By CAROL VOGEL
The New York Times, Home and Garden Section
Published: January 5, 1984
THAT the barns were not for sale never bothered Mariette or Raymond Gomez. Nor did the fact that a large portion of the roof had collapsed or that there were still dirt floors. ''The minute we saw the barns we knew they had to be ours,'' Mrs. Gomez said. ''Even as a wreck they were beautiful.''
The gabled roof and perfectly weathered shingles, classic symbols in American architecture, are what the Gomezes found so compelling. ''Also the great volume of space, 5,800 square feet of it,'' Mr. Gomez said. ''After coping with cramped city apartments, I knew there was something substantial here to work with.''
And work they did. The minute they found out who owned this property on the East End of Long Island, the couple asked a real- estate broker to make an offer on their behalf. It was accepted, and eight months later the three attached buildings - two barns and a stable, which had barely been touched since they were built in 1850 - had become a fully renovated, delightfully livable home.
Because it was the charm of the exterior that originally drew them, the outside looks almost the same now as when the couple first surveyed the property. The grounds are now well tended, and no drastic changes were made to the facades. But inside, while there are still unmistakable signs that these were once working farm buildings, the plan is surprisingly modern.
The Gomezes knew what they were doing. She is a seasoned interior designer who runs her own business and he is a partner in the architectural firm of Edward Durell Stone Associates.
According to Mr. Gomez, one of the biggest mistakes that can be made in renovations of this kind is trying to transform the buildings into conventional houses with lots of small rooms. ''It simply doesn't work,'' he said. ''Farmers intended barns to be large, purely functional places to house equipment and animals. Therefore, as modern interiors, they must be left as open- flowing space.''
The first floor bears this out. While the kitchen and garage, on opposite ends of the house, are enclosed rooms, the rest of the space is not as formally separated. It is divided into two areas by a wall with openings at either end. On one side is a playroom for the Gomezes' two children; on the other the grown-ups have a large combination living and dining room.
In the process of rebuilding the portion of the roof that had caved in, the Gomezes also removed a hayloft above the area where the living room and kitchen are now. This left 20-foot ceilings, which seemed too high for the proportions of the room. The biggest design problem, then, was how to scale down the ceilings without losing the charm of the building.
The solution was a bridge that spans the length of the house, connecting the master bedroom suite on one side of the second floor to the children's bedrooms across from it. ''The eight-foot-high bridge stops the eye, visually breaking up the space,'' Mrs. Gomez said.
Heating such large rooms can also be difficult. The Gomezes chose hot- water heat because they felt it was the most economical. The house has five heating zones, and ceiling fans on the second floor redirect the heat to the rooms below.
Since the main living and dining rooms were built for storing equipment - they housed farm paraphernalia and fire engines during the years the town had no fire department - the space was too dark to live in. The Gomezes kept the sliding barn doors and a row of four small windows above them and added a matching set of windows just below the ceiling. On the opposite wall they designed four pairs of French doors with another row of windows above.
''These additions were the only changes we made to the facade,'' Mr. Gomez said. As a result of this approach, the interior achieves a fresh, modern geometry enforced by the designer's decision to keep the walls plain white.
''Most of the architectural embellishments were ones that were a consequence of buying a barn,'' Mrs. Gomez said. The railings on the bridge, for example, were originally along the perimeter of the hayloft.
The Gomezes were also careful to retain the stalls where the farm animals once lived. Lined up along the south side of the building, all seven of the original stalls, complete with their swinging doors, still exist. Three stalls in the kitchen have become a laundry room, a tool room and a tiny niche for cutting flowers from the garden. Of the four remaining off the children's playroom, two were joined to make a guest room large enough to hold a twin beds, another is a smaller guest room and the last was converted into a bathroom.
Also salvaged during the renovation was a attractively faded blue door. ''I found it hanging by a thread above the hayloft,'' Mrs. Gomez said. It is now a closet door in the kitchen.
Even the outbuildings that came with the barns were a source of inspiration for the design team. ''We think of them as antique sculptures,'' Mrs. Gomez explained. Although the goat house and outhouse are too small to convert into, say, a guest house or study, on the drawing boards are Mr. Gomez's plans to make the grain house a changing room for a pool that is to be built once the ground thaws.
''Even in their original dilapidated state, the quality of all these buildings makes them infinitely greater to work with than modern houses,'' Mr. Gomez said. ''What you are able to achieve in the end is far more interesting and timeless.''
For people considering converting a barn, Raymond Gomez makes the following suggestions:
* To decide whether it is worth purchasing, consider carefully just what you will get for your money. ''It is important to realize that all you're really getting is the shell of a building,'' he said. ''Anything beyond that is a bonus.''
* Hire an expert to check the condition of the foundation and the frame. If the barn is old, the foundation has usually settled properly. And if the exterior is fairly intact, there is probably enough to work with.
* In designing the space, do not attempt to change the load-bearing beams or the existing frame. Follow the character and integrity of the existing space. Too intricate a plan will often prove impossible to build.
* Be prepared to modify the design as you go along. No matter how much design planning is done on paper before renovating the building, there are always unknowns hidden behind old walls.
* In hiring a contractor, try to get someone who will be flexible enough to handle the changes that will occur and who may be able to act as an on-the-job craftsman.
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