My $300 rustic picket garden shed

 

This is my cute rustic shed in the suburbs. It is my secret shed because in my subdivision the sheds are supposed to look like the house, be placed where the HOA says you can put it, and it is preferred to be designed and built by professionals.

The $1000 price tag on a shed from the home stores were outrageous plus I had a big problem…

A shed would have to built in the back yard and where my HOA would tell me to put it…well, I have a pond, beds of flowers, trees, and shrubs, and the biggest reason — I would see a shed from my window and not my beautiful plants.

I have wanted-no needed- a shed for a long time. Our 1 car garage is supposed to be our workshop but it also had to house the lawnmower, power washer, my projects, and other various items that belong in a shed. The garage was a HOT MESS and I could not take it any longer. I had to convince my hubby of the fence picket idea but when I dragged him to Home Depot last weekend to see the 6′ & 8′ fence pickets and show him my vision. It helped that I showed him the sheds in the parking lot were not built any different than my plans. He agreed to help me and I was so excited.

Of course, I had to bribe him with brownies and other promises of love and affection…after almost 18 years of marriage, hubby cannot say no. It took me a while (and in this case a few months of coaxing and talking about a new shed) and I had to hear several times during our build how “we are not carpenters!”

I know this but we are DIYers with a vision…at least I had the vision.

The hidden spot behind the garage

I also wanted a project with minimal cutting and easy for most DIYers to do. I will try to be descriptive on the plans and some of the pics have measurements for the size that would fit in our space plus that would enable us to use 8′ 2x4s for the roof at a 15 degree angle.

I chose a lean-to or slanted roof because  for 2 reasons-

1. I had the clear corrugated roofing panels from a garage sale a couple years ago and had stored them under the deck along with other treasures I had found; and
2. that was the angle for using 6′ pickets on one side and 8′ pickets on the other.

The first load from Home Depot for the foundation and walls

The materials list is what we used and can be adapted to your project: (I am strictly using Home Depot since they had the pickets)

• (2) 15/32 OSB sheets for  $7.75 each
• (2) 23/32 OSB flooring @ $ 14.08 sheet at my local Home Depot
• 30) pine 2x4s for the interior
• (8) treated 2x4s for the flooring/base
• (15) 6′ fence pickets
• (36) 8′ fence pickets
• $9 Oops exterior stain for flooring and back wall
• 3″ screws or 3″ nails
• (10) rafter ties (need 1 1/4 or 1 1/2″ screws for these)

We used our air compressor with nail gun and 3″ screws since we happened to have both on hand. I like using screws because if there is a problem, all you have to do is take the screw out. Using a level and a square comes in handy so that you can level the base.

We had 5 sheets of corrugated roofing and 4 were used for roof and 1 for the door. To use the corrugated roofing we had to buy special screws with rubber washers to seal and used a masonry bit to pre-drill the holes A(which later we found out a titanium bit worked just fine). You also need tin snips to cut the roofing material. Corrugated roofing comes in clear or tinted and I would definitely use tinted if I every do this again. It gets a bit hot in the shed but it is well lit!

I hope the directions are easy to follow and that this inspires you to build your very own rustic shed.

Had to level the area out and dimensions of base

$9 oops paint to paint the floor and the both sides of the back wall since we did not use pickets

Turned out to be a very dark green and used 2 coats

We bought this handy dandy corner tool to make sure corners were square.

floor joists are to be 16″ on center but if you do not do this just make sure your 4×8 sheet of flooring lands in the middle of the joist to joint 2nd sheet

After we built the frame for the floor, we laid the 4×8 sheet on the base and cut it. We find it is easier to measure and cut it on the frame and then attach with nails using our nail gun.

1st wall up and dimensions. We screwed the wall down and then use a fir strip to brace it up

The brace is just screwed in so it can be released easy

This side is the 6′ side

The back side-cut the 8′ 2×4 at an15 degree angle for the roof joist to go past

these are the rafter ties at Home Depot we used for roofing joists

We are not carpenters -so we laid out the roofing panels and overlapped them to get the right width for the shed. We then put the joists where we could attach the downward groove to the roof joist.

Marking where the roof joists are to go put the roof hanger. This is by far the easiest way to do a roof. You just measure carefully and screw into place

The ends-line up exactly over the end of the building. Take a hammer and hammer the end over (do this for each end)

A few whacks and it is flush now with the frame

This is close to the measure of the shed frame. There is one groove overlap for front and back which is perfect so the water flows over roof. The ends of the corrugated roofing are down and we screwed the downward grooves (not sure if this is right but it works).

this is 3/4ths framed

Now we had screwed down the framing to the foundation. In this picture we traced where the framing was because we had to unscrew the framing and move it forward to put on the back panel (we were working against the garage and had no other way to build this)

Okay one thing we forgot to do! We had to add another board on the back because we forgot that we were using a 4×8 sheet of plywood not the pickets. The 2nd 2×4 up is for the seams of the OSB to meet in the middle and be nailed in

Cutting angles are not easy! So hubby used my cordless Dewalt saw and used the 2×4 as a guide and cut off the piece to be flush with the frame

We pushed the shed back on and since we outlined the framing it was easy to screw back into place. We then had to pull the structure square with the strap to nail on pickets. you may be able to easily build a square frame but we had some technical issues. We then put on the 6′ pickets starting at the back of the shed. Our measurements made it so that no pickets needed to be cut. We nailed in all 3 horizontal 2×4 frame

this is the trick we used to make sure pickets were level with top of frame-just take a piece of 2×4 and lay it on top and hold tight and line up the picket and nail

Now we put 1 nail in top to hold board and put 3 boards on. Depending upon gaps and warp, hubby devised this easy way to squeeze the pickets together to mimimize gaps. Screw down 2×4 and use pry bar to squeeze together and then i nailed in place

Repeated for the 8′ side.

The screen door I found in the markdown area and even though it has issues it works. We happened to have heavy duty hinges so we added a 2×4 to on the right front to start framing in the front and door. we put the screen door in and then later I built the framing around it. The 2x4s were not exactly straight so i made sure the screen door looks straight and compromised on the rest of the framing for the front

Next before I finished framing door, I had to add more supports for roof not to sag. I then started on back of shed with one corrugated sheet and lined it up with 1 groove hanging over edge. could not take pictures-it was precarious enough for me on a ladder in between boards with a chest that kept getting in the way. I used tin snips to cut the panels at 9′ so I could have overhang

Now carefully tighten down until the rubber seal squishes out but not too hard or you can crack the roofing

this is the 6′ side and there is about a 5 1/2″ overhang

I measured for the door and put in the 2×4 header across and secured. I also added another 2×4 in the middle to repeat what the other walls looked like to attach pickets. I knew I needed to cut at 15 degree angle and so I measure to put in first picket. each picket after that starting from the left corner was another 1 1/2″ larger. I always measured to be sure. I also added a firring strip as stop for the screen door making it flush with the picket siding

I measure from outside to outside of roof joist and nailed on picket

to make it look finished I measure the gap and cut each end at a 15 degree and fits beautifully

this bugged me. I did not like seeing this on the 8′ side after I had repeated the picket on the outside edges of joists.

Hubby did not think this would work but I just knew. cut the picket to fit right up in there and nailed it in place

Now it looks finished.

Hung my upcycled window to greet visitors as they walk in the back yard

I made a handle from a cheap garden tool  which I will post the easy how to in another blog. I had my hubby modified the gate latch because I realized that if the door shuts on you in the shed then you are stuck. So hubby came up with a modification that whomever  can pull the special release and get out. He is brilliant!

The modified gate latch.

If the door shuts, no worries because you pull this hook and you are freed.

The shutters were in the neighbor’s garbage and I cut in half. Window was under deck just waiting for a place to hang. I quickly made the window box from very old oak boards I got from a trip to the back hills of Kentucky a few years ago. I painted the signs and hung our lucky horseshoe.

On the back of the screen the extra piece of corrugated roofing is screwed on to keep weather out.

 Creating. Inspiring. Gardening without the rules!