Complete Your Landscape with a Backyard Cottage
Charming Outbuildings Provide Storage, Workspace or a Quick Getaway
It's that time of summer when my husband I start looking at the landscaping. It's too hot to plant anything in the garden, so we begin analyzing what we should have done in the spring and now must make a point of accomplishing in the fall — or maybe even next weekend.
A shed/garage/barn/studio/guest house is one of those items on our list. We've had two gorgeous weeks of nonstop sun, accompanied by a week off. We're now back to reality and trying to think ahead. We need a place to store our garden stuff, and we've been planning to build a shed to round out the garden design since we moved in 5 years ago.
I love the way a shed, outbuilding or barn completes the landscape, giving plantings an opportunity to offset themselves from something.
A shed/garage/barn/studio/guest house is one of those items on our list. We've had two gorgeous weeks of nonstop sun, accompanied by a week off. We're now back to reality and trying to think ahead. We need a place to store our garden stuff, and we've been planning to build a shed to round out the garden design since we moved in 5 years ago.
I love the way a shed, outbuilding or barn completes the landscape, giving plantings an opportunity to offset themselves from something.
Cottage style sheds can range from country charm to craftsman cool and add so much visual interest (and function) to a yard. There's something about the way plantings offset themselves from the building, and how the roofline or an attached pergola gives vines a place to spread out.
Outbuildings can be storage sheds or childrens' playhouses. Either way, have fun with color and accessories.
Add a front porch to elevate a simple shed from the purely functional to charming.
Hydrangeas stand out even more when planted against the side of a cute cottage.
Refined, cottage or rustic, potting sheds and barns add charm to any yard.
The beauty of building a shed now, rather than two years from now, is that it in two years it will be nestled in lush garden growth.
I've always loved the idea of having a studio that could double as an indoor/outdoor dining room. Triple French doors connect this indoor space to the outdoors.
Modern custom or prefab sheds are all the rage and look like a great place to get away, take nap or write your novel.
Garages designed as coach houses and horse barns have an Old World charm that completes a home and garden. The simple and elegant structure, with square windows, carriage style doors, board and batten siding, and a metal roof illustrate the charm of simple materials and function.
Carriage-style doors and plantings elevates this garage from functional to beautiful.
Ah, the pool house. If only we could all be so lucky to have a pool, no less a pool house. This sort of outbuilding grounds the spaces and gives the pool area a wonderful focal point.
I love pool houses that have a style that reminds me of simple barn outbuildings. It's like a building that was always there called out to the homeowner that this is the perfect spot for a pool.
More:
14 Picture-Perfect Playhouses
Prefab Sheds: 7 Instant Backyard Getaways
Browse readymade sheds
More:
14 Picture-Perfect Playhouses
Prefab Sheds: 7 Instant Backyard Getaways
Browse readymade sheds
Lots of windows with divided lights, brakets, a barn star and French doors make this one-room shed a destination spot. I love the way the ferns and sitting area are defined by the architecture.