5 | Stylish Sheds
Rich with personality, some she sheds defy all standard labels. The stylish shed proves that adding “a woman’s touch” to a structure intended for practical use can be transformative in a highly personal way.
While virtually all she sheds reflect the personalities and pursuits of their owners, these stylish sheds are especially potent reminders of how much of ourselves we pour into our private places. A woman’s childhood playhouse from times past can lead to an era of stylish expression within and on the walls of a modern utility shed.
How you land on the style that best suits you will depend on your architectural preferences, tempered with a sensitivity to how the shed looks in context with its surroundings. You may have the means to design and build whatever kind of shed suits your fancy, or you may be on a tight budget and must rely on small touches that really count. Either way, the place is yours, all yours, to style just as you wish.
Spanish-Style She Shed
When you think of sheds, you don’t usually think of stucco as the most likely building material. Yet here on this Santa Barbara property, a shed built in the Spanish style with plaster and red tile roofing feels right at home. The custom shed was built to mirror the main house on the property and is a miniature tribute to one of California’s most popular architectural styles.
“I’ve always been inspired by Spanish cottages, so I wanted a mini one of my own,” says owner Samantha Journey. The owner of an eco-friendly dry-cleaning business uses her shed to dream and plan for things that aren’t related to her business. “I have a desk at my shop; the shed is where I go to get away from rules and boundaries.”
The shed’s luminous sand color is integral to the plaster; no paint was used. The builder worked with someone who had just torn down a very large home; this provided access to substantial architectural salvage, including the windows and the door, which is one of Journey’s favorite elements.
Inside, the shed is simply furnished with a countertop workspace, shelf unit, and a day bed. Journey intentionally kept it somewhat spare, allowing the deep gleam of the dark-stained hardwood flooring and plaster walls to foster serenity.
Photography: Jeff Doubet
Journey’s Spanish-style she shed was made with high-quality materials to match the main house. The builder cut costs by using architectural salvage materials, such as the door and windows and even the hardware.
“I love closing my eyes, having the door and window open, and hearing the fountain outside,” Journey says. The cupola is plaster with wrought iron detail.
A wall mural of a large oak tree is the only wall adornment in Journey’s shed. “All I have to do is walk in the door and I feel electric,” she says. “You don’t need to have a large space to make things happen.”
The workspace includes a few drawers and shelving, with views overlooking the main house and patio. Salvaged windows are framed by sills sculpted with plaster.
A Playhouse All Grown Up
From a very young age, Shirlie Kemp seemed destined to have a she shed. Her creative and imaginative personality was shaped by a father who desperately wanted to grant his daughter’s wish to have a Wendy House (a British term for a play house). “He was a builder, so he couldn’t buy a kit,” Kemp recalls. “Instead, he built me a beautiful tiny house with leaded windows that took up half the back yard.”
Kemp’s entire childhood and teen years were spent playing either in her playhouse or her best friend’s. The fun and memories of those days came flooding back to her in 2010, when she felt that something was missing from her life. “I told my husband that I needed a place where I could go and do anything I wanted and not have to worry about anyone else liking it,” Kemp recalls.
Wind Whistle sits on a gentle rise on the Kemps’ Hertfordshire property. Kemp hired a builder who built the shed, porch, and stairs. Kemp painted everything white, inside and out, because she wanted to use her shed as a photography studio, and white creates a versatile backdrop. Her husband, a well-known soap opera actor, has had several of his portraits shot there. “No one would believe they were taken in my little studio shed!” Kemp says.
Decorated and furnished in serene “shabby chic” style, Kemp’s she shed is the venue of choice for garden parties, iced lemonade on the porch, as well as a busy photography studio. If you visit Kemp’s she shed one season, it will be utterly different at the next. Switching out and changing around is what makes Kemp happy and keeps her she shed serving as a stage set for life. Work, play, and “her time” converge harmoniously at Wind Whistle.
Photography: Shirlie Kemp
Wind Whistle is Kemp’s brainchild, a continuation of her love affair with she sheds she has had since the age of seven. The simple clapboard structure sits on a raised foundation with stairs and a front porch.
The shed is well built and withstands rain, so Kemp can furnish with grand pieces like this antique fireplace surround and mantel.
Spring and summer in England are for soaking up the warmth outside. The shed porch is just big enough for a small tea table. Kemp also brings her laptop outside when she can.
Kemp loves collecting vintage china, furniture, and clothing. “Having a little place to play with them was such an outlet for me,” she says. “No matter how old we get, we should still be playing!”
La Casita
When Paige Morse left her full-time job to start her own business, she took stock of her life. “I needed a quiet space to work, but I also needed an additional revenue stream while I was growing the business,” Morse says. The answer was staring at her in the backyard—a generous-sized, if somewhat decrepit, shed.
Morse decided to use the shed as a styling and photography studio and then hatched the idea of making it into a sleeping cottage. Her own home went up on Airbnb, and now Morse simply moves into “La Casita” when she has rental guests. She found a contractor who understood how to interpret her visions into a working plan. “I had a vision and he executed it,” Morse says. The sheds needed to be torn down to the studs and rebuilt, but the contractor salvaged and reused as much of the building materials as possible.
The structure was plumbed and wired so that Morse could have a fully functional kitchen and bath. The diminutive kitchen is wide open on the back wall, with compact appliances, a few floor cabinets, and open shelves.
Morse spent all of her budget on construction and labor of La Casita. She pinned images of clean, simple Scandinavian cottages on Pinterest for inspiration. Everything on the inside is her own, or given to her, or repurposed.
“This little shed has been my refuge, my safe place in the world,” Morse says. “I love that it allows me to rent out my other house so that I can make extra money and have the flexibility to travel and work all over the world.”
La Casita is filled with light thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows, as well as the shed’s original ceiling air vents, which were replaced with glass. “The light in it is so beautiful throughout the day,” Morse says.
Photography: Cody Ulrich
A rich charcoal paint on the exterior gives the shed some gravitas. The shed was born out of two small, extremely dilapidated sheds on Morse’s property.
All of the furnishings are things Morse owned, found, salvaged, or had given to her. The walls are painted bright white.
A stunning chandelier that Morse made from shells hangs over the main living area of her shed. The sofa serves as her bed when she stays here. Handsome wood flooring is mostly original, painted black. Above the beams, a former air vent now serves as a small window.
The dainty sink was found buried beneath another old shed on the property. Morse cleaned it up, added a ticking skirt, and put it in her small bathroom. Flooring is vintage hexagon tile.
Groupings like this are both artful and practical—antique vessels hold extra silverware on one of the kitchen shelves.
Morse managed to fit a full kitchen into just one corner of the shed, installing a counter-level refrigerator to maintain a compact feel. Open shelves provide extra storage.