Shed of the year 2024, Sponsored by 
It is a nice raw example of what a Kiwi tramping shed looks like, deep in the NZ native bush...except that I've created it in my garden. It was a fairly average shed built "temporarally" as storage for a school displaced after the 2011 earthquakes in Canterbury. After 9 years It was no longer required & was going to be dismantled. I had a vision for it to be upcycled & turned into something picturesque rather than something utilitarian...
This rough old shed that nobody wanted was dismantled, transported on a trailer to my humble abode,& then put back together. Next, 5 demolition windows were added (it had none originally), a demolition door was added, & my brother & my (English) boyfriend upcycled it with a deck, a verandah & some steps. The steps & handrails & uprights are made from the hardwood crossbars of old power poles. I love the aged look that the lichen on the crossbars adds. I love sitting outside on the deck on a sunny day or even a rainy day & having a cup of tea & talking to my chickens & my dog. I love that on rainy days I can hang my washing from the clothesline I've rigged up under the verandah, and it will dry despite the rain.This shed is my escape. In the evenings I sneak out there to the quiet solitude & ride my exercycle & watch the ships lit up with fairy lights coming & going in the harbour below me through the darkened windows. I like that it has no power connected, & that it's so raw. It reminds me of an age that was much tougher yet simpler than how we live now. I feel very lucky that my boyfriend Mikey had the foresight to ask for the right to take the shed away when otherwise it may have gone to the rubbish dump. Mikey knew me well enough to know that I might like it & that I might be able to do something with it. And he was damn right.
