Houzz Tours
Houzz Tour: Industrial DIY Farmhouse in Ohio
With hard work, a can-do attitude and lots of help from family and friends, a rural couple builds a home that reflects their values
Julie Ranee is one scrappy homeowner. Case in point: She and her husband, along with her father, did the general contracting for the entire house. "None of us do this for a living," says Ranee, a photographer. Many of the subcontractors she used were friends of the family; despite her "crazy" ideas, they never said that something couldn't be done. "Our friends and subcontractors just helped us make things happen. My mom watched the kids while we worked late into the night," says Ranee.
The result is an airy, light-filled farmhouse with a reverse plan that was built with the willing hands and hearts of the Ranee family. Although the house has a very different exterior and interior than all the other houses on the block, it is one that very much reflects the values extolled by the conservative Mennonites in the area.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Julie Ranee, her husband and their 3 kids
Location: Plain City, Ohio
Size: 2,800 square feet
That's interesting: Ranee home-schools her kids in the loft area of their house.
The result is an airy, light-filled farmhouse with a reverse plan that was built with the willing hands and hearts of the Ranee family. Although the house has a very different exterior and interior than all the other houses on the block, it is one that very much reflects the values extolled by the conservative Mennonites in the area.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Julie Ranee, her husband and their 3 kids
Location: Plain City, Ohio
Size: 2,800 square feet
That's interesting: Ranee home-schools her kids in the loft area of their house.
"We work hard and prioritize faith and family," says Ranee, who happily chatted about her house while making dinner in the kitchen and watching her kids in the living room. The ability to oversee more than one activity at a time from any given section of the house is one of the reasons she loves the open floor plan.
Ranee's front door, living room, dining area and kitchen are all on the second floor; the children's bedrooms and garage are located on the lower level. The dirt hill in this picture is what Ranee calls "a true gift from God," as it was hauled and given to them for free by a nearby construction site that needed to get rid of it. The hill allows cars to drive straight to the front door. "It's amazing how different the views are by going up just one story," says Ranee, whose house is surrounded by expanses of corn and bean fields.
While building the house, guests and neighbors would remark that the house was very different from anything that they had ever seen in Plain City. "I learned to take it as a compliment," says Ranee.
While building the house, guests and neighbors would remark that the house was very different from anything that they had ever seen in Plain City. "I learned to take it as a compliment," says Ranee.
This image and the previous one show the kitchen, with its exposed joists and trusses, shelves, white oak hardwood flooring and industrial lighting. There was no space to put can lights (a common fixture in kitchens) because the kitchen ceiling shares the same surface as the loft floor above it, so Ranee's subcontractors at Power Source Electric mounted the pendant light fixtures over the island by running electrical conduit along the joists. "We love the result!" says Ranee.
Two outlets were installed in the walk-in pantry (the white door in this photo), which houses the microwave, toaster oven and other appliances, keeping the kitchen counter clean and uncluttered.
Shelves: leftover wood from Ranee's father's shop; industrial stools and apron-front sink: Overstock
Two outlets were installed in the walk-in pantry (the white door in this photo), which houses the microwave, toaster oven and other appliances, keeping the kitchen counter clean and uncluttered.
Shelves: leftover wood from Ranee's father's shop; industrial stools and apron-front sink: Overstock
This perspective of Ranee's main living area evokes a hybrid farmhouse-coastal interior design style: oars extend the vertical space and pale neutrals in the decor pieces cast a gentle nod to American coastal. With her mom, Ranee refinished many pieces of furniture that others in her community had cast off, a skill that she attributes to her parents' own scrappiness. "My dad's workshop is a place with which I'm very well acquainted," says Ranee.
She also gathers many treasures from auctions, secondhand stores and garage sales — this dresser included.
This china cabinet storing jadeite dishes is an heirloom piece from Ranee's husband's side of the family. Drawing the eyes up is a canvas photo of one of Ranee's subjects from her photography business.
"We had never laid a single tile before, and all of a sudden we were laying our bathroom floor tiles. Ignorance is bliss when you decide to use black grout on white tile, but I love how it turned out," says Ranee of this half bath.
How to choose bathroom tile
How to choose bathroom tile
The stairs lead to a space that needed to be separate ...
... the loft, a dedicated space where the children are home-schooled. "I like that we have the loft now to store and organize our school supplies. It is nice to be able to 'leave' school upstairs while we go down and take a lunch break. When designing the house, we chose to use attic trusses, which allowed us to have an open loft as well as easily accessible attic storage," says Ranee.
Ranee's father made the barn doors from leftover flooring material. The middle door opens into a bathroom shared by the kids.
Read more about barn doors
Read more about barn doors
A clothesline showcases family pictures in black and white, another symbol of the family-centric values that Ranee and her community extol.
Ranee learned a great deal about herself and about starting things from the very first grain of dirt throughout the building process. She looks back on their home-building process with great fondness, saying, "There were plenty of days when I would have loved to have hired someone to do the work, but in the end, when I look around the house and see that we put so much hard, physical work into almost every single corner, it makes me smile. My motto throughout the entire build has always been 'We can do it!' Truth be told, with God's help we can do anything."
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Sharon Miller