So, HI!

I know it’s been a few weeks…. Let me tell ya, it’s been a few BUSY weeks months.   I know summer tends to be hectic for most people, but I can say that this is unequivocally the busiest summer we’ve had in a while.   Just random stuff that’s led to jam-packed weekends.  And while we’ve still managed to get some stuff done (like fixing our rotting wall), we just haven’t been doing all of the home projects that we typically do.

But, this doesn’t mean we haven’t been planning.   (Mischievous finger tapping on table with sinister grin)

There are two larger projects that we’ve been actively brainstorming and can’t wait to get started on.

One is moving our fence on the side of our house and adding a shed for storage.    The other would be starting on our kitchen makeover.

So, let’s start with the backyard in this post, and then I’ll break down the kitchen plans in another.  Joey has pretty much been salivating over the idea of adding a shed since we moved in.  We have a pretty large two-car garage, but it currently looks like this….

Sort of jam-packed despite Joey’s frequent efforts to organize it.   He wants to be able to store the yard equipment and pool stuff in a shed so that we can better utilize the garage and MAYBE fit another car in there.  Not to mention create additional space for us to work on our kitchen renovation.  I totally agreed with this idea, but with all the other more pressing projects that we’ve had to address since moving in, we’d just never gotten around to it.   So, for his birthday, I promised him that we’d get going on a shed after the rotting wall was fixed.   He was pretty stoked.

But, as any DIYer knows.   Nothing is this simple.   Because as we tried to figure out a suitable location for the shed, we realized that it’d be premature for us to add a shed without first moving our fence.

Allow me to explain.

Most of you guys have probably seen this area of our yard where The Clarington Resort (huh-huh!) resides…

Well, next to it, alongside our house we have this area of untapped space…

Joey added that paver walkway because prior to that, the land was just mud, so walking through the yard was a huge pain.  This is a nicely-sized area, but (secret) it could actually be much larger.  Ya see, in speaking with our neighbors, we discovered that 3 owners ago, the man who lived here replaced the fence along the front and side of the house to get it sold.  But he only had enough money for a certain number of fence sections.   So, the location of our fence now is solely based on the number of sections he could afford.   Which leaves this 24′ foot piece of wasted land on the outside of our fence…   
We called the city to see if we could move the fence closer to the street and we were told that as long as our survey shows that our property line goes beyond the fence, we could potentially move the fence as long as we left a 15″ space between our fence and the curb.   We pulled out our survey and…
We could totally move our fence and potentially gain about 9 more feet of space in our backyard.   Which means that the new shed could be placed behind the tree line, much more discreetly and with a more foresty aesthetic.  Totally my jam.

Joey and I figured out that we can reuse our current galvanize posts, hardware, as well as the fence sections already in place on the side.  We would simply have to purchase two additional fence sections for the front and back and concrete for resetting the posts.  Then, we’d powerwash the entire fence and stain it to unite the old and new sections.

Once we figured out the moving-of-the-fence stuff, we looked at sheds.   We decided on a metal shed since they’re durable, inexpensive (comparatively), and paintable.   And Joey found this guy at Home Depot…

(source)

She doesn’t look like much now, but we have plans (Mu-wahahahahahaa!).   This shed is 8″x6″, which is the perfect dimension to nestle right in behind the tree line.   It’s also relatively low to the ground.  At 74″ high, the peak should barely be seen over our fence.   See that little arc in the branches (by that pallet)?

That will lead to the door of the shed.

The plan is to paint the shed the same colors as the house… SW Loggia for the body and Black Bean by Behr for the door.    We’ll create a nice walkway to the door with pavers and decomposed granite, and then, when the weather cools off in the fall, we’ll landscape around the shed to soften the lines and make it seem more permanent and intentional.  This is kind of the vibe we eventually want…

(source)

Now this is clearly not a metal shed… and it’s a bit more cottagey than what would work with our quirky 1970’s house, but I really like it because the shed feels like it’s nestled into the landscape.  It looks cared for and intentional thanks to the pavered entry and flowers.   We’re hoping to make our shed have that same feeling eventually.  Although, I will never promise flowers… they always proceed to hate me, mock me, then die quick deaths.

So, that’s the plan.   We’re hoping to get going on this Friday, then hopefully finish moving the fence Saturday.  I’m not sure when we’ll stain it.  Hopefully soon after.  And then, it’ll be shed time.  Woot!  🙂

** Update: The fence has been moved!  Check out the results here!**