ENTERPRISE — Ikigai, “the reason to wake up in the morning,” is the word used by the people of Okinawa to describe what we call retirement.

Creating a home from a repurposed, corrugated steel grain bin has been the ikigai of Paul Flanders, a 30-year resident of Wallowa County, for the past three years.

A few miles out the north highway from Enterprise sits a piece of land previously occupied by the Nez Perce. In 2002 it came to be under the stewardship of Paul and Sharon Spriggs-Flanders. They envisioned the property as a place where they would eventually live with their horses and the natural wonder of the land they called “Grace Prairie.”

As they entered their second decade of stewardship, Sharon’s life was taken by ovarian cancer, leaving Paul to carry on alone. He retired from a career as a mental health therapist and turned his focus to Grace Prairie as his full-time home and project.

Creating a sustainable lifestyle had always been their goal. In preparation for living there full-time, Paul first installed systems to allow for off-grid living: a solar energy system, a water collection-filtration-purification system and septic system. He was ready to build a house.

Over the years, Paul and Sharon had considered various sustainable building options: straw bale, rasta block, repurposing shipping containers, and an old wood grainery that still sits on the property.

But it was the idea of building a home from a grain bin, first shared with Paul and Sharon by local engineer and designer Roger Roepke in 2010, that struck a chord with Paul.

“Sharon wasn’t keen on the idea. But before she passed she told me, ‘now you can build your grain bin home,’” he said.

Finally, in 2020, he located an out-of-use grain bin just outside of Flora.

“It was only with help of friends in this community that this project has come to fruition,” he said. “I mentioned my plan to one individual who directed me to another and through the connections of this community, I found an available grain bin. Then, a group of friends gathered and spent two days carefully disassembling the grain bin. I moved it to Grace Prairie where friends eventually gathered again to help me reassemble it right here, where you see it today.”

Paul sought the guidance of a skilled contractor and consulted with structural engineers, building inspectors, architects and designers as well as dreamers.

Creative solutionsTurning a grain bin into a home uses some typical construction techniques, but the nature of this round structure requires creative solutions.

“Rusty Hogg (contractor) and I designed a unique foundation system that securely anchored the grain bin in bedrock,” he said. “That was the first of the creative building techniques we employed to create a sound, comfortable and really beautiful building.”

The guidance of professionals, combined with Flanders’ construction experience, has allowed him to be the primary builder of his home.

“It is by no means a solo project, but since the sheet rock was completed, I am pretty much a one-man show when it comes to the daily work,” he said.

He’s currently working on the first floor.

“Designing and building the kitchen island and cabinets is the project at hand; it’s a first for me,” he said. “The cabinets are just about completed. The counters will be cement and the backsplash will be repurposed steel cut from the grain bin when we created the windows and doors of this home. Even the stick framed mud room is sided with repurposed roofing from the goat barn of my parent’s goat dairy.

“This has been a challenging project, but I have to say, I am pretty proud.”

The grain bin home is 27 feet in diameter, creating a two-story, 1,400-square-foot living space including the rectangular mudroom that houses the only currently functioning bathroom and shower.

“I have designed a bath area for the upstairs bedroom that includes a soaking tub with a view,” he said. “But that’s somewhere down the road.”

The home boasts 18 windows providing views of the Wallowa Mountains, the surrounding prairie and the rest of the ranch, particularly from the second floor or the only bedroom.

“Sharon had always wanted a kitchen window from which she could see her horses,” he said.

“The configuration of the grain bin did not allow for that; however, there is a ‘Zen’ window on the second floor that provides a wonderful view of the barn, the round pen and the horses in the meadow below. I like to think that she’s pleased.”

Perfect sense

“My dad, an architect, always said that buildings should fit in their environment,” Flanders said. “When Roger mentioned using a grain bin, I was standing on Grace Prairie looking at the neighbors and all of their grain bins — it made perfect sense.”

The decision to build in-the-round presented many challenges — expected and not.

“Every stick is custom-fit. It is not a typical build,” he said.

But it’s been a learning experience, and he has no regrets.

Flanders, a self-proclaimed “old Montana cowboy,” has a bigger purpose for Grace Prairie that includes his horses and the continued stewardship of this land, but for now his focus is completing this home.

“Grace Prairie has always been a place to be shared with others,” he said. “Annual first food gatherings, nature walks, star gazing parties, music jams, the sharing of this land continues even after Sharon’s passing. It is a special place that we had always intended to share with others.”

Flanders has recorded the process from the beginning and has created a Grace Prairie YouTube channel with the intention of sharing the building experience with others.

“I learned so much watching videos on various aspects of the building process. I thought this might be a way to help others who are considering such a build,” he said.

The grain bin house project is down to finish work now.

“It’s surprising how slow this part of the project is going,” he said. “I grant myself grace as I also have all the other winter ranch activities and I’m involved in various community organizations, activities and projects. It’s all great, but it does slow things down a bit,” he said.

“I can’t say that I have a finish date on the calendar. In fact, there are many projects related to making this my home that will require some time. I’m not worried about it and am really just enjoying the process. I go to bed with a pretty good idea of what I’m going to work on the next day. Working on this dream is one of my primary reasons to get up each morning.”

Paul Flanders has created a YouTube channel, “Grace Prairie,” to post the videos he has taken during the entire project, from start to its eventual finish.

Search YouTube for Grace Prairie or go to this link to access the channel: https://tinyurl.com/mr4bbrcj