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Photography by Alise O'Brien
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Photography by Alise O'Brien
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Photography by Alise O'Brien
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Photography by Alise O'Brien
The renovation of a barn loft in Augusta, an hour west of St. Louis, was a dream project come true for interior designer Meghan Heeter of Castle Design. From the first time she visited the property, nestled at the base of a wooded valley off Highway 94, she knew that her design work would serve as a backdrop to the memories that would be made there.
So before deciding to apply a first layer of stain to the pine floors or discussing the addition of shiplap walls and a walnut plank ceiling, the designer looked no further than her own childhood as muse.
“One of the reasons I love this project so much is because it’s in Augusta, and that’s where my grandparents live,” she says. “I grew up spending summers with them, swimming, fishing, catching fireflies. It’s the best place for kids to run around and just be kids, and that’s what the client wanted.”
The family’s main home is in Richmond Heights, where school activities and weekend sports occupy the majority of their time. They were searching for a weekend retreat within an hour’s drive of St. Louis where they could enjoy the outdoors—hiking, swimming, canoeing. “It started with my husband, who felt like we needed a sanctuary, and he had a log cabin in mind,” says the homeowner. The couple had been looking in southern Missouri and had even made an offer on a house there, but when that deal fell through, they broadened their search.
Photography by Alise O'Brien
“Right away we fell in love with the drive out to Augusta. It’s just such a pretty wooded area,” says the wife, who saw the listing online and within two days was visiting the 110-acre property with her husband and real estate agent. The winding driveway is almost a mile long, leaving first-time visitors to wonder what awaits them at the end of the drive. “All of a sudden you get to the base of the valley,” she says, “and the space opens up to this beautiful log cabin.”
Although the pebble drive is shared with another property owner, who lives in the area year-round, the drive splits at about the quarter-mile mark and the two families rarely see one another. “We’re very secluded. At times that has been a little nerve-racking, but now we’re used to it,” says the wife. The main house is rustic in appearance and décor, just as the husband had wanted. Previous owners had designed it as an homage to the late 1800s, buying a period schoolhouse and moving it from Hermann to the shore of the property’s 7-acre lake. They also purchased a dogtrot-style house from the same era, which they found off Highway 109, took apart, and reassembled like Lincoln Logs on their land, combining the two structures into a 3,700-square-foot cabin with updated systems. Complementing the exterior, the interiors are chock-full of antiques sourced from around the country.
The barn, on the other hand, is just 10 years old. It had been used as a machine shed until the current owners decided to convert the loft into a dormitory with built-in bunk beds and a living room, dining room, kitchenette, and bathroom for their three teenage children. Working with Nick Westerheide, of NRush Electric, the project’s general contractor, one of the team’s first tasks was to move the original set of stairs leading up to the loft from the interior to the exterior, adding a door as the main entry and exit points and a measure of safety for the family in case of an emergency. The floor plan’s basic long rectangular-shaped room called for some dimension, inspiring Heeter to design built-ins, such as the window seat and banquette in the kitchen, and install a large sliding barn door to close off the sleeping quarters from the living spaces as needed. The structure’s three dormers were creatively incorporated into the internal architecture: One became the shower, another a reading nook, and the third a desk space in the bunkroom.
Heeter and her client designed the loft to have its own look. The log cabin is very dark. And the client wanted the barn to inhabit her idea of a farmhouse. “I wanted white, and I wanted bright,” she says.
The team chose crisp white shiplap for the walls and walnut plank for the ceiling to add depth. They kept the original pine floors for their inherent rustic quality, but applied a coat of stain to add some polish, too. The décor is classic Americana in a patriotic color scheme, as seen in the Dash and Albert star ottoman, performance fabrics from Tilton Fenwick and Thibaut, and linen draperies with a stitched blue appliqué by Anna French.
“It’s playful and colorful and a kid-friendly space, but it doesn’t feel too kitschy or doesn’t have a strong country theme,” says Heeter. “The main house has more of the wood and rustic details, so we didn’t want to completely go away from that, but we also wanted the barn to feel fresher and a little bit brighter.”
The details, such as rope-like cording on the pillows and the accessories sourced at local shops, instill a handmade, folkloric feel. The dining room’s Cole & Son “Wood and Stars” wallpaper is a fitting companion to the walnut-top table with a base of aged iron.
The kids had just one request, says the homeowner. “They wanted a big old table where they could play games and cards with their cousins and friends during sleepovers at the house.”
Westerheide enlisted the help of local business Haslag Steel to build the iron railing with a decorative tree branch motif in the bunkroom’s hayloft window. He also suggested adding a deck onto the barn—an addition that, by all accounts, now provides the best views of the property. Like the main house, a geothermal heating and cooling system as well as new electrical and plumbing were installed in the barn.
Photography by Alise O'Brien
Heeter is partial to the black-and-white–patterned Jeffrey Court tile in the bathroom. She says it reminds her of a quilt in her grandmother’s collection and, perhaps, of her own youth spent frolicking around a country house in Augusta. The Kohler Brockway trough sink captures the spirit of the architecture.
The home’s ability to inspire family memories has been documented here, but also in a journal for visitors to the barn. Heeter discovered the entry while finalizing the loft’s accessories at the house one weekend. “My client’s daughter had written about how much fun she was having, sitting out on the deck with their two golden retrievers and cooking family dinners together in the main house. It was so validating that this project, really, is all about family and that they’re going to enjoy it for years to come.”
