August 13, 2019

My “She” Shed

My name isn’t Cheryl, but I have a She Shed It has been a process, and I have learned so much from it. I ordered it last year from an Amish builder near me, and he was so backed up, I had to wait two months for delivery. When we went to look at sheds, I knew what I wanted, or so I thought I did. We had looked all over, and looked at all types, and I was set on a standard shed, a few windows, lofted walls and 6ft doors, but……. Chester the builder was working on a salt box shed, it had 4 windows and the doors I wanted and I knew it was for me. I love the colonial charm and history of saltbox houses and I could see my shed visions come to life.

When you have a 10×20 shed built, you just cant have it delivered, you have to prepare the ground. Yikes, I had no clue what a project that was!! Thanks to my handy Don, we made a base of 4x4s and made sure everything was level. We had 4 ton of sand delivered and got the base ready for gravel. When I ordered the gravel, they asked me what kind I wanted? What kind? There are different kinds? Who knew…. I googled it and most sites said crusher run gravel, so my mathematically challenged self ordered 8 ton (2 dump trucks worth). It wasn’t enough, how can that be? Another truck was ordered and 4 more ton did the job, with a little left over. Gravel has to be tamped down, ugh, and we tamped for days, then I drove over it with our tractor, then my jeep and graduated to the truck, that gravel was tamped as much as it could be, DONE.

I waited my 2 months and it was delivered last October, but he instructed me to not paint for 6 months, to let the wood dry out, bummer, but it would give me time to pick my colors and make shutters, stairs and flower boxes.

Colors

This is a real struggle for me since I am a visual person. The paint swatches they give you aren’t enough for me, I have to paint a big sample and live with it for a few weeks. I created a board on Pinterest and pinned all winter, and decided on what I wanted. Spring finally arrived and it was time to paint. I practiced on my garage side door my focus color, purple, yes purple, I dreamed of a beautiful plum door with green shutters and an off white shed. Purple #1 was horrible, and I had to repaint it the next day. Purple #2 wasn’t any better and I painted it with purple #3 and tried to live with that and almost made it a month and hated it also!! My poor door. All I could think about was how horrible my Christmas wreath would look on that purple door, and my fall wreath. Back to researching colors. I happened to be watching my HGTV and Joanna Gaines and Chip were on and the house they just finished had my perfect colors. One problem, they didn’t say what colors they used and it wasn’t on their website. What to do? I called HGTV, and they looked it up and gave me the color numbers, seriously, who does that? Colors solved

Shutters

I wanted shutters that would compliment the shutters I built on our home 22 years ago, but different. I really disliked the ones that came with the shed, but I can use those for a picket fence. I saw heart shutters on Pinterest that I loved, but I wasn’t spending huge money on plain boards with simple cutouts, I can do that, right? Youtube had videos on cutting out with a jigsaw, I have a jigsaw 🙂 Wrong, what a mess, they must have a different jigsaw than mine. Youtube also had videos with using a scroll saw, I didn’t own one, but I have always wanted one, so I ran out and got one, I always have a 20% off coupon at Harbor Freight. My new favorite power tool. This saw cut out the hearts with almost zero effort, just what I wanted.

Flower Boxes

Flower boxes are very simple to make, I have made many and if you are looking for a good how to, Katusha Henderson has a very simple box that is my go to. I did change the ends, I like mine flush with the front. What makes this blog so unique is how she hangs them, cleat hangers!! They are the most amazing way to hang a flower box.

Stairs

My first stairs and probably my last. I wanted my stairs the same width as my doors, 6 feet, I googled how to make stairs, simple enough, ha ha. I made my plans, measured everything, knew what lumber I would need and off to Home Depot I went. Do you know how much a 2x12x12 pressure treated board weighs? A lot!! I needed so much help making these, mainly due to the weight of the wood and the saws needed to cut it. I am blessed that Don jumps in when I am in the weeds.

More to come

I don’t have power yet, just an extension cord for my power tools and television, yes, every shed needs a tv 🙂 There are still things I want to complete on the shed, the biggest is a Barn Quilt. I have never made one, but look forward to it. I have charted out over a dozen patterns, and have many of the supplies, but will wait until summer is over. I have cleared a path behind the shed for a fairy trail. I have made several houses and little fairy things, but still a work in progress. I have a fire pit for my area, but was thinking about a pergola? We will see, next spring….