Our New Garden Shed - DIY Style

So you want to build a new garden shed?  

It's actually been much more challenging and exhausting than what I thought, I mean, how hard is it to buy a bit of timber & purchase a few nails, surely the two of us can whip up a shed in a weekend?  

In reality for the last two weekends we've been hammering away and we still need to add the roof and doors.

Of course Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was our shed!

We have never built anything like this before! So don't laugh at our shoddy workmanship below. It's our first attempt!

The garden shed has become a bit of a need, as we're paying for the storage for paint cans, garden tools and planter pots, just junk really, but things I don't want to toss away.. but yet I'm tossing away money in storage fees.

Initially I was going to pick up one of those cheap tin sheds you see advertised on Trademe and at the hardware stores, but they looked cheap and flimsy... and easy to break into.  I wanted something a bit more solid and usable.


We've picked the perfect location for the shed, close to the drive, not too far from the house, and close to where the first garden will go.

I've then drawn up some plans... based on an online shed, and modified the plans to our requirements.  The below website is what I started with and amended a little to our needs.

http://www.nzwood.co.nz/images/uploads/file/How%20To%20Guides/NZW13606%20H2-GardenShed.pdf


Our shed is basically 3m width x 3m length x 2m height, lifted off the ground, built like a jail house so it doesn't fly away.  I've also added a double door in the front, to allow for a ride on lawnmower in the future, should we purchase one. 

Oh to avoid having to get a building consent we have had to keep our Shed under 10 square metres.  Most important!

We've been building the shed with hand tools, so a lot of hammering and sawing. My suggestion.. if you have power to your site... use Power Tools! My wrist is sore from all the hammering!

Oh and my second tip... if you are building miles away from your nearest hardware store... buy more timber and nails than you need! Otherwise it is a long drive back to get more should you run short!


Below is where we are up too... I will add some finished pics later.

PS... My plan is to stain the shed with a dark stain then grow climber plants half way up each of the 3 sides.  Much more natural looking than a tin shed :)