Garden Shed - Fantastic storage and a great addition to your garden design
I am huge fan of garden sheds as I believe they are an awesome addition to your garden design and also provide invaluable storage to your gardening equipment, or even sporting gear and much more.
When I was designing my garden I decided to design and build my own garden sheds from recycled materials but there are also DIY shed kits on the market that you can assemble in a matter of hours and they provide great visual effect as well as good storage.
If you are tossing up between building your own or buying a DIY garden shed kit, you'll have to consider that to achieve a nice final outcome (the point is not only to add storage to your outdoor area but to also have the desired visual effect) you'll have to put into considerable time and effort. I had recycled timber that was available and I decided to build my own small shed that you can see on the picture.
This Garden Shed is made out of recycled fencing timber. It took me about 4 days to build. It is a small size shed as you can see and I mainly use it to store gardening equipment so my gear is not taking space up in my garage. I also collect rain water from the roof into a 200L small tank (placed inside the shed) that made my project even more environmentally responsible. If you are after a bigger size shed, you'll have to consider structural issues and buying a DIY shed kit might be a cheaper option.
In terms of maintenance, I use 2 coats outdoor furniture oil annually to look after the timber and preserve the garden shed and that seems to look after it very well.
Having a timber shed also gives me the flexibility to add shelving as I need it. Steel garden sheds do not have this option. Most handy man can work with timber and do the same as long as they have a timber shed.
Every time when people come around they always compliment the garden sheds so I did achieve my goal of having a nice addition to my garden design as well as a place to store my gardening equipment. In terms of cost it would have been more economical to buy a DIY kit, but I am very happy with the final result.
Since these pictures were taken the garden developed quite a lot and now it looks even better!
Garden Shed - My Story Continued
More On My DIY Garden Shed
There are lot of garden shed plans available online that can give you a very good idea on what it takes to build your own shed. I designed a simple frame and built the walls from the recycled fencing timber. I cut the timber into about an inch wide strips and built the walls up placing these strips on the top of each other. The shed become very sturdy as there was a lot of timber used this way. I used 4kg of nails for the shed!After I finished I coated it with decking oil, but it didn't give me the look I was after so I bought outdoor furniture oil, that was perfect. It needs a re-coat every year, particularly here in Brisbane QLD Australia, where the sun is very strong.
I decided to paint the shed to purple (only the parts that didn't have the nice horizontal wood effect) as it is natural compliment to green and suited my garden design very well. If you considering getting a still shed, purple might not be the best option however, green or shade of browns can also be very usable.
After I finished the garden shed it become apparent that it become one of the most valuable assets of my whole garden design and it was well worth of my time and financial investment.
Not to mention the fact that the timber that I've used would have been ended up in the tip and it feels good to use recycled materials.
Shed-topia!
Garden sheds
by Borzy
Hello Borzy here!
I am based in Brisbane QLD Australia and have a passion for house and garden improvement.
I am an agricultural scientist and and a...
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