This story begins with a very special lady.
She’s our friend, Jenny, who we met many months ago when she bravely stopped by one of our salvage projects to meet us.
Not many women are brave enough to venture onto a construction site, but “vintage” in our sign caught her eye, and she said she just could not resist the temptation. You see, she’s just as enamored about building with reclaimed materials as we are, and she loves antiques. In fact, she runs an estate sale business called Clutterbusters in Nacogdoches with her longtime friend and business partner.
Next, the setting: her pretty backyard garden.
The storyline? Jenny Johnston has hired us to build her a little garden shed in her lovely backyard.
She’s been planning her project for years. so this should be a very fun project for us. We started the project last week, and I wanted to bring you up-to-date on what we’ve done so far.
A few weeks ago, she showed us all of the old windows and doors that she’s collected in the past several years, and we drew up preliminary plans for her to look at and approve. This gorgeous window and it’s identical twin will be installed on both sides of the front doorway.
Once we got the green light from Jenny, Mark cleaned two trailer loads of brick (brick that we salvaged from numerous past projects), and he and our hired hand, John, got to work on leveling the ground and marking the area for the 10′ x 12′ shed, not including the porches and overhangs.
Jenny was thrilled to finally start the project she’s been dreaming about for years. Can’t you tell?
The next time-consuming part of the project: laying the brick in a running bond pattern over fresh sand.
Meanwhile, here at the house, I was cleaning more brick. The footprint of the shed with the overhangs and porches required a huge amount of brick — 1,350 bricks in all! It’s a ton of work (quite literally), but so rewarding. Reclaimed brick is just so gorgeous.
Once laying the brick was mostly done, they ran underground plumbing pipe to the shed so that Jenny can have a water spigot on the side of her shed.
Once the foundation was laid, the guys partied for a short time to celebrate — I’m kidding of course — then they started framing the shed, using treated wood for the footings and cleaned, reclaimed wood for the rest of the framing.
When the work week ended, it was starting to look like a shed.
And, did I mention that it’s a shed in a very lovely garden?
Next week, their plan is to finish, weather permitting, of course.
And, yes I’ll be helping, too. I’ll be here at the house cleaning reclaimed siding!
[UPDATE: To see the finished shed project, click here!]
Oh what a fun project. I love seeing all the photo’s on the progress of this lovely potting shed.
Thanks so much for sharing.
Mary
I’m thrilled with the progress so far….watching them from my living room window…..it’s hard to believe how much they’ve done and that she will be finished this week! Can’ wait!
Oh my gawd, I wish you lived closer to me – I’d hire you guys in a minute to put one of those up for me! I cannot wait to see this all completed. Jenny, you are one lucky gal!
I think this is going to be amazing. Love the brick. Can’t wait to see it finished. Also, Jenny’s roses are beautiful.
I don’t know who is more beautiful in that photo, the women with the silver locks or that full out red camellia! 🙂
This shed will be the perfect complement for a beautiful garden. Love the brick and the windows! Jenny is one lucky girl due to her foresight and your skill!
We all want Jenny’s garden shed, can’t wait to see.
Love it, Love it, Love it! Wish I had room in my yard for one, but it’s pretty well taken up with other things.
Kim, I did want to ask you tho, in going thru all the reclaimed BRICKS, have you come across any bricks marked with the word “TEXAS” on them? We have found one when they were destroying the old house next door….but they buried all those bricks with the rest of the house, which just broke my heart. I was wondering if it might have been a Centennial Brick or if there actually was a brick manufacturer named TEXAS….? If you come up with any info, please let me know.
Hugs to you and Mark and John
Drue, to my knowledge we do not have a Texas brick, but I’ll certainly let you know if I find one!
Thank you Kim! I have absolutely NO history on it, so if you locate any info, we would be greatly appreciative…..and if we ever find out anything about it, we’ll let you know!
I would have never thought of using pavers for the shed base, although I’m not exactly the best handyman either. Well done on such a simple yet creative way to build a home shed!
Great looking shed ! Did you have to have a building permit for that?
Love those vintage cabins. Antique or western.
Great project! The shed sure looks good in your garden. What sorts of permitting did you need in order to build it?