The garden shed is finally finished! Almost. We finished building the last shelving unit in it this past week. It’s too cold and rainy to paint, so the corbels will have to wait until next year to be painted dark brown like the ones on the house. Other tasks we have postponed include grading the dirt around the building, selecting a material to block weeds under the tractor port, and possibly installing some French drains.
The shed door was cut from a thick sheet of concrete form plywood. Cedar trim was then applied to dress it up in the style of a traditional carriage door. We painted it green because that is Lee’s favorite color.
After much deliberation, we selected strap hinges from Pacific Gate Works. We wanted something that would impart a sense of age and tie this new shed to our old house. The hinges really are massive, with thick steel straps and cast iron pivots.
The latch is a twisted ring latch. It arrived with a glossy black finish, so Lee resprayed it in a matte to better match the strap hinges. He also primed and painted the stainless hasp and lock which secures the door. The latch turned out really well, but the paint on the hasp easily chips off.
Lee built the shelving units really quickly based on ideas from a youtube video. The side shelves are two feet deep, so we added crossbars to each level to prevent sagging. We also built shelves across the back (not pictured) which meet the side shelves. The rear shelves are only 16 inches deep and more closely spaced so that one extra shelf fits in the same vertical space.
There’s no picture of the final shelving layout. Immediately after we finished the shelves we started filling them with items that have been clogging up our house projects for years. In the long term, it will be a “garden shed” but in the short term it’s a “bringing some order to our life shed!”
Arion rufus
