In the past, a storage shed was made from wood scraps and provided just enough protection to prevent the rusting of a hammer and nails.  Nowadays, the exterior of your backyard shed acts not only as a functional compartment for tools, but is also more of a visual focal point than it would have been on a homestead on the prairie. Whether it’s the siding, doors, or the outdoor work space available, decking out an attractive exterior allows you to maximize its addition to your property.

Proper Siding Joins Your Storage Shed with your Home Design:  Just like the siding on your home, there are plentiful options for siding your garden shed.  Dura-Temp and Vinyl siding are well-known for being maintenance-free.  Dura-Temp combines a solid plywood core with a Douglas Fir wood composite face that is easy to paint, while Vinyl siding requires an occasional cleaning to keep it looking shiny and new.  If a more natural façade is desired, make it a Pine Shed or Cedar Shed to create an entirely different effect with naturally resilient cladding for your potting shed. Besides their obvious matching vernacular to a log cabin home or the surrounding trees, natural oils of pine and cedar preserve the siding, offering better insulation than non-wood options.

Extra Wide Doors and a Porch Space Help Create Space:  If you use a lawnmower, ATV, quads, or other vehicles, install extra wide doors for easy access and see the potential space and organization of your storage shed reach its maximum potential. Another way to work with the space that a backyard shed creates might be to add a small porch outside.  Using a shed with a porch provides an unexpected landing that is great for extending your work outside under the roofed portion of the outdoor shed on a warm (or rainy) afternoon. Use it as creatively as you wish as a space to drape freshly-laundered clothes or as a sheltered place to read if the work bench inside requires extra motivation.

Add lasting durability and a cohesive home and garden shed effect by considering all of the exterior options available.

You can only arrange and rearrange tools, yard equipment, and seasonal decorations under your deck or in your car garage once before you’re ready to revamp into a more efficient backyard shed system. Corner Nook Sheds, Potting Sheds and Canvas Sheds are three of the most popular types of storage structures. They easily contain all of the above without demanding master tetris skills to tuck them away. In order to know which type of shed is best suited for your space, it is important to weigh out their individual characteristics.

Nestle into Corner Storage: The Corner Nook Storage Shed is known for its somewhat obvious corner placement in the backyard that offers more central space for gardening, playing, or outdoor dining. Often picked for its ability to round out fence corners and open up the middle of small yards, the Corner Nook Outdoor Shed is also useful for its double-wide doors that easily open and close for larger machinery and easy access.

Become an Expert Gardener: Similar in tidy appearance to the Corner Nook, the larger Potting Shed is ideal for gardeners. Its line of greenhouse windows brings in light for nurturing plants from cuttings or seed without exposing plants to the harsh conditions outside. It also contains a long shelf for storing supplies inside that is built for the active lawn and garden population.

Affordable and Portable Options: A totally different take on outdoor storage comes in the form of a Canvas Shed. The most affordable option of all three sheds, it is also the least permanent. Perfect as a temporary solution or one that can be moved around the yard as necessary, a canopy shed is a simple, attractive solution for storing ATVs, lawn mowers, dirt bikes, and other motor equipment outside.

Often overlooked when admiring fabulous backyard spaces, a storage shed picked to meet your needs is often the key to a pristine and manageable outdoor area.

‘Tis the season for New Years Resolutions.  Are you planning a weight loss strategy? Finally going to quit smoking? No matter what bad habits you’re endeavoring to kick, everyone could use a little organizational help.  After all, who doesn’t have an issue with the constantly building piles of supplies, tools, half-finished projects, as well as all of the general odds and ends?

Of course, you can optimize your existing shelving, re-structure your closet, and even add convenient hooks to well-traveled sections of your home.  But, wouldn’t it be better if you could just move it all out of your home and out of your mind?  Building a backyard shed can create usable, convenient, and separated storage for anything from muscle cars to crafting supplies!

Potting Sheds for Gardening Storage: The fall arrives, so you empty your large container gardens that are too large to bring indoors into your cedar compost bin.  Now, you have a stack of terracotta pots and white cedar planters, gardening tools, a half used bag of potting soil, and a kitchen windowsill all too cluttered with your cuttings and plants that you brought indoors.  Having a potting shed will not only give you a place to store all of your garden supplies and tools, it also has greenhouse style polycarbonate skylights to allow you to cultivate plants year round.  Get all of your gardening gear organized and in order.  That way, you can breeze out to your garden shed by the time its time to plant bulbs!

Deluxe Estate Shed for Motorist Storage: Is your family garage dedicated to a sports car that doesn’t see the road all that often?  How about all of that prime storage space?  Is it filled with spare parts, mechanics tools, and car supplies? Whether you’re looking to protect your motorcycle, antique car, or ATV, using a Estate backyard shed will keep all of the motor action in one convenient spot.  Wide double doors on either side allow you to simply “drive through.”  Work benches and ample storage space let you hold all of your tools.  Electrical packages make battery charging and electric tools easy to use as well.  Keep everything out of the rain and out of the not-so-gear-headed family’s hair!

Cabin Shed for Crafting Storage:  How many baskets, hat boxes, and piles of half-finished sewing, quilting, crafting, and creative projects do you have?  If you can’t answer that question within a few seconds—you need crafting storage!  Whether you’re over-run with textiles, beads, quilting, or wire… keeping everything sectioned off in one closet can be a nightmare.  Using a cabin style outdoor shed for storage, you can also create a work area so you can focus your creativity energy.

Having a backyard shed can serve a myriad of purposes.  But, especially as the new year is upon us, make a commitment to effective, convenient storage that doesn’t include finding more ways to fit more stuff in that hallway closet!

As September drops temperatures, many people are looking for solutions for winter storage.  Patio furniture covered in outdoor furniture covers, gardening equipment, outdoor furniture cushions, and other supplies and pieces often must be stored inside over the winter.  But, most of the time, garages and basements are already filled with other storage. What to do? Sounds like it’s time for a garden shed!

Forget the boring particle board sheds you may remember, garden sheds have made a complete turn-around in styling and options!  And, just as New York Fashion Week is gracing the streets of Manhattan this week with brand new fashions, so too are sheds shocking people with their brand new features! Here are some highlights:

Sheds with Cedar Tongue and Groove Siding: For a rustic appearance, try a storage shed with cedar tongue and groove siding.  The cedar wood is naturally resistant to insect damage and decay and will keep the interior smelling fresh. The horizontally stacked siding almost looks like a log cabin, and will blend in flawlessly with any country inspired space.  Plus, going with a high quality material like cedar will ensure you can use your shed year after year, instead of having to replace it after a few seasons.  There’s no reason for your garden shed to be an eye-sore, so get one with a gorgeous exterior to compliment your home

Sheds with Porches: Surprised? Don’t be! After all, porches are one of the most coveted features on a home… why not have  a garden shed with a porch?  Aside from the aesthetic benefits and the perk of being able to hang a hammock or set out some patio chairs, porches are also extremely functional for a storage shed.  Shielded from the rain and the harshest of the weather conditions, a porch becomes the perfect place to work on a bicycle when the grass is still muddy or to let a garden bench dry after you’ve painted it for the spring.  Plus, if you’re worried that a shed will bring down the look of your garden, a garden shed with a porch makes the structure almost look like a guest house!

Potting Sheds: If you have more plants and garden tools to store than patio furniture and outdoor décor, a potting shed might be your perfect option. With an expansive polycarbonate skylight, your potting shed can be used for both storage and growing! The Polycarbonate skylight is actually a 4′ x 8′ sheet of a multi-wall insulated material that is often used in greenhouses.  If you always wanted a greenhouse but worried about space… a potting shed is a perfect solution.  There’s still room for your family’s storage, but the skylight allows you to use your potting shed to keep plants warm and healthy!

Though the coldness of winter may seem far off, now is the perfect time to start thinking about and planning your storage shed.  It will be installed and ready to go by the time your patio furniture and gardening supplies need to be put away, and you can enjoy the peace of mind of quiet winter!

Have Fun!

Hazel

Have you ever considered using a storage shed as a stylish garden structure to heighten the fashion and function of your backyard? Many people worry that storage sheds are just cheap, composite-board structures that look clunky, uninteresting, and should only be used for storing weed whackers and lawn mowers.  But, while this may have been true in the past, it is certainly not true anymore!

Storage sheds have jumped on the fabulous outdoor living trend and dolled up their appearance to be a true contender for your outdoor living space.  No longer are they the simple, square or barn-shaped structures (though those are still available, of course) of days gone by.  Storage sheds come in all shapes and sizes, with unexpected roof lines and eye-catching color combinations.  Are you ready for the count down?  Five ways storage sheds are cleaning up their image!

Storage Sheds with Porches: You love to decorate your porch with patio furniture, why not gain another porch on your storage shed?  You don’t have a porch? Well, now you can have one!  Complete with porch railings and posts; your shed’s porch will give you a place to pull your art or gardening projects outside, while stay within reaching distance of your tools and supplies.  A porch will also allow you to keep the windows under the porch open, without worrying about a lot of rain blowing in.  Even if you just use your storage shed for lawn equipment, having a small attached porch will elevate it stylistically.  Passersby will assume your shed is used for something rare and unique, and you’ll never worry about it being an eyesore.

Potting Sheds Instead of Storage Sheds: Many storage sheds have made a full transformation into potting sheds.  Potting sheds are specialized structures used for nursing plants in the same way as a green house, as well as a place to store all of your garden tools and do your indoor gardening tasks.  Outfitted with rows of windows, as well as a large polycarbonate skylight that takes up nearly the whole side of the roof, you’ll create a veritable greenhouse that can be used for so much more!  Potting sheds also feature a long work bench so you can work on your container gardens and do all sorts of outdoor projects and crafts without dragging any dirt into your home.  A potting shed is a near necessity for any serious gardener, and is now as widely available as traditional storage sheds.

Storage Sheds with Skylights: So, potting sheds have skylights to create a greenhouse.  But, even if you’re not interested in doing gardening work in your shed, you can still have skylights!  No more dark, dingy, and mold-smelling storage sheds… imagine a world of bright and well lit storage that can be used endlessly.  See your tools and supplies with a skylight in your storage shed.  Just like a car is instantly more fun with a sunroof, your shed will be immediately upgraded with a skylight.

True, Screened, Opening Windows in your Storage Shed: Skylights let in light, of course.  But, a window can do so much more than just let light in.  New storage shed styles feature true, house-like windows.  Complete with screens to keep bugs out and the ability to open vertically, these are real windows! Again, if you’ve ever been in a more traditional shed, you know that the stuffy heat can be overwhelming.  But, imagine just opening up those windows to allow cooling air flow to flood the space.  Not only do the windows allow your shed to look more like a little house in your backyard than just a shed, you can get them complete with shutters in any color to truly design a stylish structure. Now, that’s a place for a lawnmower!

Storage Sheds with Flower Boxes: You may have assumed that flower boxes attached to windows should be an attribute included in the sections about windows.  But, I disagree!  Though attached to windows, flower boxes add so much more than just window décor to your storage shed.  You can add bright colors with flowers and plants that will liven up your structure.  It adds a homey, cottage feel that will lend your shed to a little hideaway, instead of just a storage spot.  It encourages you to do to some fabulous container gardening, right next to your gardening storage.  Flower boxes turn drab storage sheds into quaint retreats, truly.  Plus, if your husband needs a place to store his ATV or antique car, you can compromise on a storage shed with strong enough floors and large drive-through doors… that you get to decorate!

So, yes.  It’s true.  You can now create lovely little cottages like the charming wee bungalows seen in fairy tale art prints, and use it to stow your dirty lawn mower!  The only downside is that now you have even more options to try to choose from when considering a backyard structure!  Oh well, you’ll just have to get more than one!

Hazel.