OUTDOOR LIVING
Take it Outside!
From She Sheds to Shedquarters, small outbuildings are having a moment.
BY DIANE M . S TERRET T
T he shed has evolved from a utilitarian eight-by-eight-
square-foot box meant for storing your lawn tools to beautiful structures as large
as sixteen-by-twenty with posh interiors. Uses include a pool house, home office,
woodworking haven, music / practice studio, entertaining / outdoor kitchen space
— if you can imagine it, someone’s shed has done it.
“We’ve seen double-digit growth in shed sales over the past ten years,” says Chris
Skinner of the Barn Yard in Ellington, CT. “And inside is as nice as a finished
home.”
They recently built one as an off-the-grid cabin for a family who owned seventy
remote acres of land with no principal home on the property. “We added a little
wood stove and a covered front porch. It’s a nice place to get away from it all but still
close enough to their main home,” Skinner explains.
The best sheds solve a problem, according to Margaret Arel of Walpole
Outdoors in Warwick, such as multi-purpose sheds. One of her customers outfitted
a shed as a playhouse for their grandson in the summer, but it also serves as a place
to store the deck furniture in the winter. Another customer built a fourteen-by-
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2020
sixteen-foot hut to act as her serenity shed.
“She was going through treatment for adult-onset leukemia, but she loved
gardening,” Arel recalls. “So, we designed a huge copper potting bench with a
built-in sink for when she feels up to gardening. On the other side, there’s a daybed,
lounge area and tons of books for when she wants to sit and read. She calls it her
safe haven. It’s beautiful, with skylights, double french doors and a pergola off the
front.”
Using these structures as ‘man caves’ and ‘she sheds’ has become insanely
popular in recent years. It’s also a perfect solution for a children’s playhouse (think
tea and slumber parties) or as a shaded hangout for Fido.
Depending on your zoning, you could open a business such as a barbershop or
massage therapy studio. With the proper permits, you can even create a unique
guest house complete with a dividing wall, sleeping loft, a wall-mounted heater /
AC unit and incinerator toilet. “With growing families, it’s an option to have enough
space when the grandchildren and extended family come visit,” Arel says.
Thanks to increased popularity, your choice of styles and finishes have also