Shed Plans?

[vfem]

Anyone know where I could find free shed plans? Or a nice list of sheds to look at to come up with plans for?

Hubby is planning a shed this summer that will be 10 x 14 and it will partially house the chickens and the rest of storage. I'm trying to get ideas for styles. I want something whimsical out in the garden, otherwise he's a man who's all about practical and nothing very stylish will get done.

 

[lesa]

If you want ideas for whimsical, wonderful- spend a few hours on pinterest looking at garden sheds!

 

[Smart Red]

When I was looking for shed ideas I found several sites that show finished sheds and offer plans for them. Do a search and you'll find more than you every thought you'd want to see.

Love, Smart Red

 

[Ridgerunner]

Go check at your public library. You might be surprised at what you can find. A chat with the librarian might be really beneficial. Librarians can find books at other libraries that are not on their shelves.

Also, if your final size is not set, a lot of building materials come in 4' and 8' dimensions. And 8' boards are cheaper than 10' boards. You have to pay attention to out-to-out dimensions instead of centerline dimensions, but you might find less waste, less cutting, and maybe even cost savings with a carefully planned 8x16 instead of a 10x14. Just saying.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i did the same thing as Ridgerunner. i have an 8x16 shed so there was supposed to be less waste. my hubby had good intentions but ended up going overboard on how much he spent on it. plus, i decided if i was going to keep my roosters i needed to soundproof it. which worked out well! i'm on an acre of land and the only time my neighbors could hear the roos is when they are outside! (no complaints yet! ) more than i can say about someones dog that is left out most of the night a few streets over. :/

 

[Jared77]

I agree if you have the space Id go 8x16 for the cost of materials alone.

Some simple ideas might be to build you own shutters and mount them. Even if they can't be closed they are there for looks not for practical purposes. Cut a heart or some other easy shapes with a jig saw that match on each side of the shutter. Or some other fun shape. Id even look at some of your bigger cookie cutters for ideas for shapes that would be fun to cut into the shutters. Mount those, paint them and you've just added a whimsical touch.

Another thought would be to build a flower box under the windows and carry the same shape from the shutter onto the flower box but in paint. For example if your shutters are light purple, paint the window box a darker purple to give contrast. Then in the same light purple you painted the shutters you paint the same shape onto the flower box that you did as a cut out on the shutter. So you've got say heart cut outs on the shutter, now you've got hearts on the flower box also so it carries the theme AND in color so it compounds the theme but doesn't beat you over the head with it.

Another thought would be to get some 1x12 boards and draw a repeating pattern giving you a scalloped edge of some kind. Like UUUU or WWWW. Cut the board and hang it so you've got a unique themed edge hanging down over the doors and even could carry it up at the edge of the roof going up to the peak. The advantage of using the bigger board is if you put your pattern 1/2 way through the board you can use both halves of the board so you've got twice the patterned edge to use with 1 cut. Again with a jig saw. Paint it a complimenting color but different color than the sides to add contrast but not make it look out of place. Again that goes back to the window box thing I mentioned.

Far as paint goes you could pick a color and use that as your palate to paint with. Blue, Purple, or Green come to mind for this but you could use whatever color strikes your fancy. Get a couple shades of 1 color for example light blue, a medium blue, and a dark blue and paint away so the whole thing is tied together that way.

Or go the other route and buy a bunch of oops paint from the box stores and just paint whatever inspires you.

Then once its painted you can landscape around that. Blooms in complimentary colors, maybe attach some galvanized wire and plant something that vines to climb on it.

Another place to look would be in childrens play houses. TONS of ideas there for designs and paint. Lots of those play houses are whimsical I'm sure if you did a google image search on those you'd find inspiration.

Keep us posted!

 

[vfem]

I've given my husband a 'slew' of ideas. We did get lucky, and we've gone to several build sites and got LOTS of 2'x4's in a ton of sizes for free. Along with some house sheathing and several other odds and ends. (Decking material...ect)

So he has enough 2x4s to finish the addition to our bedroom with more then 20 pieces left over. Most of the 2x4's are over 8 feet and its AWESOME!

He's going to make another trip out in the next couple of weeks to see what else he can find they are getting rid off. (It is time consuming as he's had to pull nails from these boards to use them. But just 1 nail makes them unreturnable for the builders so he gets to take those because they become waste.)

I think I will suggest the 8'x16'. A good chunk of it will be chicken coop space anyways. We just have to be able to get a riding mower and wagon in there & all my garden tools as well. I also have the hope to get a potting bench in there and LOTS of windows. My daughter says' she's going to paint it purple, but we'll see.

 

[digitS']

Gee, I wish someone was building my shed with all these good ideas and free material!

V, I also wish I could be of some help to you.

The little shed I'm building now is by-gosh-&-by-golly and is the simplest thing. Better to have some good plans . . .

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you are getting free material, that probably trumps the cost benefit of 4' and 8' dimensions. Congratulations of that haul.

Tell you daughter she can paint it purple but she has to paint giant multicolored mushrooms and flowers with buttterflies.

 

[Nyboy]

Why do all small kids love the color purple ?