Many of us learned lessons during the pandemic, especially in the early stages when various states and countries were under some form of lockdown. We may have learned a new hobby or skill. Perhaps we learned we weren't as introverted as we thought (or maybe the opposite). Most parents learned a whole new level of parenting challenge as they tried to pick up homeschooling skills.
One of the lessons I learned: if I am in the house, it does not matter how many other adults are available, my children will ask me for whatever it is they need or want. Prince Charming is a great support in every way. He cheerfully takes care of the children so I can write. But they will still come ask me. After one day of frustration, my husband jokingly suggested I use the garden shed as an office. I brushed it off at first. The garden shed is an old one-car garage. There is siding that needs replaced, cracks in the cement floor, and it is dark in there.
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| Front view of the garden shed |
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| Interior view of the garden shed |
But after a while the idea siezed my brain. Why not fix up the garden shed into an office? I started running some quick numbers. Cost of siding, drywall, windows, etc. Prince Charming came home from work and I said, "I've been thinking about what it would cost to turn the garden shed into an office." I handed him my estimates. "I know it's not in the budget right this moment, but what do you think? We could even put in the kennel area for Dante that you want in the garage, and it would cost less than doing the garage, plus give me a space to work uninterrupted."
Prince Charming did some additional math and agreed this would be a great solution to both problems. We agreed to put together a budget for it. Thanks to the second stimulus package, we've been able to start moving forward sooner than expected.
New doors have been ordered, along with siding, windows, wood beams, an air conditioning/heating unit, and various other tools and supplies.
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| New door with a window! |
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| Siding to replace the front boards. |
We're still waiting on some of the supplies to come in, but Prince Charming has already gotten to work clearing out the shed and taking out the unneeded shelves.
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| Prince Charming cleaning up the shed. |
We also got some help from our local LDS missionaries in getting the grooves in the current good parts of the siding scraped and ready to repaint. (And don't worry, everyone worse masks and practiced social distancing while they were here.)
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| Thanks to our missionaries for helping! |
All in all, it's going to be a big project. The exterior needs some work, including replacing some of the siding and definitely fresh paint. The interior will need to be insulated, have new electric lines run to it, drywall put in, and painted. I also plan on having a good amount of bookshelves and storage cabinets put in. Prince Charming and I are looking to do this ourselves, as much as possible. Each month, I'll put up a blog post showing you the progress we've made. I look forward to showing you the completed She Shed! For now, I'll just wrap up with some more before pictures. What projects do you have for 2021?
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| Back view of the shed. |
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| North wall. This has the most damage, but will eventually have wall to wall, floor to ceiling bookshelves with a window and cozy window seat. |
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| East wall. My desk will go in the right corner. |
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| South wall. Dante's kennel will go on the west side. This area will have storage shelves and counters. |
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