When Ken and I moved to Miami, Oklahoma for him to begin his job at the College as a professor, we bought a twenty acre piece of property with a four room house.  It had a breezeway between the house and the garage.  I knew I could enclose it and make another two bedrooms--which I did.

We bought the place because of the barn.  It was spectacular.  Much better than the house.  The kids, especially Pat, wanted animals.  We got them.  Chickens, ducks, a horse and two collie dogs along with various other animals and wild things that slept in the barn.

In the interim before the extra bedroom was finished, we put the girls in one bedroom (which was a big fight every day), we slept in the second bedroom, and Scott slept on the couch.  His place for clothes and stuff was the towel closet.

I hired a man to do the work. I hung sheetrock, nailed 2 by 4's and generally whatever I needed to do--we got it done and added a bath as well.  But I was pregnant with Jon, and eventually couldn't stretch.

My advice is:  don't do what I did.  It's not worth it.  Send your children to the zoo to see animals.  If you get a horse, board him at a riding stable.  The only thing I would keep would be the chickens.  They were fun.