The She Shed

**this story begins before I knew there was such a word as Permaculture

A couple years ago I began my journey from forager to gardener. The first garden bed I put in was 3' by 18'. It's location was selected for privacy with my neighbor and their agressive dog. I think that lasted a month - I began expanding and creating new beds all over the yard. Magically they would just connect into huge beds. I was addicted! It really didn't take long for me to realize that I was going to need some sort of out building for the pots and tools and such.

So in June I had my design and approval from Hubs (little changes he doesn't care but building an out building on our small lot...) it's skidable so I didn't need any permits.

The price of lumber was ridiculous in our area that year and I'm frugal by nature. I found lumber listings for used free wood (2x4s!) or pallets. Everytime I was in town I checked the culled lumber for cheap boards. Even found clearance shingles.

I welded a frame from scrap metal out of dumpsters and designed my frame spacings to line up with the wood I had salvaged.

I found old 1860's barn beams in excellent condition 30 minutes away. Barn hinges from an hour south of me (had those shipped) and period correct (1860's) nails from a seller in South Dakota.

Hubs and my folks helped put up the walls, trusses and roof. We used cedar tree trunks as porch posts and the 1860s wood in the trusses became exposed beams over the porch - highlighting their distressed age but still protected.

The shed foot print is 10' x 6' but I managed to create 3 stories of storage (bottom layer, massive shelf and above the porch and in the trusses) I hid a closet under the porch for those smaller hand tools you need to grab all the time and built in a folding work table in the door for my seed box when I'm planting.

Then came the fun part! I sided my shed with used pallet boards made my own lime mortar and lime wash then white washed the building.

Eventually I'm going to get around to making the stained glass window for the front. In the mean time my daughter painted a cat on a piece of masonite to keep the critters out.

I learned so much designing and building my she shed and as I continue to learn here; I see so many ways to create my she shed with less toxic gick. As my shed needs upgrades and maintenance I plan to repair and replace with more natural building methods mostly because I LOVE them and the style.

Brilliant! Thank you for sharing Cheryl. I especially like your little closet on the porch with the fold out table - very practical and makes so much space to work in.

Nancy Reading wrote:Brilliant! Thank you for sharing Cheryl. I especially like your little closet on the porch with the fold out table - very practical and makes so much space to work in.

Thank you! I really enjoyed maximizing the small space.

Really nice!  ... and I love the 're-use' of so many materials in the building.  I gotta ask....is a 'she shed' the counterpart to the 'man cave;? :-)   Such a good example of nice, sturdy building from what is at hand.

John Weiland wrote:Really nice!  ... and I love the 're-use' of so many materials in the building.  I gotta ask....is a 'she shed' the counterpart to the 'man cave;? :-)   Such a good example of nice, sturdy building from what is at hand.

Thank you! Sourcing materials was quite the experience!

It kind of is... It got it's name in part from a commercial from a few years ago. Sheryl's She Shed was on fire and the guy was calling the insurance  company except the whole thing was written as a tongue twister. We don't own a TV but it was shown to me because I'm a Cheryl lol