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I have a big milestone birthday coming up next month, and when Rich asked how I wanted to celebrate, I told him I’d love to create my own little shed and garden so I could plant fall bulbs and grow cut flowers next spring. Our backyard is a good size, but it’s mostly shaded by trees. The side of the house, though, gets full sun and already has an arbor marking the entrance – making it the perfect spot.
We started by measuring the space and mapping out what size shed and how many raised garden beds we could fit. We wanted to place the shed under the tree and sort of at the end of where the raised garden beds would be – being a little limited by the size we felt a 10’w x 12′ L would be the perfect fit. The challenge was we could not get a prebuilt shed delivered because it would not fit through our landscape and arbor. After some research, we decided it would be easier to purchase a DIY shed kit and customize it a bit to get the desired look we were after. We ended up ordering this one from Home Depot and planned a few upgrades—like swapping out the standard doors for a set of charming French doors to give it more character. The plans also allowed us to change the orientation of the windows and doors, so we flipped the windows to the right side of the shed. Now, instead of facing a fence, we’ll have a view of the yard while inside.
We ordered 6 yards of #2 crusher stone as a base (we were on a slope so we needed a lot)- and yes Rich moved this from the driveway to the backyard wheel barrow by wheel barrow which was a big job. We also trimmed back some of the low hanging branches on the tree before we started.
We removed and transplanted all the azaleas and boxwoods along the fence line to the back of our yard. We wanted this spaced cleared as we might add side storage for our lawn mover and wheel borrow. As we were digging we found the stone pavers from the original patio when our home was built in the 1950s – we plan to incorporate them in our garden design.
The kit was delivered on a 4’x8′ pallet which was a manageable size. We laid down a tarp and placed all the pieces out grouped as per the instruction manual.
We used pressure treated 4″x4″ posts to set the frame on before starting the floor. Once we made sure everything was square and level we screwed the frame to the 4×4 posts to give it a stronger foundation and rigidity.
Once the floor was screwed down and checked to be sure it was square we started building the walls. **I will note – it’s not easy to make sure everything is perfectly square as some of the wood pieces were not straight, we were off about 1/4″ but we made it work. A way to check if things are square is once the floor frame is complete, measure diagonally from one corner to the opposite corner and then do the same with the other diagonal. If both measurements are equal, then the floor is square. If they are different then you have to push or pull the frame until the measurements match (we used a rubber mallet on the sides). It’s important to get it square at this stage so the walls and roofline line up.
Our daughter wanted in on the fun so she helped but in some nails as we went along.
It really went up quickly – this took us about 3 days to get to this point. You can see the side view below where the dormer and windows will be. We will finish up on the roof next! Stayed tuned!
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