She Shed? Garden Room? Heaven.
She Shed, Garden Room, Small Wooden Box? Call it what you like, but I will call it Heaven. It's finished, well almost, nothing is ever truly finished in this house but I'm pretty damn close. I was determined to have it done and dusted before the garden becomes a giant muddy hole next week, I knew it would slip further and further down the priority list once the extension is underway if not.
Lets start by going back to the beginning - creation/ construction, the slippery slope into storage facility, a goods out department for the ongoing house declutter phase of my life. To be honest it was an invaluable dumping space at the time, allowing me to rid the house of all the bits and pieces that seemed to just hang around on surfaces, bulge out of over filled cupboards, cascade down the stairs, it was gone and I could then come back to it with a clear mind a few weeks later. Lets not forget the month it was packed to the ceiling with donations for the Syrian Refugees, that was a good month for this little shed.
That said, I was so excited once I got it back to a nice clear space, it was so much easier to envisage what it could be once all distraction were gone. No more clutter, that is a promise.My husband built the structure about 2 years ago, almost exclusively from recycled pallet wood and some other bits and bobs he had lying around. I'm so proud of him, he made it up as he went along but still managed to create exactly what I had imagined in my mind.The girls love the Playhouse/ Climbing frame on the side, Stu even made the slide from old Aluminium printing plates, he's a clever one. Our garden isn't huge, an L-shape around the house, but the same rules apply outside as they do inside the house, use what space you DO have well. This structure provides me with a work/ play room, the girls with a playhouse, 2 climbing walls, slide and swing, under the slide is a wood store. The roof has potted plants that attract lots of wildlife, Stu has tomatoes growing away happily up there, many wild flowers have made themselves at home, I can see foxgloves as I look up through the skylights, which were made from recycled glass...all this in a previously unused area under the Willow tree.
Another detail that I absolutely love and helps further illustrate the idea that small can still be worthwhile are the book alcoves that make up the door frame/ front walls. I've struggled for somewhere to keep my books ever since we got rid of the floor to ceiling shelves in the living room, shelves in the house = mess, a surface to dump things on, my solution to this was rip them down, but my books have sat unloved in boxes ever since. Now they almost form a part of the structure itself, I think Stu would like to say this was an intentional detail but I'm pretty sure it's just a happy turn of events, after all nothing was planned, freeform and perfect. There's a rack on the ceiling to store away wrapping paper and posters, previously these awkward, easy to crease bits and bobs had been cluttering up the top of the cupboard in the kitchen, but now are neatly stashed, using an otherwise unusable space.The floor is painted white, just like the walls, this helps make the floor area seem bigger and I love the contrast with the rug, which my parents gave us a few years ago. It just so happens to be the exact width, isn't it brilliant when things just seem destined to be right.
She Shed? Garden Room? Heaven.
Throughout the room I haven't tried to cover up the fact it is made from rough and ready materials, the pallet wood was a pain in the arse to paint, I won't lie to you, but so worth the effort. I love the random holes here and there from the bazillion nails Stu pulled out by hand, reusing many, making this not only a wonderfully cheap build, but also one with a nod to the environment. Don't forget to pin this blog to come back to later, maybe for inspo for your own project..If you're not already then come follow me on
She Shed? Garden Room? Heaven.
