6 | Backyard Getaways
This chapter acknowledges the appeal of a place used for just doing your own thing. Whether that thing is resting, thinking, meditating, or hiding, your joy in using a she shed can have a moving, changing definition.
She sheds are places where a woman can let her hair down. Like the childhood treehouse with the sign “No Boys Allowed,” here is where a woman finds quiet and privacy. You may decide to open your she shed to the people you love or always keep the door carefully closed—either way it’s still quite possibly the only room in the world that is yours and yours alone. Remember that when it comes to she sheds, there are no rules.
The sheds in this chapter are used in unusual ways or have an owner who doesn’t really designate a distinct “role” for the she shed to play. It’s just there at her command, away from the meddling of any other person. It’s a meditation room one day, a reading nook the next. Sometimes the shed must be built before its use becomes apparent.
The Tacking Shed
For a woman who loves horses, the needs of her “boys” come first. Kim Manning rides and shows three horses from her home in New Hampshire. Three horses make a pretty large footprint. “We found that we were running out of space,” Manning says. “At the same time, we cleared out a large planting in the backyard, and we needed something there as an accent.”
An elegant she shed-turned-tacking shed was just what the equestrian ordered. Once she fell upon the idea of a tacking shed, Manning turned to her many architecture and fashion email and Twitter feeds to find ideas. She also drew a lot of inspiration from her travels, where she sought out vintage homes, carriage houses, and interesting sheds with lots of character.
Manning ordered a Williamsburg design from Garden Sheds Inc. in Hamilton, New Jersey. While waiting for the shed to be delivered and installed, Manning had the planting removed and the site leveled, and she planned out the landscaping that would surround the shed once it was in place.
Inside the shed, Manning carefully stores all manner of tacking, which fills several tall metal shelving units. The shed also serves as an award gallery, showcasing the many ribbons and medals Manning’s horses have won over the years. She enjoys going inside and looking around as she selects what she needs for the next ride. “I love horses; I love beautiful things, so this shed helps me live out my dreams.”
Photography: Kim Manning
Manning’s she shed elegantly marries form and function. Its design serves as a focal point in backyard. Behind its well-constructed façade, complete with glass-front entry doors, is a full-fledged tack room.
Tall shelving units make use of the shed’s high ceilings. It also has a loft space for extra storage that is reachable with a small ladder. Manning stores her tack and the supplies that she needs for horse shows as well as day-to-day activity with her horses.
Kim Manning with Vigo, one of her three horses. Colorful ribbons and awards from shows and riding competitions decorate Manning’s she shed in fine form.
A picturesque oval window adds visual interest to the shed’s facade and shows off one of Manning’s many show trophies.
Two entries make access very convenient and allows cross-ventilation on warm days.
Tymmera’s Room of Glass
During a trip to Bali, Tymmera Whitnah was captivated by the way many of the houses were elevated on poles. She had a vision of creating her own “spirit house” back home in rural Oregon using the same techniques. It would take many months of patience, lots of helping hands, and a little bit of right-brained ingenuity, but after two years, Whitnah’s shed of windows became a reality.
What’s unique about Whitnah’s shed is that its walls are created quite literally of glass instead of plywood and dry-wall between the frame studs. While Bali homes are often open to the elements, that was not a practical decision in Oregon with its cold winters. Whitnah pondered her options. “I decided to protect my space with windows.”
Easier said than done. Whitnah spent many months scouting construction sites and asking about old windows being pulled out of remodels. Only her drummer friend, who also happened to have carpentry skills, was game to help. “He was the only one insane enough to help me with this crazy idea,” she says.
After months spent gathering windows of various sizes, Whitnah laid them all out on the ground and began to assemble the pattern for each wall. Whitnah wanted as many of them as possible to open and let in cross breezes—out of thirty windows used, twenty-two can be opened via hinges and latches.
All the materials used on the shed are recycled. The shed is built on four poles that were hand hewn from lumber found in the nearby mountains. It is furnished simply with a Turkish rug, a wooden box used as a low table, and colored cotton prayer flags fluttering at one of the windows as a valance.
Whitnah uses the spirit house most often for meditation, but during the small parties she often hosts in her backyard, it is a lure for guests to climb up and view the festivities from above.
Photography: Sarah Greenman
The first phase of construction for the shed was simple framing of the floor and roof. The roof is clad with corrugated tin found in Whitnah’s barn, and a sturdy stepladder made of recycled wood leads to the doorway. Flooring and stairs are from her grandfather’s old barn that fell down.
Whitnah wanted to capture the essence of Balinese living and transplant it to Oregon. Her house of glass makes the walls disappear, leaving only beautiful views and gentle cross breezes.
Simple decorative elements like this valance made of Tibetan prayer flags personalize the shed without detracting from its spiritual purpose.
After laying out the pattern she wanted for her walls of windows, Whitnah and her friend then decided whether to cut the windows smaller or add additional 2×4s in between to keep measurements even. “It was very difficult, but I’m glad I did it,” she says.
My Own Little Cabin
When she spends time in her shed, Lori Doubet can hear the wind in the trees. It’s the place where she looks forward to taking a break after long hours spent in her two large vegetable gardens. “I’ll read, hang out, or mainly just rest,” Doubet says.
The shed was built by her husband, Jeff, using a purchased tool shed as a base. An accomplished homebuilder and woodworker, Jeff added custom touches, such as the board-and-batten siding. The couple had several windows left over from an addition they had built, so the shed was designed around them. A painted door salvaged for free from a local homebuilding nonprofit was exactly right.
Once she made the structure her own, Doubet spent a lot of time painting her shed. She wanted a creamy, all-white background both inside and out. Nearly all of the furnishings inside were purchased with gift cards or at thrift stores. Doubet’s one splurge was the small-scale sofa that she purchased new.
Doubet lives in Santa Barbara, California, a place that is always sensitive to drought conditions. Around the shed they planted grapevines, which stay green most of the year and need very little water. In addition to vegetable gardening, Doubet also manages most of the landscaping on the property.
Their home is California chic, but the she shed is all about country cozy. Doubet says that the final result is reminiscent of a quiet cabin that the couple visits in Minnesota, where Jeff’s mother lives. “It allows me to be girly and country, something I probably wouldn’t do in our house,” Doubet says.
Weekends are when Doubet can be found in her shed, shoes kicked off and a stack of books by her side. “It’s only a small distance from the house but I still feel like I’m far away,” she says.
Photography: Jeff Doubet
Doubet’s she shed was built using an off-the-shelf tool shed kit. Custom touches include wood siding, extra windows, a painted wood door, and a cupola/weathervane.
The shed snugly fits a sofa, a couple of small tables, and a chair. Doubet found the handmade quilt at a garage sale.
Doubet painted (and painted) after work and on weekends and helped Jeff install the wood laminate floors. Altogether, the shed took about three months to finish.
The shed allows Doubet to indulge her “feminine country” aesthetic with cute accessories like these.