The Frankenshed

Shed Features

This shed is called The Frankenshed because it was brought back from the dead. It was a standard 8' x 4' timber shed that had been left to rot at the bottom of a neglected garden. When I began renovating it the floor was 80% rotten, so was the roof and so was the window sill. By all rights it should have been torn down and replaced. But I saw the potential for something special.

Once all the rot had been cut away it was still standing somehow. I rebuilt the floor with recycled timber from old fence posts and the window sill was remade using a single bed frame that was set for the skip. The roof was replaced with corrugated Onduline to mimic the steel roof of Derek Jarman's Prospect Cottage which I was modelling my build on.

A living breathing shed once again I began to use my skills as a professional artist and sign painter to turn it into something special. A large new window replaced the three old cracked ones. On it I decided to celebrate all the tools I had used to bring the shed back to life by reverse- glass gilding them in 23 carat gold leaf (a process that you may recognise from old pub mirrors). I had expanded the doorway to allow more head room but also for another piece of decorative glass to be installed. This time with an eye on it, to give my Frankenstein monster the gift of sight.

Once the outside was complete I began work on the interior. The shed had begun to feel like a a kind of pagan chapel to DIY so I leaned in to that idea, by whitewashing all the interior wood work before creating my altar piece: 23 carat tree of life with all my tools hanging from the branches. I added a desk to work on and shelving to store materials while I planned my own miniature sistine chapel ceiling...

The strips of timber that supported the old chipboard ceiling divided it into four sections. So I decided to paint a panel for each section based on each of the four seasons. The panels incorporated the twelve signs of the zodiac, the major planets of astrology, Greek Gods and mythical figures. I spent over a month designing and painting these plywood panels alone.

What started as a bored attempt to save a rotten shed turned into the most elaborate and enjoyable piece of artwork I've ever created. The Frankenshed is now a beautiful place to while a way an afternoon sketching, writing, tinkering or potting plants for the garden.