tool shed

If you could do anything to the prime corner of your backyard what would you do? Plant a lovely tree? A fountain or gazebo? Way back when we were making plans for our backyard, John claimed the prime corner for his tool shed. So the very first thing you would see when you open our back door would be a tool shed.

Me: "a tool shed? there?" Gulp. And my heart sank to my toes.

John: "Don't worry, we'll make it cute, like a little house."

He seemed so determined and insistent. I reluctantly agreed. What choice did I have? I wasn't going to be the one hammering out there.

So last spring, John officially staked his claim on the corner, by pouring cement and putting up some sticks.

Someone once asked if we were building a fort there. I thought a fort sounded swell. But no, I answered, it's a tool shed. And there it sat.

Til last weekend. Dad came up for Mother's Day weekend, and decided to help John tackle the tool shed. Dad started making drawings, all the with roof line in this direction, with the gable facing the side, rather than the front:

I wanted the gable rotated 90 degrees, so it would be directly facing me. Dad tried to explain to me that optically his way was the standard way to do it. That's how everyone did it, with the gable side on the shorter wall.

But I did not want it that way.

Dad said, "Everyone is cutting their meat with their hatchet to the right(hack hack hack) and you want us to be the only ones cutting to the left?"

Yes, I did. Poor Dad. So back to the drawing board he went. Here is what Dad came up with, in it's skeletal phase. I love it!

And here is their little elf, helping them hammer up the OBS wood. This yucky stuff will keep the walls straight for now.

John is buying some cedar wood today for siding, to cover up this OSB. The cedar comes a bit wet. We were instructed by dad to let it dry out for a few weeks, that way we can see which boards came out warped when they dried--we can pick the straight ones to hammer on.

I see a fun door in the future of this shed.

It probably won't be nearly as mangled and distressed as this one, but a girl can dream.

Who would have thought a tool shed could be this fun?