Kian's Family Shed

Shed Features

Right before Christmas, my neighbours gifted me a shed destined to be skipped.

As I've just recently got an allotment, I thought it was a great opportunity to bring it back to life and have a place to hide from the rain. I am hugely influenced by the upcycle movement. I find it very inspirational to be able to rescue otherwise discarded objects, therefore, the primary idea was to rebuild it with rescued materials.

First, I created the base for the shed from concrete slabs found on the plot. Apart from the slabs, I also discovered 4 timber logs which I used to increase the ceiling height and create a porch roof. Now I can stretch in there without banging my head on the ceiling.

My workplace allowed me to dismount a few pallets, plywood boards and mdf boards, all of which were supposed to be trashed. The rescued pieces of wood from the pallets I used for the sides of the shed, roof, window frame and the door. The mdf boards turned out to be a brilliant material for the interior walls. Plywood worked very well as part of the roof and interior door panels.

An allotment neighbour shared with me scaffold boards, from which I made a new floor and shelves. Each board is sanded down and brushed by hand.

The shed originally did not have any windows. Lucky me, I got one on ebay for £16. The only hassle was driving to Cambridgeshire for collection as I do not own a car. It is a marvellous Georgian-style double glazed wooden frame window. All it needed was a deep clean, a bit of paint and true love.

Ohh forgot to mention the decking. Lucky me again. I found it in the skip, cut it to the desired size, put it together and my sister gave it a touch of ash grey paint, making it look almost brand new. Once the roof was up, the real test of life came along- the 120m/h storm Eunice. The roof survived! Hurray!

Now it was the time for a gutter. I tried to rescue one I spotted in the skip but couldn't get parts for it, so, I purchased a new one and installed it myself. Thanks to the homeless water butt found on the plot, now I collect rainwater for my blueberries. Yep! Blueberries thrive on rain water like nothing else.

Most of the materials, including screws, were rescued/ up-cycled. The only cost I had to bare in the process was the paint, insulation foil, gutter and the felt. It took me around 3 months to complete it. I worked on it on average 4h each and every day before work. Covid-19 and heavy rain was the only time I was forced to pause. Winter is perhaps the worst time to work on a project like this, but despite all the weather odds, somehow I managed to complete it.

There is no access to electricity in the plot, everything was crafted by hand with the help of a borrowed screwdriver and an old hand sow. I am more than pleased with it as I have never done anything like this before.

The shed turned out to be a tiny house where a cup of tea accompanied by the sound of local birds and a regular visit by a bumblebee bring a sense of a place where all the worries vanish away.