Texas antique collector decided to transform an old grain silo into a one-of-a-kind guesthouse

People’s creativity knows no bounds. With the right set of tools, support, and a little bit of imagination, anything can be made into something beautiful, trendy, and functional!

From shipping containers to school buses, you can build a house with almost anything that has the space and foundation for it these days.

As an antique collector and store owner, Amy Kleinwachter is always on the hunt for valuable or collectible items that most people won’t even give a second look.

She loves collecting various salvage materials, repurposing them, and breathing new life into them to give a space or a room more character and style. 

As a result, the antique collector has amassed a lot of unusual yet potential design and architectural pieces. Amy gets these unique finds from all over the world.

But perhaps her best find to date is a silo she got from a ranch not far from her home in La Grange, Texas.

The plan was to build an adorable guesthouse from the silo. A silo guesthouse would be a great addition to the farmhouse that sits on 10 acres of land.

Since her farmhouse was also built from salvaged materials, Amy decided to use the salvaged silo as the foundation of her tiny guesthouse. 

With the help of a local contractor, Judy Kurtze, they started going through Amy’s massive collection of headboards, window frames, and sheet metals.

Building a circular guesthouse from a silo was a tall order, but Judy found a brilliant and beautiful way to make it work. 

Some of the old windows and metal awnings that Amy had collected finally found their home in the silo guesthouse.

According to the antique collector, they fit in perfectly with the design, adding a lot of depth and ‘rugged fussiness’ to it. They add definition to a space without having to embellish it with hanging artwork.

Amy was also able to use a set of dental panes that she bought from a friend, who purchased it from a dentist’s office.

Its height and width were perfect for the silo’s circular design and big enough to let in some natural light.

Inside, the adorable guesthouse doesn’t lack charming decor and cohesive style. Amy also took great care in choosing the perfect plan for the silo.

It shouldn’t stick out because it looks too perfect or too random. Details like paint weathering are very important as they can help make it look more organic. 

Who would’ve thought an old phone nook could work as a flush-mount bathroom shelving? Even the old liquidation signs and champagne crates added a unique and clever touch to the living area. 

Amy ingeniously turned a champagne crate into a footrest, and a pair of mismatched leather chairs and a bleached oak table were also added to the sitting area.

The result was a warm and inviting space perfect for quiet mornings or relaxing evenings. 

The creative design streak continued in Amy’s little office space, where she repurposed old floral stand signage and turned it into a small office table.

In the bedroom, old wood collected from a nearby historic home was treated and sealed with a Varathane polyurethane sealant.

Amy advised that if you’re planning to do the same thing, you should check with your contractor or local health department first to avoid health problems caused by breathing in lead paint.  

Since the bedroom walls are textured, Amy brought in a wrought-iron queen-sized bed (it was challenging to find an antique queen) and some new linens to match. And then, she put up an oil painting that she got during one of her antiquing trips in Europe. 

This adorable guesthouse also has a front porch where family, friends, and visiting pickers can sit, talk, or have coffee while basking in the beauty of farm life.

It’s incredible how something that looks like a giant tin can could be transformed into a tiny guesthouse, complete with a bed and bath.

It may have been challenging to build a circular house, but Amy and her contractor certainly did a terrific job at converting a silo into a functional space