This post was last updated on June 17th, 2020 at 10:27 am
There are many other practical and leisure uses that a storage shed can be put to than just using it as somewhere to keep your spades, pots, and seeds. A shed doesn’t have to be restricted to storing gardening items.
Sheds can provide you with a base to run a business from home, somewhere you can enjoy a hobby or exercise routines, or a retreat where you can relax and escape from the kids once in a while. And that’s just a few of the possible uses of a shed.
What could YOU use this 10 x 12 space for?
A shed truly can be a multi-use building suitable for all kinds of leisure or business projects.
The size and type of your shed may limit what you can use it for but with a bit of imagination, the sky’s the limit.
Here are some examples of how modern outdoor sheds have been used in a completely different role to that of a garden shed.
Artist's Studio, Craft Workshop, Hobby Den
If you are creative, whether as an artist, a crafter or a hobbyist, you will welcome the additional space that your own workshop can provide. You will have a decent sized work area, somewhere you can leave incomplete projects to work on another time, as well as having plenty of storage space for all your materials and accessories.
These activities tend to use a lot of supplies and being able to organize everything you use, just the way you want, it is a great advantage.
A custom shed design can provide you with somewhere to focus on your creativity. An ideal workshop away from the typical day-to-day distractions of life indoors. You can create your very own tranquil haven with all the peace and quiet you need to pursue your interest.
Bar Shed / Pub Shed
It is a simple concept and one that is challenging the ‘Man Shed’ in popularity. Create your very own bar in a shed. Simple!
It can be any size - large enough to have a pool table perhaps, or smaller with only a few bar stools. Maybe small enough to contain shelves of bottles and a few optics.
It doesn’t matter. What is important is that you bring out your personality in the designing of your bar shed.
You will create a space for entertaining family and friends in a relaxing and personal environment.
Home Business
Running a business from home can sometimes become complicated when domestic life intrudes on business life. The two usually need to be separated for the business side to operate efficiently. It can also be difficult expanding a business when running it from within your home environment.
When you run out of space indoors, an alternative way to expand and re-organize is to set up your business in a suitably sized home office shed in your backyard. You’ll have room to grow your venture and be away from all the usual domestic distractions indoors.
Home Gym
A real alternative to expensive gym memberships would be to use a suitably sized shed as a home gym or exercise area. You'll need a shed big enough to house exercise equipment and one that you can strengthen the floor to handle the extra weight. Read more here: Using a Shed as a Home Gym
Home Spa
You could have a family spa in a shed. How cool is that? It would involve a fair bit of work, of course. You'll need plumbing as well as an electricity supply wired in. You'll need to ensure the shed has good insulation and ventilation too, but with careful planning, you could achieve a feature that would make you the envy of your friends.
Kids Play House Area
It’s not just parents who need some extra space. Sheds can make ideal play areas for kids if kitted out imaginatively. Bright colors and fittings can help inspire children’s imaginations and increase play value. Somewhere for the kids to hang out away from the house can be particularly useful on a wet day when they are stuck indoors.
'Man Cave' or 'She Shed'
A man cave can be whatever you want it to be. A unique refuge to ‘do your own thing’ - set up the exercise equipment, mess around with automotive parts, watch the game in peace, have a beer or two. Anything goes.
And the ladies have as much right to a ‘special space’ as the men. I’ve seen some great decked-out she sheds. They have been either fitted out as a sanctuary offering some solitude for reading or a bit of shut-eye or as somewhere to pursue a hobby and release personal creativity.
Whether you clear out an old shed or buy a new shed kit, you can customize as much as you want.
Music Room
A shed can also provide a convenient place to practice a musical instrument. You will need to ensure the interior is light, warm and dry, and is fully sound-proofed.
Pets Housing
Wooden sheds make ideal housing for small furry pets. They are easy to fit out with multiple play and sleep areas for the animals, providing them with a better quality of life than just being caged. Pet supplies can be stored close to the pets, and soiled bedding kept for disposal.
Our ferrets Hawk and Kes had a three-level ferret court in the garden with an adjacent aviary style area where they could run around and climb. In the winter, though, we created a wooden tunnel that ran from their play area round the garden fencing to the shed, where they could enter and bed down in another hutch when the weather was unusually cold for them.
In Conclusion...
Most of these uses for a shed would ideally require you to strip everything out to do a full refurbishment, making sure the shed was clean and dry.
Walls, floor, and roof interior would all need to be cleaned and repaired where necessary, insulation and ventilation improved, a power supply installed, and a fresh coat of paint given to create a new fresh look.
These ideas show you can use a storage shed in so many different ways. How will you use yours?