This is what our backyard looks like right now. There are tufts of crab grass, plywood from the floor of a previous shed, half a holly tree in pieces on the ground, and hundreds of stalks of bamboo cut down and dying. It isn't pretty, but it's a great place for our kids to run around and play "jungle kids." When I asked what jungle kids was, they answered, "We're kids who's parents are dead like Tarzan, and we all have special powers, like running, climbing, and roaring." It's good to know that they would survive and apparently have fun if Ritter and I died...
Ritter and I wanted to build our own house before we realized we were crazy and couldn't do that while having jobs and kids in D.C., but we've always liked making things. Our kids have loved playing outside for several hours a day these past few months while the yard has been warm and not yet overwhelmed by mosquitoes. We know the mosquitoes are coming, and we mourn that very much. We've racked our brains to try to figure out how we can let our kids enjoy our backyard while not being eaten by bugs. Our solution is a shed with a LOT of windows, in our backyard.
So off to Pinterest I went. I'm obviously drawn to a modern shed design with lots of windows. We decided we wanted a slanted roof rather than a peaked one, and we loved these designs but we probably won't be able to use some of these materials because of cost. The cool looking metal roof and siding will probably be replaced with shingles and painted treated wood!
We purchased a shed design very similar to what we're looking for, and we will just add a lot more windows. Thank you to Icreatables.com for their awesome plans!
This is the way we are going to do our foundation - I know the diagram is a bit scary, but it really isn't.
Iphone photo of Ritter taking down the shed that was there previously.
We were originally going to have a screened in porch, but we realized if we want to have sleepovers in the shed we would need to close it in. If we did that, we would need windows, but then the cost would be crazy. We started looking at craigslist, but even there people were selling smallish windows for $100, and the cost would be in the lower 1000s... Enter Community Forklift and their April windows sale. Community forklift is a re-store and non profit, and they always have old and new things that are great to use when renovating your home. They also have great sales periodically and this month happened to be 40% off of all windows. We got 10 huge windows for $385. You can't beat that.
So i decided to actually draw out the plans to scale. We got the windows before we had any plans, so we needed to see how the windows would look in a 12'x24' shed. The front of the shed, facing the back of our house will have a big sliding door (6'x6.5') with big 3.5'x5.5' windows on each side. We plan to make a loft on the right hand side of the shed, so we don't have windows in the six feet on the right hand side.
This is the back of the shed - the walls are shorter since the pitch of the roof comes down towards the back. the windows are spaced evenly, and they are 2'x3'.
These are the side wall designs. There are 3'x5' windows on the south side, and since it's best to have no windows on the north side of any structure, we are putting in two half circle windows that don't open. These windows will also be where we have our loft, and the kids will probably love that.
After making the plans, I thought, why don't I put this on cardboard and put it up? So I did. It really helps to see the scale of it. It is to scale, and when Ritter and I saw it, we thought, is it too big? Are we crazy? Is it going to dwarf our yard? Should we make it smaller?
We're still not sure. We've gone to Lowes for a price quote for materials. So far it looks like about $3000. We are going to shop around in local lumber yards to see what they can quote us as well.
Let me know what you all think. Are we crazy? Should we change some stuff?
Really, please let me know if you think we're making a mistake - I won't be mad...
Have a great Friday everyone! Our family is in Williamsburg, VA this weekend - so far we're loving it.
