A handcrafted home

25-year-old Clay County woodworker puts skills to use for his new family

It took some convincing for Kailey Harrell to agree to live in a barn.

She and her husband, Samuel, were married in May 2022, and Samuel finished painting the bedroom of the couple’s would-be home only a few hours before the rehearsal dinner.

“I didn’t like the idea,” Kailey said. “I adjusted to it, though, and I love it here.”

Taking a tour of what Samuel calls the “barndominium,” it’s easy to reckon why.

Beginning almost six years ago, Samuel, a 25-year-old craftsman, converted part of an old horse barn on family property off Windmill Road in Clay County into a 1,000 square-foot, one-bedroom home outfitted with handmade touches. Samuel made 80 percent of the furniture, from the dining table to the cabinets and doors, even the frame for the toilet.

Downstairs, Samuel converted the old tack room into a sauna made from Western red cedar. Upstairs is a tub made from a white oak log that has been fiberglassed and wet-sanded. The second-floor ceiling is fashioned from 42 wooden panels and about a mile’s worth of trim painted green.

“I wanted to call it ‘The Green Mile,’” Samuel joked.

But the undisputed showpiece of the Harrells’ well-appointed abode is a hand-carved Spanish cedar handrail that winds in one continuous 20-foot piece up the stairway. He drafted it using the “tangent system,” which sent the Oak Hill Academy alumnus diving into some very old math books.

“It was pretty involved,” he said. “I read a lot of building manuals from the 19th century and derived some of the old ways when building it.”

Outside the barndominium doors is Samuel’s woodshop, where he spends his off hours from his shifts as a West Point firefighter toiling away with his chainsaw, lathe, chisel and carving equipment – making doors, chairs, tables and other furniture on commission; and fashioning wooden bowls he sells by the unit.

His woodworking passion started at about age 13, when he would help his grandfather, the late Robert Harrell, in his shop.

“He was a really charismatic, eclectic guy,” Samuel said. “He was enjoyable to be around and had a lot to share.”

After high school, Samuel moved briefly to his great-uncle Johnny Bryan’s farm in Illinois, apprenticing under master woodworker Mike Jarvi before moving on to study at the Penland School of Arts and Crafts in North Carolina.

He returned to Clay County and took on the meticulous task of making the barn his home – one he’ll have to say goodbye to soon.

He and Kailey are expecting their first child, making the one-bedroom “barndominium” less ideal. But in true Samuel Harrell fashion, he will be very involved in building the timber frame house where the family will move.

“I’m planning on sawing everything,” he said. “The whole house will come through this shop.”

He’s never done anything quite on that scale, but he doesn’t intend to let that stop him.

“I always believe I can tackle something,” Samuel said, then started to laugh. “Sometimes when I get in it, I might say, ‘Damn, I’m in over my head.’”

The barndominium will remain in use, at minimum as a hangout and showroom for Samuel’s work. He’s even toying with the idea of renting it out as an Airbnb.

“I think people would get a kick out of staying in a woodshop with a sauna,” he said.