3 | The Artist’s Studio
There is a place near Saratoga Springs, New York, called Yaddo. Since 1926, the large home and grounds has been a retreat and creative incubator for artists from all nations. It was the brainchild of owner Katrina Trask, who, after the deaths of all four of her children, had a vision of how Yaddo could continue nurturing those who seek to leave the world a better place. To date, 5,500 artists have “walked Katrina’s woods and found the peace and necessary privacy for creative work.”
You will find the spirit of Yaddo in these smaller backyard retreats designed for jewelry making, painting, sewing, multimedia artistry, and other deeply artistic pursuits.
Creating art is usually a messy business, and artists often need large empty spaces to create their work. Most of the artists in this chapter tried to stay within a room in the house but found their creative expression needed a place of its own in which to thrive.
An Eclectic Restoration
When she moved into her Sarasota, Florida, home five years ago, Melanie Van Houten eyed the plain metal shed in the backyard and decided that someday it would be hers. “I didn’t have a defined space for myself,” she says, noting that her husband had his office and her son had his bedroom. “My art studio was usually on the kitchen table.”
Without any building experience, Van Houten set about building interior walls and flooring for the shed. She used scrap wood that was left over from various house and art projects and pieced them together however they could fit. The result is a bit like a homemade quilt. “If a carpenter saw it, he would faint,” Van Houten laughs. “Nothing made sense—I used 178 screws and many tubes of caulk in that space—but you know what? It worked.”
The “use what you have” mantra held throughout much of the shed’s construction. Van Houten found old cabinet doors and bulletin boards to fill some of the wall spaces. She also brought in an array of castoff cabinets and cupboards to create a wall of storage for her art supplies.
One big can’t-do-without: air conditioning. The Florida heat inside a metal shed would not be beneficial to Van Houten’s joy; fortunately the shed was already wired.
Photography: Melanie Van Houten
This little metal shed was already on Van Houten’s Florida property when she moved in. She redid the interior and made it into her own art studio.
The landscaping outside Van Houten’s shed is as lush and layered as the interior, adding to the feeling of a retreat.
Van Houten found these sweet muslin-clad light fixtures at IKEA. She uses three old chalkboards (which are actually part of the wall structure) as inspiration boards.
A clever and cozy trick: layer your shed floors with an array of colorful, inexpensive throw rugs.
A self-proclaimed cupboard collector, Van Houten happily placed all of her treasures throughout the shed. Note the odd wood shapes that comprise the wall—Van Houten used old art projects and scrap. Nothing went to waste.
From Greenhouse to Glitterfarm
Jenny Karp is a mixed-media artist in California who also sells organic paint online. The busy wife, mother, and business owner yearned for a place where she could create art and shoot video tutorials. The answer was a shed designed by Dana O’Brien of A Place to Grow/Recycled Greenhouses.
“I worked out the design with Dana, and in four weeks we were ready to go,” Karp says. “The rest of the time was spent finding materials and making the money that I needed to build it.” Three months later, Karp walked back in to O’Brien’s shop with about half the money necessary. O’Brien suggested that Karp look for her own windows and doors instead of purchasing them from her inventory.
A friend of Karp’s had some windows stored in her barn. They were fifty years old but had never been used, and she gave them to Karp for the shed. Another friend provided an old French door. With the savings, along with reusing the wood from a pergola in Karp’s yard that had to be torn down, the shed’s budget was met and the construction began.
Karp wanted an aesthetic that combined the feel of a beach house (she is originally from Hawaii) with the down-to-earth practicality of a ranch. “My mom grew up on her family’s ranch, so I wanted my shed to be rustic and mostly made of recycled wood,” Karp says.
The shed’s design incorporated plenty of windows, including in the doors. With so much natural light, Karp can set up her video camera to shoot from the outside looking inside—the windows open wide for this purpose as well as for ventilation.
Photography: Kim Snyder/kimberlyjoysnyder.com
Jenny Karp’s she shed reflects her Hawaiian background and the rustic ranch that her mother was raised on. Wide French doors open onto a spacious room with painted plywood floors.
The central table is an essential part of Karp’s setup and a personal favorite too. Her husband made it from an old desk, adding castors to the legs so Karp can wheel it where she wants.
The shed’s construction includes large windows on both sides and in the back and a double French door in the front. Karp sourced the windows for free from a friend’s barn.
Diffused light from the “greenhouse” roof is ideal for Karp’s painting and art pursuits.
Karp painted everything with organic paints made from natural chalk and clay, which she sells in her online business, Glitterfarm. Clever storage ideas include this red file drawer with magnetized containers attached to its side.
Joan’s Sun-Filled Studio
Creating one-of-a-kind jewelry in a dark basement was not working for Joan Drews. During cold months, the retired instructional designer would stage her pieces in the basement then bring them upstairs to complete. Beadworking occurred in another room, and the propane tank needed for her blowtorch “was not a compatible roommate” for the room’s oil burner and propane water heater. “You might say my she shed was a preemptive strike against burning down the house,” Drews laughs.
Drews wanted a studio/shed that mimicked the design of their house. She and her husband tore down the deck that was on the site of a former garage and built the shed using the exact same footprint. A few years ago, fungus killed many of the native pines in their area. Drews and her husband decided to mill their own lumber as a way to put the native timber (still beautiful and usable) to good purpose.
They hired contractors to help with the building and install thick insulation. The shed is wired for electricity so Drews can use her jewelry and metalsmithing tools and have plenty of light for her detailed work. One side of the studio gets lots of natural daylight as well, thanks to its southern exposure and a skylight built into that side of the roof. “Discerning slight color variations is vital in jewelry design and beadmaking,” Drews says.
People comment that the shed looks like a miniature house, and Drews isn’t surprised. “It is like a house,” she says. “It is built like a house for comfort, creativity, and productivity. I need to be productive, or I feel as though I’ve wasted time. It’s just how I roll. My environment here is comfortable and quiet while I space out and concoct my designs.”
Photography: Joan Drews
All the walls are insulated and finished with drywall. One of Joan’s favorite features is the flooring, which is Pergo in wide-plank hand-scraped chestnut—it hides dirt and is also spark-resistant. Her husband painstakingly built the worktable using seven wood varieties and made it a height that was most comfortable for her to work. The red vinyl swiveling soda shop stool was a favorite splurge.
A retired instructional designer for a hospital, Drews now pursues a dream of jewelry making. Her sun-filled shed is where creations like corsages (next image) take shape.
Two lofts, one in front and one in back of the shed, provide ample space for storage and display.
Drews’s she shed looks like a mini version of their home in Northern Baltimore County, Maryland. A “small but mighty” front porch creates an inviting entrance.
The workbench is made for serious work but includes lovely detail. Note the window molding carved with rosettes. Drews added glass knobs to give the spacious drawers a touch of shimmer.
Cindy’s Shed by the Sea
A boring and overgrown corner of the backyard was the empty canvas on which fine artist Cindy Goode Milman envisioned her new studio. Together with landscape designer Olaf von Sperl, Milman planned a series of “rooms” that included a she shed as well as spots for reading, a hammock for snoozing, and an outdoor eating area. “I wanted to take advantage of beautiful year-round weather and the smell of the sea wafting from the northeast southerlies blowing through each summer day here in Avalon,” Milman says.
Paying homage to the marine setting that she painted and loved, Milman made sure to use repurposed pieces, such as a one-hundred-year-old wharf pole from the old Sydney Harbor, as well as family mementos, including the glass and brass door handle from the well-used entrance of her grandmother’s farmhouse.
Because she lives in an apartment building, Milman had to submit plans and wait for approval for her shed. That took about two of the four months necessary to complete it. But the new structure with its green roof ended up a win-win for all. Her neighbors now gaze down on a lush rooftop garden that thrives in weaving-wrapped soil atop polycarbonate panels. Inside the shed, deep green moss creates intricate patterns seen through the panels.
Milman’s treasured inlay dining room table, too large for her apartment, is now an integral piece in her shed. It is used often for work (protected with a plastic cover), art workshops, or hosting twilight meals. A reclaimed cupboard offers two large doors for storage as well as ten drawers for separating brushes, pens, labels, and tools.
Photography: Olaf von Sperl/adoremygarden.com
Milman’s artist studio is part of a carefully planned landscape that offers several areas for repose and recreation. A live garden on the roof adds to the magic and also keeps the shed insulated from cold and heat.
This attractive green roof is on a gardening shed in North Carolina. The design calls for a unique grid pattern to hold the soil and plants in place on a sloped roof. Shelter Green Roof Plans
A bevy of “knick-knack kitsch” collectibles on Milman’s storage cupboard include seashells and plastic vintage toys.
A Quiet Place to Paint
The first thing you notice about Tamara Armstrong’s she shed is the French door painted in a wonderful Dulux color called Magnetic Magic. Personal touches abound, from the door found at a reclamation yard to the single paneled wall that matches the walls in her home.
Her lofty shed, built in a modern style, commands spectacular views of Tamborine Mountain, located in the Gold Coast hinterland of Queensland, Australia. Armstrong, a former high school teacher turned full-time painter, spreads out her paints, brushes, canvases, and anything else she wants while listening to her favorite music. Friends and fellow creatives who were instantly enthralled with the shed asked her to hold creative workshops there; Armstrong assembles groups of four and teaches a variety of topics from drawing and illustration to collage and painting.
The winds kick up fiercely at certain times of the year, making it necessary to use windows with the correct wind grade. “I had saved many photos of small rustic cabins and collected older building materials and windows that I had hoped to use, but I had to be practical and consider a much more modern design,” Armstrong says.
Armstrong selected vinyl flooring that mimics wood for its warm look and durability. She spent much time in IKEA, where most of her shelving came from. A rolling drawer cabinet became Armstrong’s trusty painter’s trolley. “I used to cart my paints around in an old cardboard box; this is so much better!”
Anchoring the interior is a grand old work table that once belonged to Armstrong’s grandparents. Armstrong is tall, so her husband boosted the table legs with blocks of wood. He also added caster wheels so she can move it around as needed. “It’s my absolute favorite and most treasured piece of furniture,” Armstrong says.
Photography: Tamara Armstrong
Tamara Armstrong’s she shed has an asymmetrical shape and single-slope roofline; the bold lines are softened with a creamy blue paint that matches her cottage home.
A single paneled wall displays Armstrong’s colorful art pieces, serving as a mini gallery wall for her commissions.
Armstrong’s painter’s smock hangs neatly on a hook near the front door.
Light floods in from all sides of the shed.
The compact studio is just roomy enough for a large work table and some storage units. Armstrong splurged on a trio of cage pendant lights to add “just a touch of luxury” to her space.
The Bridal Shed
Stylist Anne Wells creates breathtaking wedding florals for clients throughout the greater London area. She does it all from her little kit shed at the foot of her garden in St. Albans, Hertfordshire. “A shed offered an inexpensive way for me to create my wedding flowers,” Wells says.
The shed’s plain white exterior belies a beautifully designed workshop inside. Wells made sure the room was comfortable, furnished with a couple of armchairs and a throw rug. Wreaths and flowers bedeck the walls, and the shed is filled with a variety of vases, trunks, and boxes that do double duty as storage or display.
Wells uses her shed as a backdrop to showcase her design talents. “I’ve surrounded myself with vintage fabrics, ribbons, and finds that I have collected over the years,” Wells says. “These help give my clients a clear picture of my creative abilities.”
Photography: Anne Wells
The underside of the roof is swathed in a cotton canopy. (There is a timber roof above.) A storage area to the far end is created with a stud partition that comes out just to the center of the shed.
A pair of Lloyd Loom chairs are placed near the shed’s side entrance, which features a set of divided-light windows and a display shelf overhead. The shelf is simply a ceiling joist faced with a 1×8 plank.
Wells’s she shed is a handy place for running Betty & Bear, her wedding floral business. It provides plenty of room for all of her foliage and tools and is a short commute from home to backyard.
“The shed is light and airy, relaxing, filled with views of our yard and bird song.”
Clare’s Sewing Sanctuary
When Clare Mansell and her husband added a second floor to their Chichester, West Sussex, home, they had the brilliant idea of getting a kit shed to use as a temporary sleeping cabin. “I had always fancied some sort of creative space in the garden, but it was hard to justify spending money on,” she says. Serendipitously, the sleeping cabin was converted into Mansell’s very own she shed when the house was complete.
Mansell opted for a kit shed and searched for a company that would also come out and do the full build. Since she needed it in hurry, she didn’t spend too much time worrying over just the right paint color. Two years later, Mansell redid all of the painting and mended gaps where the wood had expanded. The shed is used mostly for sewing and modern quilting. Mansell, a blogger and media professional, also frequently uses the space to get professional-quality photos. The shed’s uncluttered white interior offers a perfect photo backdrop; it also serves as an ideal place to watch movies, using a movie projector placed in the loft.
Mansell’s walls are covered in mini quilts and other items she has made or that were given to her. “I’m a great believer in the fact that your environment has a hugely positive or negative effect on your life,” Mansell says. “Having my shed has definitely made more creative in all areas of my life.”
Photography: Clare Mansell
Mansell got the idea of using a worktop and kitchen units for the desk from Pinterest. The couch was a triumphant $30 (£20) find on eBay.
Clare Mansell’s shed is heated and insulated because she and her husband originally had it installed as a temporary sleeping cabin while their house was being remodeled.
A tall cubby on one end of the worktop houses all manner of necessities, including Mansell’s collection of sewing and quilting books.
Mansell uses her she shed for sewing and quilting. “My husband was delighted to get the fabric and noisy sewing machine out of the kitchen!” she laughs.
With two children, a blossoming business at Maybush Studio, and a huge passion for quilting, Mansell finds many reasons to retreat inside her backyard she shed.
Tool Shed Transforms
Necessity is truly the mother of invention as Anne Freund discovered when she and her husband downsized to a small cottage in Sonoma, California. The jewelry and clothing maker behind The Gilded Gypsies had nowhere to spread out or store her supplies. She needed a place of her own and thought about creating a beautiful little backyard studio.
When they discovered that their homeowners association would not allow a new structure to be built, Freund’s husband suggested the tool shed that was already in place. Although uninspiring—the old windowless shed was used to store bags of dirt and trash cans—Freund was game, and the two of them got to work.
Freund’s aesthetic leans to the feminine and romantic. She designed the interior around the smallish space that was divided into two “rooms.” Her workroom is about 8 by 7 feet, and a storage area on the other side of the doorway is 4 by 7 feet. They cut out a space to fit an antique window they had found and also installed a vintage door that they cut down to fit the shed.
Having tools and supplies in plain sight doesn’t bother Freund—in fact, it was intentional. “As visual people, most artists find inspiration from looking at their supplies and stashes of materials,” she says. Silver trays and velvet footstools become fanciful displays that always remind Freund what she has on hand to create her Gypsy Jewels and Gypsy Jackets.
Photography: Anne Freund
Freund’s shed went from trash holder to treasure holder as her jewelry-making studio and sewing room. The old shingled shed got a window, a new door, and unique architectural embellishments both inside and out.
Freund’s little studio turns people’s heads. “They see the tiny blue door and lace-covered window and long to see what’s behind them.”
This jewelry display is made from an old wooden pallet.
Freund’s husband built this work table and attached it to the wall underneath the window. An antique chandelier and small task lamp add to the natural light. “I think the low ceilings create a cozy dollhouse-like feeling that brings out the playfulness in me and my visitors.”
Old printer trays make handy compartmental storage for jewelry materials.
Silver-plate trays of various sizes are handy catchalls for small items.
Antique wall vases hold Freund’s paintbrushes.
Freund prefers using antique cabinets like this spool holder for her supplies instead of new shelving.
Studio for Sketching
There are times when a she shed doesn’t start out that way. Susan Mintun, a noted former horticulturist and now a botanical illustrator, knew her tools were losing the battle for garage space with her husband’s many automobiles. Nevertheless, she wanted something pretty that reflected the French architecture of her Main Line, Pennsylvania, home.
Mintun contacted Ken Smith of Garden Sheds Inc. and asked if he could modify the company’s colonial style shed to meet her needs. The result is both restrained and stylized. “I wanted the ‘presence’ of a functional structure as part of my garden’s design,” Mintun recalls.
What she didn’t expect was how much she would enjoy being in her new shed. Mintun began using it as a satellite studio to work on her illustrations. She uses an old butcherblock table and sketches away with a view to the flowers in her garden. “If I had known how much I would love this shed, I would have included a sink and maybe insulation so that I could use it year round,” Mintun says.
Photography: Susan Mintun
Ken Smith designed a more steeply pitched roof and included a small oval window and French doors. Two custom-made barn lights in a deep cobalt blue complete the façade.
A movable ladder provides easy access to the loft storage area.
The interior is unfinished, featuring an unpainted cedar floor and one bracketed shelf where Mintun has her collection of birdhouses.
Mintun curated plant collections and taught horticulture in St. Louis before retiring and moving to Pennsylvania.