This rustic barn was built with hand-dressed sandstone blocks and recycled timber to house a vintage ute.
The project
During lockdown in 2020 I decided to build a home for a 1938 Ford ute I own. I am a signwriter and had never attempted stonemasory before. Apart from the roof capping it is all my own work.
The whole thing was sort of inspired by this photo I took in 1984. It's of a 1938 Willys ute in the barn at the top of our street. I used to climb over the fence and play in it.
I eventually bought it for $500 and restored it with my Dad. For some stupid reason we sold it, and 35 years later I still regretted letting it go.
The week after my Dad passed I spotted this ’38 Ford Flathead ute for sale.
My wife told me to build a carport for it, so I took her advice (sort of) and built the barn. The car was the inspiration for the build style of the barn: old timber and rust.
I tracked down some cheap sandstone from a guy who was digging out under his house a few suburbs away and got started.
Nearly all of it was made with recycled materials, but all the sand, cement, reo, nails, bolts and screws were from Bunnings.
Slab preparation.
First blocks.
Taking shape.
Rafters are up.
Looking good.
Getting there.
Old fence palings for the roof.
The blocks were sawn out of a solid shelf of sandstone under a house. We used a petrol saw to cut a grid to a depth of about 200mm, then busted out the blocks with a pry bar.
Some of the blocks broke out with a decent face but 80 per cent of them needed to be shaped or at least dressed to look traditional. Some took 20 minutes or so – probably 1000 blows – to give them that hand-hewn look. I used a fossicker's hammer with a chisel-shaped point to chip away so that there were no sawn edges visible.
It was very time-consuming and not something I would have attempted without the luxury of time that Covid lockdown gave us.
I also carved a stone with the date of the build.
I drew the date on with a pencil, then I roughly drilled along the centre line of each stroke with a 6mm masonry drill. This gave me something to chip towards.
Then it was just a matter of using a small, flat cold chisel, going around chipping from the pencil line in towards the centre, creating the "V" shape as I went.
To be totally honest I was blown away by how easy it was. It only took about 20 minutes per letter, which is a bit long – but when you know it's going to last 200 years it's nothing, right?
If you look closely you can see the 2020 block in the wall.
Almost there.
The overhead light is from an old Ukrainian motorcycle. I bought it online.
I'm happy with the overall feel of the barn but I'm not sure if I want the car in here now. I think the place would be better as a hangout, man-cave sort of thing.
After much thought, the car was bought home.
More backyard studio projects
Bunnings Workshop member jjebw converted a shed into a comfortable and spacious sewing studio with French doors, a changing area and separate storage.
Workshop member TheSaltyreefer built a large 6m x 9m studio for his fiancee to work from home in, with regular video updates of the build as it progressed.
The DIYgals received plenty of plaudits for their backyard studio project.
Let us know if you need a hand with your own backyard building project – we're here to help.
