Potting shed gets a door and siding

The title says it all, doesn’t it?

Just wanted to share some updates on the potting shed project.  Slowly but surely it’s going through it’s transformation.

I originally wanted to put a Dutch style  door in the shed. 

But while going through my door stash in the garage I came upon this old 15 light door.

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Aha, perfect match with the windows!

It just needed to be cut down a few inches, as it was a bit tall for the opening.

Then I had to add some 2x4’s to make the opening narrower and attach the door hinges.

I’ll add some door stop later on.

Next on the agenda;

 siding!

I hate the original siding on this shed. 

Our house has clapboard siding so I decided to go with that.

I had some salvaged pieces I have been collecting for just this type of project.

 

 

You can see I don’t have a lot, and what I do have is from 3 different houses so the sizes are different.

I figure there is enough to do the big side and the door side.  They show the most anyway.

My nailer makes this  job go a lot easier than I had thought it would be..

 

Before too long I have the big side completed!

Now for around the door.  I framed the door with some salvaged door trim first.

Then I added siding.  I had to rip a couple inches off the bottom of these pieces, they were taller than the others.

The peak was a bit tricky to cut.

 

It looks pretty ugly with all the different paint colors going on.

But it sure looks better than it used to!

Next up I get to scrape and prime everything.

Fun.

Not!
But that will be another day.

Just because I love the difference it makes, here’s a couple before shots to compare to.

Big side before…..

And big side after…..

Door side before…

And door side after….

It’s actually starting to look like it belongs with our house!

(even down to the clutter)

It won’t be too long now before I get to tackle the inside.

 

Would you buy this?

 

OK, so you wouldn’t buy it.

How about if you saw it at the curb for free?

Would you stop and pick it up?

Or would you snicker and hit the gas pedal a little harder to get by it faster?

I would most certainly have picked it up, that’s a no brainer.

But I didn’t.

Really!

My sister-in-law did!

I got an excited phone call from her on Sunday.

She was in the car with her husband driving and spotted this.

“Pull over!”  she exclaimed, “Rose would love that!”

Her Hubby, my brother-in-law, instead snickered and sped up.  (sound familiar?  yup, they’re brothers all right)

She got home, called me up and asked if I would want it. (at the time she thought it was a duck or something like that)

Me (dubiously) - “If it’s not plastic, yeah sure, it sounds cool.”

So she corralled her youngest son for help and went back and got it.

So now it’s in my yard, leaning against the fence and awaiting a new role.

It is metal, you can see where the paint has worn away in places….

Like the seat…

 

 

How many children do you think rode on this?

And look at the handle bars, where the paint is completely worn away by countless little hands holding on for dear life.

He’s got a bit of a scary smile going on, don’t you think?

So now that it’s mine, what should I do with it? 

And by the way, I know it’s some kind of fish, but what?

Dolphin?  Porpoise?

Do you know?

I’m linking up to a new party I found through visiting Laurel at Chipping with Charm- it’s at  Junker Newbie Stephanie’s place and the party is called “Would you buy it Wednesday”

I sure hope she doesn’t  disqualify me for curbshopping it!  I rarely actually buy stuff, but am faced with the same dilemma over whether I should pick something up from the curb or not.

Potting Shed gets a side window

Last post I showed you the start of turning my blah old storage shed into a potting shed.  Step one was installing a window in the back to let in some light.

I loved the difference it makes in there! 

But that is just not quite enough.

Next step is to add a window to the side of the shed. 

Now one side is close to the fence, so adding a window on that side is pointless as it will not give me a view. 

The side you see when you come out of the house and through the breezeway is the long side (if you can call 6 feet long).

Way back last summer I had planned on using this 6 paned window on the side of the shed. 

It seemed to be the right size for that space.

When Deb from Proper Prim came to visit she helped decorate the shed and we hung the window right where I planned to someday install it.

 

     But Wait!

while looking through my garage for a suitable door for the shed I came across these….. 

  

OMG!  I stopped in my tracks.

These are perfect for this wall!

I had saved them when I took out original window from the back of the garage to make the TV cabinet for the outdoor kitchen.

Here’s a photo of the Garage window last summer before removal. 

This window was in a metal frame and the window panels were hinged to push out in the middle. 

At Mikes urging I agreed to throw away the big outer frame last summer when we were trying to clean up the garage. 

Oh boy do I really regret throwing it out now.  What on earth ever possessed me to let it go?

I wish I had thought ahead and PLANNED to use it for this project.

Have I mentioned yet it would be perfect for the potting shed?

I pouted about it a little while then dried my tears of regret and set to work making them fit as individual windows instead of the single window unit they once were.

sigh.

. 

The first thing I had to do was take out the original vertical studs and replace them with new 2x4’s in the right places..  I added an extra support across the top just to beef up that side.

You can see the shed was built from one of those cheap kits that only use 2 x 3’s instead of 2 x 4’s for the framing.

I used 2 x4’s for all the new framing since that’s what I had.

I cut out the siding with my handy sawzall (that is such a fun tool to use)

and then fit one of the windows in place to check sizing.

It was good!

    

I liked it so much I was tempted to stop there and just use one..

But after much debate I decided to go ahead and add the other one.

                                               

I went ahead and cut out the second opening and fit the second window in place.

It changes the whole look and feel of the shed and adds so much light, I just love it!

    

Of course I’m not done with it yet, the windows are still not attached.  I’d love to have them swing out for airflow, but am worried about the weight.  Each panel must weigh at least 80 lbs.  They are steel framed, not aluminum.. 

Lifting them into place was a struggle!

This weekend the plan is to add a new door and siding.

Wish me luck!

before…….

  

and after……..  

 

I’m loving it! 

 

I’m linking up to Gail’s Catch as Catch Can party. Check out all the great links over there!

It WILL become a potting shed someday..

I’ve finally begun to work on the small storage shed in my yard. 

It started life as a storage shed at my mom’s camp, where it suffered much abuse from shade and critters.

When mom let her camp go I decided to take the shed for use in my yard. 

The guys who demo’d the camper agreed to deliver it to my house for a small fee.

So began the saga of my someday potting shed. 

You can read a little about how we moved it last summer here,

or how it got prettied up a bit here.

So…. it’s been sitting pretty much untouched and unused since then, the door was rotted and fell off when we moved it so it’s been without a door for a while.

I DID experiment with some paint colors while deciding what color to paint the house….

You can see in this picture how the bottom of the siding has started to rot.

Mike has often wondered out loud why we have this eyesore taking up space.

Eyesore?  I don’t see an eyesore, I see a beautiful potting shed, don’t you?  ;)

First off, time to empty out the junk from inside.

   

Then a window must be chosen from my stash.  I love the shape of this one, so it was easy to pick.

I removed the back vent before taking the picture..the window is going on the back of the shed, so when I actually use it for a potting shed I’ll be able to see outside.

My Sawzall is the tool of choice for this job.

In almost no time I have the new window propped up in the opening.

A little bit of framing on the inside and some trim and caulk around the outside and we are good to go.

So much for window #1.  Hey, it’s a start, right?

 

I'm linking up to Gail's Catch as Catch Can #36, check it out!

New Life for Broken Fans

This is a re-post from last summer, some of you may have seen this already.  I've got fans on my mind lately so decided to resurrect this oldie.

 

Fans come in pretty handy this time of the year.

They’re really great for keeping us cool.

When they break, do you throw them out?

Next time you might want to rethink that.

Here's a simple repurpose of a broken fan I found last year.

Take a broken bentwood coat tree.  The base on this one was still in good shape.

 

I painted it my favorite red.

 

Added a fan cage lined with a cocoa liner mat and some plants.

It makes a great planter!

Sorry the pictures aren’t better.  I made this for a garden themed bridal shower last year.  The plants inside were part of the gift, to be planted later. I didn’t think to take a picture until after the shower.

I'm linking this up to Gail's Catch as Catch Can party.  Stop by and join the fun!