The Country Barn B&B

I would like to take you all on a tour of my parents home. It has taken the better part of 4 years but the Barn is pretty much done, and has even had guests this summer and fall. Mom and dad, aka. Tom and Charlotte Memmott had an open house last night so people in town could come and see how a 100 year old barn has been transformed. The thing I love the most about the barn is the fact that my mom has wanted to live in this barn since 1974 when we moved to Stirling. She and my dad have had the vision for this place and my dad has lovingly and painstakingly done the majority of the work by himself. I say painstakingly because he has ripped both his rotator cuffs in his shoulders and actually went into surgery today to repair one of them. He just kept working through the pain because he loved this place and when we would tell him to just hire someone to do it he would say no, because he knew exactly how he wanted it done. I don't mean to make it sound like mom didn't do anything because she worked her heart out too. Yesterday I went over to help mom get ready for the open house so I took some pictures, and now I'll take you on a tour of the Country Barn Bed and Breakfast located in our little town. 

It is located at 318 5th Ave in Stirling, Alberta

Come on in. . .

I'll take you on a tour of this wonderful B & B

                     .

I apologize for some of the pictures poor quality because of the lighting and they were taken on my iphone. This is the front entry. My dad has a collection of walking sticks and I love the hay fork my sister Lori got for them.( For years we have all bought things for mom and dad with the barn in mind.

The front door was made by my dad. He is amazingly talented as you will see.

This is the view from the front entry. It is a very open floorplan. (Just a little side... my son Dustin laid the flooring here and helped put up all the drywall.) The post in the center is original to the barn along with the beams.

This is the living room.

 Don't you just love the rock fireplace. There is a bigger one upstairs.

I love the fact that they have used so many of the things they've collected over the years, like this old ice box.  The window is one of the originals from the barn.

 The old sewing machine.

The Dining area.

 I love the green cabinet that mom found on one of her shopping excursions. It holds a lot of her dishes.

The music cabinet belonged to my Grandma Judy. And I love the old crock that sits by it.

We found the painted jelly molds at a garage sale of a friend and they go so cute on the wall here.

Sorry the picture is so dark, but I wanted to show the window.

Here you can see the table under the window. My dad built the table years ago. The metal stools are from the school from years gone by. The grandkids love them because they twirl and go up and down in height. The folding step stool was another find of moms.

Here is the Kitchen. 

The cupboards are all from Ikea and Dad installed them. Love the lights over the island. See the bucket in the corner, Dad made that too.

The post used here on the island is from the horse shed that used to be out back. All the horses have chewed it over the years to give it all that character. Dad just knew he wanted to use it somewhere and here was the perfect spot.

This door was an original from the barn and they used it as a closet door in the back entry to the laundry room. They door here will eventually have swinging doors. I didn't take a picture of the laundry room because... well my mom would probably kill me. It isn't done yet and a lot of stuff gets stuffed there, but it has the coolest sink in there that comes from the old science lab at the school. I'll show you when she gets that room done.

Here is another door that my dad built by hand. It leads to my parents sanctuary. The space they call their own when they have guests here. Their bedroom and ensuite. It is also the last place in the house to get decorated and totally finished  so no pictures for now. But what is done is awsome already. (It's just that for the open house we decided to just let it be and not stress about getting pictures on the wall and finding places for everything we seem to chuck in there when we don't know what to do with it. Kinda like the laundry room.)

Now I'll take you on a tour of the second floor starting back here in the entry and up the stairs that dad built himself. (I did mention that he did a lot of this himself)

Up we go. Here you can see the tongue and groove that he used on the ceiling to be in keeping with the original roof in the barn. The rafters are original and we stained (yes I helped a little) the tongue and groove to match the color. You can also see that he framed out the big window in old barn wood and it looks amazing. 

He used big hammered nails in the treads. (also used in the front door) and made the railings too.

The Second floor houses the big Gathering room.

The Nilsson room, the Proctor room and the Bunk House.

I took a lot of the pictures of the Gathering room from up above.

The focal point is the huge rock fireplace. Dad made the mantel from a huge piece of fir he bought from a man in the Crows Nest Pass. It is very very very heavy. I know this because Jody, Dano, and myself had to help lift it out of the fellow's truck when he delivered this piece and the one smaller one for the downstairs mantel.

Here you can see the original trolley in the ceiling for the Hay Fork. Dad left it and framed it in. It would run along the track in the roof of the barn from one end to the other. If you look close enough you can still see the pigeon poop from 100 years of birds in a barn. Dad and Mom were given the original hay fork from the barn from Marven and Ann Hirsche.

The Hay Hook

This is a look at the other side of the room 

Yep, Dad built the circular staircase himself. The railing is one contiuous piece of wood that he clamped and curved to fit the curve of the stair as he layered the pieces together. ( I bet that makes no sense)

I know this picture is really dark but I wanted to show the sliding door that he built from three big windows that he has had for years from the Hogensons that used to live in town. It leads out onto a patio. It really is amazing. They also found that rocker in a little store in Whitehall, Mt. that they just happened to stop in looking for treasures. 

I took this picture to show the little kitchen area that they have for guests. Eventually there will be a counter space and the barrel in the corner will be a sink. There is another old ice box behind the chair there.

This shows the cupboards behind the circular stairs and across from the other stairwell. The doors were made from old shutters from the school. The washstand next to it was made by Dad for Mom years ago.

These Chairs are from the old grain elevator where my Great Uncle Hank used to work. Dad built the checker/chess table to go with them.

An old armoire perfect for housing old quilts, and an old radio

On to the Guest Bedrooms

This is the Nilsson room. Named after my mom's paternal grandparents.

Each room has it's own bathroom and TV with satellite.

This room has the brass headboard, and old laundry cart that held the washtubs, to use for your luggage

Dad built the stand for this sink from old barn wood. The sink is Ikea.

Cute bathroom with beadboard wainscotting.

This is the Proctor Room. Named for my mom's maternal grandparents.

I think this room is my favorite with the huge carved headboard, and I love the bedding.

Sorry for the lighting again!

I like the pocket door they built in here

This is the Bunkhouse room. It was added on on along with dad's shop down below. It was named because it was supposed to be filled with bunkbeds for all the kids. It may still get some bunkbeds, but I think the Hunters that have been coming to stay this fall have appreciated the queen size beds and even the twins, over having to climb into bunk beds

 

 I love this little dresser mom got from her aunt.

This view shows the hall you come through to get to the Bunk house it also shows the loft up above that can only be gotten to from the super secret passage way at the moment. Only the grandkids can fit through the super secret passageway so I haven't even been up there yet. (I did try to squeeze through when it was being built but I gave up. Can you say claustrophobic!). There may be a ladder to get up there in the future. The kids love it.

This is the door to the bathroom for the bunkhouse. It is an original stall door.  I love it.  It is my favorite thing in the barn. ( Well, at least one of my favorites.)

You can't see it but this bathroom has a walk in shower. (Guests have raved about the water pressure in there)

This sink was made from a pie safe that Dad had made for mom years ago. I think it is a cute country touch.

This is the loft. It is not original to the barn. Dad added this floor so they could have a little reading area and another bedroom.  This area also houses the super secret passageway into the bunkhouse loft. You might have to ask one of the kids if they'll let you in on the secret sometime.

This is the Hirsche room.

 Named for the people who built the barn. 

It is also the Blue and white room

It has it's own little balcony off of the room.

It also has a stall door for it's bathroom. It has a unique tub and shower because of the sloping ceiling .

This is a view from the 3rd floor down to the main floor entry. It is really open with lots of light. I love their chandelier. We thought it was going to be huge when we helped mom pick it out way before the barn was finished but it ended up looking 

just perfect for the space.

Here you can see the back of the barn and the addition that dad put on it that houses the garage, the shop, and the bunkhouse room. There is a back patio off the kitchen and the back balcony off the gathering room.  Next summer they plan the build a pergola on the cement pad and start planting more foliage. (The couple next door is Jody and Dano. They are busy building their back deck on their home.)

These steps up the back balcony are the original stairs that were inside the barn. They were also used temporarily inside to get to the loft while they were building inside. We told dad he needed to use them somewhere so they are the fire escape for the second floor.

This shows the east side of the barn and the balcony off the Hirsche room. I know mom wishes that the outside was completely finished with the painting but I kind of like seeing the original (well not original original) but the old peeling paint. We'll get the outside painting done next summer too.

This is the view from the back balcony. You can see all the way out to the ridge.

I love the chicken wire and the little old gate on it.

Well, that about wraps up the tour. It is an absolute wonderful place to stay. They have had rave reviews from everyone who has come so far. I don't think anyone expects something like this in our small town. I hope you have loved seeing a bit of it through pictures and I hope you will want to come and stay if you are ever in Southern Alberta. We are close to Waterton National park, Writing on Stone National park, Lethbridge, Cardston, and Stirling itself is a National Historic Site. Come for a visit because I can promise you....

Anyone wanting more information or wanting to book a room at the Country Barn Bed and Breakfast please call Tom or Charlotte Memmott at 403 756-3366.

It's a great place to stay!