shed with style

Southern Living, Sep 2004 by Belden, Derick, Thigpen, Charlie

This cottage-like shed looks right at home mingling with flowers and foliage.

Is your garage so full of garden tools that you can't even park a car inside? Do you trip over shovels and rakes as you walk through your basement? To solve these types of storage dilemmas, we designed and constructed this charming shed. Though small, this structure is both attractive and functional. It can also serve as a workshop, playhouse, or even an outdoor getaway. Often such buildings are tucked out of sight, but this shed looks good enough to be the focal point of any backyard.

Select the Right Site

Before you build a shed, find a good location. Make sure the site you choose is easily accessible. Dragging heavy tools and machines, such as a lawn mower, up a steep slope or steps is difficult. But you should also place your shed a bit out of the way, not too close to the house. Make it a destination; by adding a path leading to it, you'll have a place to go and a new vantage point from which to enjoy your garden. Finally, when selecting the site, be mindful of city codes and neighbors.

To ease construction efforts and costs, try to find a level spot. If you don't have one, you might need to build your shed on elevated posts like a deck. Another option is to sink four 6 x 6 posts in the ground and then build the walls level to the posts. You can fill the gaps left at the bottom of the walls with stone, brick, or wood to form a crib to hold the gravel floor inside.

If you want to start seeds or grow a few plants in your shed, you need a sunny area. To provide overhead light, we installed two transparent strips of a greenhouse material called TwinWall on both sides of the roof. This product is an inexpensive double-walled polycarbonate that's available at greenhouse-supply stores or can be mail-ordered. The transparent panels and windows let in plenty of sun, so there is no need for lighting. If built next to a few large deciduous trees, the shed will get lots of sun in winter and be partially shaded from the hot summer sun, making it a great place to store tender plants during the colder months.

Choose an Appropriate Size

Your shed should match your needs. If you have a small yard, you probably own fewer tools and require less storage, and a large shed on a small lot may look out of scale. Consider all the things you want to store and how much space they will take up. A 4 x 6 shed is large enough for a small garden, while an 8 x 10 one such as ours allows room for more storage while still providing space for a workshop.

On the Dry Side

A lean-to on the side of the shed is a perfect place for a potting bench. You can pot plants in the shade and stay dry on rainy days. It also creates space for storing bales of straw and extra bags of potting soil and makes a nice parking spot for bikes, strollers, or a riding lawn mower, keeping them easily accessible but protected from the weather. Put a small bench or comfortable chair under this area so you can take a break and enjoy the view of the garden.

Material Matters

When building a shed, make sure it coordinates with the look and style of your house. It can be painted the same shade, even if your home is brick or stone. Try to match the color with paint chips from the home center. You can also incorporate some of the same building materials. We used 4 x 8 sheets of rough-sawn, grooved siding for the walls because they're easier to install than individual boards and much less expensive. For texture and interest, the front and back gables are clad in cedar shingles. The siding on the shed is painted gray to blend into the woods, and the trim is a dark reddish-orange for a fun accent. Over time, the unpainted shingles will weather to a grayish tan.

For a rustic look, V-crimp tin was used for the roof. It is long-lasting, lightweight, inexpensive, and comes in large panels to ease installation. Other roofing materials such as asphalt or cedar shingles could be used, but they are more expensive and take longer to install.

Door Goes Dutch

To dress up the front of the shed, we constructed a Dutch door (a door split in half). The bottom and top sections both have two hinges and can operate independently. This allows you to open the upper half for ventilation and keep the lower one closed. To build a Dutch door like ours, buy a standard wood exterior door at a home center, cut it in half with a circular saw, and then cut about 2 inches off the top of the lower half to attach a 2 x 6 shelf. (The amount of trim will depend on the size of the door opening.)

Look Out Below

We floored the shed in crushed gravel, putting a layer of plastic down on the dirt and then pouring 4 inches of crushed stone on lop. The plastic creates a moisture barrier to keep the floor nice and dry. Gravel makes a cheap and versatile floor. You can install bricks or pavers later for a more finished look.

Inside Organization

Provide a way to store tools neatly so they'll be easy to find when you need them. Peg-board allows maximum versatility to hang tools flat on the walls. We painted it warm yellow to help make the interior glow.