13 Inspiring Ideas for Backyard Sheds

As we reach the height of summer gardening season, you may be craving a better space for your tools and pots than that cluttered corner in the garage. Or perhaps you are at that point where your existing shed is a mess that seems beyond hope. Whether you're sketching out plans or dreading cleaning up, I have plenty of beautiful examples that show off some great ideas to help you get moving. Here are enviable garden sheds where I'd be happy to ruin a manicure.

1. Make your potting shed a garden folly. This stunning potting shed in Augusta, Georgia, adds elegance to the property with its formal style, weathered brick and custom windows. Its siting at the edge of the oval garden beyond the quatrefoil fountain recalls the way European landscapes have follies throughout.

Custom cabinets, a gravel floor and a workstation that includes a sink make it a dreamy retreat for a gardener.





2. Choose rustic materials that aren't too precious. This beautiful carriage house is new but was designed to look like a barn that might have served the Lowcountry property in another era. It serves many purposes, including holding cars, but my favorite is the beautiful potting shed.

Bin pulls, wood countertops and a brick floor give it charming antique style. It not only has room for preparing plants for the garden, but also has a sink so that the owners can prepare floral arrangements.


3. Add comfortable furniture. Over at Shy Rabbit Farm in New Hampshire, the new potting shed serves not only as a spot for tending to the herb garden, but also as a relaxing retreat for the homeowners.


A comfy chair provides a cozy spot for reading books and gardening magazines.

See the rest of this home


4. For a new shed, choose materials that work with your landscape. At Langhorne Lodge in New York, a charming stone potting shed plays off the property's beautiful stone walls. The adjacent Adirondack-style chicken coop suits the woodsy property to a T.








5. Make it modern. In this New Jersey backyard, a modern shed crafted of cedar siding, metal and copper plumbing pieces coordinates with the adjacent modern arbor.

Explore the rest of this landscape


6. Create connections between the shed and the main house. In Princeton, New Jersey, the landscape architects at Groundswell Design Group were tasked with creating a landscape that connected the historic main house to the 1800s potting shed. They crafted an arbor from vintage streetlamp posts, created a bluestone patio and added blue Amish-crafted doors to give the potting shed the presence it deserved.

See the rest of this landscape





7. Artfully arrange tools, ladders and other items. On this estate in the Berkshires, antique ladders, tools and carts add to the ambience. Neat shelves full of terra-cotta pots lend an organized look.





8. Borrow space from the house or garage. The door on the right gives easy access to a garden shed here. The interior has an ingenious organizing system.


9. Give yourself a tool silhouette guide. The tools on the right are easy to fit into their proper spots with the clever matching silhouettes.


How smart is that?


10. Try a kit shed. In this artist's garden, mini trellises, a sculpture and a door with a window add character to a simple kit.

The shed is perched between a dog run and an arbor in this terraced garden.

Check out more prefab sheds





11. Make it a greenhouse too. This beautiful conservatory works hard as a greenhouse, potting shed and sanctuary with a backyard view.





The greenhouse is decorated much like an outdoor room, mixed with interior accents, like the chandelier.


12. Consider cargotecture. Can you believe that this shipping container was transformed into a charming outbuilding? While the clever homeowners use it as a hay barn, it could easily be made into a potting shed.

Learn more about this amazing transformation





13. Look to rural buildings for wall inspiration. Reclaimed wood, unfinished walls, beadboard and board and batten siding are all wall treatments that lend the right look to potting sheds.

This was one of the most popular outbuilding photos on Houzz in 2012, so it must have just about everything right. The utilitarian sinks, barn lights, farm worktable and reclaimed wood-clad walls ooze charm.

Next: More great ideas for outdoor living | Inspiring backyard retreats

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