Meet Colleen Roberts

Today we’d like to introduce you to Colleen Roberts.

Hi Colleen, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
I’ve always loved to create, build, and design. I received a B.S. in Biological Engineering and M.S. in Civil Engineering from Mizzou. I have worked as a professional engineer for both the private and public sectors. While working on my master’s degree, I met my husband and we built our first house. We’ve upgraded, remodeled, and built houses and made them feel like home all while creating a life focused on our family, the outdoors, and learning as much as we can.

Saving money is a priority, so we have learned to DIY work, like laying tile, landscaping, and woodworking. When we moved to Kansas City, we purchased a foreclosure in Lee’s Summit. We completely remodeled and upgraded the entire upstairs and finished the basement, ultimately adding quite a bit of sweat equity. In 2013, we found our dream property in Eastern Jackson County. I began documenting our farm life at this time through a blog and Facebook, including improvements to the property, work on the house, cooking, and raising cows, pigs, chickens, ducks, and gardening.

Again, we remodeled, taking out walls, refinishing hardwood floors, replacing cabinets, and converting the garage into a living room. We also added on a new garage. We put so much work into that house but it never quite felt like home. The property was everything we wanted though and didn’t want to leave, so we decided to sell 10 acres and the home and build a new home on the other side. My husband had been trying to convince me to build a barndominium style home for over 10 years, so we compromised by blending the barndominium style with more modern touches.

The driving reason behind this style of home was the minimal exterior maintenance and the simple farmhouse style in the country. I documented our build on Instagram @robertsbarndolife and brought followers along for the process. We were the general contractors for the build and self-performed some work.

I continue to document projects around our home and property, share build tips and decor inspiration, and answer home questions in addition to sharing the outdoors, juggling being a working full-time mom, and life around Kansas City.

My goal is to be genuine, honest, educational, and keep it real for my followers.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Juggling being a wife, a mother, a daughter, a friend, a full-time professional engineer, a homesteader, and an influencer is always a challenge.

There are never enough hours in the day and you constantly have to be reassessing priorities, with my children always taking priority. I’ve worked hard to be successful in a male-dominated field. I have a passion to get more girls into STEM fields and make sure they know they can do hard work.

It’s especially important for me to model this to my own daughters. Outside of my career, my husband and I have worked evenings and weekends to build sweat equity and make our dreams a reality.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a licensed professional engineer and work full time as a project manager. When I have free time, I run my Instagram account @robertsbarndolife. Building or remodeling a home is stressful and at times lonely if you don’t know anyone that has also experienced it.

I created this account to share ideas, help others, and show that a home can be economical, efficient, and still be beautiful.

Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
I loved going on camping trips and hiking with my family as a kid.

Contact Info:

• Email: robertsfarmstead@gmail.com
• Website: www.robertsfarmstead.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/robertsbarndolife
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/robertsfarmstead

Image Credits
Michele Ashley Photography