2 | Sheds for Gardeners
One of the most popular pursuits for the she shed owner is gardening. What a boon it is to have a dedicated space for storing gardening tools, potting new plants, poring over seed catalogs, and even nurturing seedlings. Whether your property is large or small, a gardening shed fashioned just the way you want it creates a natural punctuation mark, even a focal point for the landscape.
Gardening sheds often straddle the line between potting shed and greenhouse. Classic greenhouses are crafted with glass panels—today’s versions are often constructed with polycarbonate panels that let in soft, diffused light and also trap air, which helps regulate the temperature inside. You can make your greenhouse comfortable with a worktable and seating, then use it to propagate seedlings through the cold winter months.
Putting the “she” in a gardening shed means adding a little something extra—a comfortable place to sit, a few decorative touches, or maybe collections that celebrate the art of gardening. Oh, and a vase or two for all those fabulous dahlias you’ll be growing.
Corncrib Conversion
The common corncrib, once a staple on every farm, has gone the way of ice houses and haystacks. These ingenious little sheds were constructed with open chinks between the slats so that air could circulate to both dry the corn and keep it free from rot.
One such corncrib was saved from teardown on a homeowner’s property in Eastern Shore, Maryland. Instead, architect Jon Braithwaite and interior designer Jamie Merida asked landscape designer Geoffrey Stone if it could be worked into his classical garden scheme. The answer was yes—beautifully so.
The corncrib was moved to become an anchor in a European-style parterre garden. The building crew removed rotted wood and installed a standing-seam metal roof to keep it watertight. Windows were cut into the walls, and shelves and lighting were installed. The original corncrib slats, however, were left alone. The interior remains spartan and has little in the way of elaborate décor—it is a working shed that puts the priority on storage, organization, and offering space to keep the garden growing.
The homeowner was pleased that she could reuse a piece of history on her property and loves the calming quality of the vegetable and cutting garden seen from louvered windows.
Photography: Robert Radifera
Styling: Charlotte Safavi
A falling-down corncrib is made shipshape for a homeowner on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The original slatted walls were repaired and repainted, and two windows were cut out to provide light and ventilation inside.
Serving as a functional potting shed, the structure’s interior is a no-nonsense array of tool racks, shelving, and overhead hanging hooks. One splurge: European copper light pendants.
The plain-spoken corncrib is surrounded by an elegant parterre garden, yet it all seems to work. Classical touches like this plinth and urn form part of the landscape that surrounds the shed.
Many different plants are cultivated on this large property, and the corncrib-turned-she-shed provides space for storing bulbs and seeds.
Do-Over Gardening Shed
Like most people, Judy Weiss had her gardening tools and supplies in numerous places on her Shelocta, Pennsylvania, property—the basement, the garage, the backyard shed. For many years she made do. Then she looked at the old shed and decided it was time to centralize. “I love gardening and wanted everything to be in one location,” Weiss says.
Weiss and her husband began by looking around to see what they already had and how they could use these materials to improve the existing shed. Then they figured out what materials they would still need. They came up with a plan and then started immediately on the project.
The shed was structurally sound but “needed a little TLC.” Her husband put a new hip roof on it, then moved the walls to create a front porch. It took him about three weekends to build the roof, move the wall, and side the exterior.
The Weisses used siding left over from another project and did all of the labor themselves to save money on the shed restoration. They had to spend about $500 total on plywood, shingles, paint, and a few other items to refurbish the shed.
A she shed was born.
Weiss spent a week applying two coats of paint on the ceiling, walls, and benches. The large workbenches are ideal for a variety of projects. “I like that I can be in the middle of something and just leave everything laying out until I have time to work on it again,” Weiss says.
When she’s not gardening, Weiss relaxes on the porch or inside on a wicker chair for some quiet reading.
Photography: Judy Weiss
Judy Weiss’s homey shed is partially shielded with a trellis made by her husband. “I love when the vines start filling in,” she says. The small porch gives her a place to display plants and vintage pieces.
An L-shaped workbench provides workspace for serious potting pursuits. Shelves were built below the bench to store pots and tools. Large windows on all sides let in plenty of light. The couple also found free salvaged wood, which they used to build the benches. Weiss chose a blue paint for her workbench as a contrast to all of the white walls and ceiling.
An old coal bucket belonging to Judy’s grandfather is now a planter.
When they moved the walls, the Weisses were left with a small alcove. Judy used the space for a table made from an old laundry tub. The curtain panels are made from an old shower curtain bought for $2 at a yard sale.
Everything decorating the shed came from flea markets, auctions, barn sales, or antique shops.
Mary’s Birthday Shed
For years, Mary McCachern was mentally drawing up plans for a she shed to end all she sheds. Finally, on a milestone birthday, she had her wish. On the property of their lakeside home on Lake Norman, North Carolina, McCachern’s gabled custom shed sprang to life. Generously sized at 10 feet by 16 feet, the shed was modeled after a little shingled cottage with green trim that McCachern spied on a magazine cover.
The shed took a few months to build, with a raised wood foundation and a small front porch. Inside, the ceiling is open, revealing exposed joists and support beams. All is painted with just one coat of white paint over spruce. The plywood floors are painted the same color as the front porch floor. The shingled exterior has two coats of a semi-transparent stain, with gray-blue tones to quickly “weather” the wood.
A nearby salvage shop called Cline’s was the place McCachern found many architectural elements for her shed, including $15 turned porch posts, $3 “distressed” metal panels for the porch roof, and $12 doors.
McCachern’s work area is both simple and clever. She designed two workbenches about 2 by 4 feet right next to each other on one wall. The benches are constructed with plywood and 2×4s, painted white. Then McCachern contacted a sheet metal shop that fabricates HVAC ductwork and asked them to design two countertops and backsplashes. The grand total was $75. The final touch was adding curtain fronts made of a floral fabric to create a hidden storage area underneath.
After twenty years in the retail arena, McCachern was armed with a finely tuned sense of style. She happily unloosed a flood of creativity that manifests itself in glorious vignettes reflecting the changing seasons. She uses her shed for plantings and garden work, but McCachern’s space is more about a deeply imagined creative environment. It’s a place where all of her visions can come to life.
Photography: Mary McCachern
From top to bottom, McCachern’s classic shed is ornamented with antique tools, gardening pieces, signs, and wooden elements of the past.
Keeping old and original patinas is a key attraction in the vintage style. A patterned indoor/outdoor rug covers the floor; McCachern’s grandmother’s old pink chest got a facelift with clear wax and chalk paint.
The glossy red front door outside reveals a vintage aspect on the inside. Chalkboard messages herald the seasons, and decorative knobs hold more treasures.
Whether it’s the front door or the back door, McCachern’s she shed is all about the visual details.
Floral fabric creates a soft skirt for the practical potting tables topped with metal sheets. Plenty of windows afford good ambient light year round.
The Year-Round Potting Shed
In 2007, a huge tree fell down in Becky Sanks-Hogg’s backyard in West Linn, Oregon, completely crushing an old storage shed in its path. “My husband and I began discussing how we could replace it with a functional potting shed for me, to keep some of the citrus I grow from freezing,” Sanks-Hogg recalls. She pored over magazines and DIY books to find the design she liked. Then they set to work gathering materials.
A remodeler friend donated eleven windows, all matching wood-clad, double-hung units with antique wavy glass. These windows guided the shed’s final design. For exterior wall surfaces, they used recycled cedar siding, placing the painted side against the building and then staining the exterior when complete.
The interior wall surfaces are wood that was salvaged from a torn-down chicken coop; galvanized corrugated metal was used for the loft. Sanks-Hogg’s husband cut an old wood table in half and mounted it to the wall for added shelving. It is first and foremost a working shed, and everything gets moved around regularly. Electricity, plumbing, and heating were added to make the she shed a year-round structure.
Sanks-Hogg enjoyed collecting pieces over the years to use and reuse: an architectural piece that holds a collection of watering cans, an old faucet to use with her large double sink, and an old cabinet that was donated by a friend. Sanks-Hogg’s husband passed away a few years after the shed was complete. “I enjoy sitting out here on a beautiful sunny day, reminiscing of our wonderful years together.”
Photography: Becky Sanks-Hogg and Anissa Crane
Stained recycled cedar and sage-green trim form the exterior of Sanks-Hogg’s she shed. Note the cast-iron stove leg, repurposed as a garden hose hanger. Her shed won a Green Improvement contest in Better Home & Gardens magazine.
Eleven pristine double-hung windows helped define the shed’s design. Sanks-Hogg’s husband cut an unused table in half to create an almost-instant plant shelf.
Sanks-Hogg uses her West Linn, Oregon, shed to arrange flowers and pot plants but also for relaxing and reminiscing.
The gravel floor is softened with a pretty patterned throw rug. Sanks-Hogg chose to wire her shed so she can use it year round.