansive spaces and rough-hewn look of these traditional structures. Nationwide, Americans are turning to structures such as the barn with a mind to renovating them to fit the lifestyles of today, redesigning these often-wonderful places of the past into residential spaces. At Home in the American Barn embraces the dream to slow things down and return to basics and shares some success stories, as made plain by the buildings themselves.This richly illustrated volume focuses on the barn as home. Each of the structures featured has been adapted from its original utilitarian purpose to allow for comfortable, joyous living. Built at first as places for work, barns nevertheless often demonstrate fine craftsmanship and artistry. This volume emphasizes the rare beauty of these structures and shows throughout elegant solutions for living in these beautifully imagined homes. Soaring rafters here allow for dramatic chandeliers in one home or a wall of magnificent bookcases in another. Spaces that are unconventional in a traditional domestic sense here serve as springboards for inspiration that allow for, in one home, a spiral staircase of fantasy made from hand-planed wood, and, in another, a wall of glass that lets in the sun. At Home in The American Barn shows the way that this can be done successfully and artfully.