Garden Shed Makeover

Two years ago we pulled out our old wooden fence. It was rotten and falling apart. But I kept every single piece of it. I wouldn't let the Hubby throw it out, and I wouldn't let him burn it. I knew I needed it for something. Well, this summer, I finally figured out what to use it for.  

See, we have this oh so wonderfully ugly garden shed in our backyard. Structurally, it's in great shape, but cosmetically, it's rather ugly.  It doesn't help that the shed beside it looks like a calf shelter from someone's pasture. It's actually been called the outhouse shed, it's about the same size as a two-holer outhouse. :)

 See? Told you, rather ugly. The whole thing is just bland, beige and boring. I added the gravel and brick walkway last fall, and while it helps with the look - it just wasn't enough. 

For a long time I had this vision in my head of what I wanted it to look like, and it was only made stronger when I saw a garden shed makeover from Donna at FJI . 

Here's what her shed looks like: 

 

 Donna's Garden Shed

  So, I gathered my supplies, and some unwilling helpers (my boys!) and off to work we went. Of course, I couldn't save the project for fall when the weather is cooler. Nope, I had to do it in the hottest week of the summer. +35C and hotter (that's 95F for my American Friends) and no cloud cover. Thank goodness the shed is in shade most of the day, otherwise I think I'd have ended up with a nasty sunburn and heat exhaustion. 

 

Above photos are the boys pounding nails out from the inside. They didn't mind helping - for all of 5 minutes and then they went to find something else to do. 

I started by ripping of all the siding from the front of the shed.  I also opened a hole up in the wall. I had an old window my brother-in-law had given me, and I was going to use it inside the house as a decorative piece - but it was telling me, it needed to be used here. So I listened. :) The bar across the window opening is the shelf inside the shed - most useless shelf ever - 6' high and 2' deep. I needed a ladder to see what was up there, and couldn't get anything up there unless I tossed it or found the ladder! So - it came out as well. 

You can see on the bottom that I've started putting on my new siding - which if you had been paying attention to the beginning of this post - yep - that's right - it's my old fence boards.  See - told you I found a new home for them. 

I went horizontal with the fence boards, until I reached the top of the door, and then for a little extra detail, I put the boards vertical. I didn't angle the tops of the boards, just kept them as a straight cut - Added a little extra pizazz, and was so much easier than trying to figure out angles on a shed that isn't perfectly straight or square. 

Front is all done - what a difference it made. I still plan on painting the window trim and the door grey - it will blend into the old wood much better than the glaring white it is now.  Took me all day to do the front of the shed. Took the next day off, and then the day after, I tackled the side that I can see from the house. 

Stripped the old siding off, and started placing the new siding. Again the boys provided much help. (haha - NOT!) 

Although, they did help me decide if the new siding should go horizontal or vertical. 

We went vertical. I love how it's starting to look like a prop from on old western movie. You can see that I've started adding decorations to the shed - the trellis is actually an old wooden baby gate. (I believe it was the one my parents used for me and my siblings). Next spring, I will put a planter at the base with a climbing plant in it.  You can also see the disaster zone, that actually spread quite far out, because I decided to clean out the other shed while I was working. Thank goodness I have access to a truck.  Again - this took me all day, and the next was spent resting. It was so hot that week, I'm surprised I didn't make myself sick. Plus with all the hammering - my wrist that has carpel tunnel was not happy. A day of rest was much needed. Day 3 of the project, I started on the other side. Ripped the siding off, and ripped out a big chunk of the plywood wall.  I had two more windows from the other brother-in-law that I was going to add here. It was easier taking out the whole piece of plywood, then trying to cut out what I needed.

These two windows were a little trickier going in - I had nothing to work with, just a big hole. They were also hinged, so I wanted to have them opening. I had to get creative and make a window sill, and then figure out how I would get it in, and in to stay. Plus I had to figure out how I would get the windows in - they were just a smidgen bigger than the opening.

I made them work by putting their existing hinges on the outside of the shed, and not onto the 2x4 framing. It worked. They're still there! The sill is an old piece of 2x6 that made up the original step to the shed. There's still more left - thinking of making benches for by the fire-pit. Also patched up the rest of the opening.

This is my inside view - I love that the windows open, and with the door open, I will get a breeze though the shed if I'm in there working.  I plan on adding a potting bench, and some storage for all my garden tools. The hubby and the boys have been told that this is no longer a junk storage for all their stuff - it's now MINE! Once I'm done my dining room table, then I will get back outside to finish the inside of my new potting shed. 

See? All done. Now to add some fun and rusty finds, some old pots and to finish the inside. Well, I'm off to run some errands, and start working on my table again. Hopefully, I can get the framework done tonight.