I Live In A...Kit Barn

A wine country contractor sent away for the ultimate mail-order backhouse that’s designed for work, play, and Chardonnay.

- Jeanne Lyons Davis

New York City native Laura Parker always dreamed of wide-open spaces. Growing up, she was fascinated by the country lifestyle—both the open space and the slower pace. Says Laura, “I always craved lots of land and a big ol’ red barn.”

Then one day, spurred by the end of a relationship and a job offer, she left the East Coast for California. “I thought I would go for a year or two at most, but that was almost 30 years ago, and I’m still here,” she says. Eventually, she moved north to picturesque wine country, where she began flipping fixer-uppers. As a contractor and owner of Del Mar Restoration (delmarrestoration.com), Laura had plenty of opportunities to check out the lay of the local land. But it wasn’t until 2013 that she got wind of an opportunity that seemed too good to be true: a 2-acre property complete with a 1900s farmhouse, working vineyard, and a yellow 1969 Ford pickup nicknamed Betsy. “The homeowners were flipping pancakes and pouring me glasses of wine. I put in an offer that very day,” says Laura.

The only thing missing: that big ol’ red barn. Because she’s a contractor, Laura was open to building one from scratch, and after some research she purchased a kit from Country Carpenters (country carpenters.com), a Connecticut-based outfit that specializes in precut post-and-beam buildings.