Black Barn Studio Reveal
It’s been a long time coming – our new studio space from SheShedz is finally revealed in our backyard!
Photography Mark Zeidler
BEFORE: A concrete driveway and an old rusted carport and lattice screen needed to be removed
PREPARING THE GROUND AND GARDENS
It’s always a good idea to reflect on what the space looked like. I can’t believe how much this space has transformed this year! To start with we removed the lattice fence topper, painted the fence in Dulux ‘Colorbond Night Sky’ – a very rich dark black. Before the shed was built, my partner Mark decided to get a headstart on the landscaping. We hired an excavator to come and rip up the old concrete driveway and about 20cm of dirt all the way along the side to the back (where the shed currently sits). We mapped out where the shed would sit, along with the shape of the garden path with a bit of rope to get the curves just right. It’s so much easier to see how the space will work by marking it all out on the ground first and physically walking around it to see there’s enough space for garden bed etc.
For the garden edging we used White’s OxyShield flexible garden edging from Bunnings. It naturally rusts over time and is easy to bend into curved shapes. You just use steel pegs to hold it into place. Mark wanted a sturdy base so filled the back area and garden path with road base gravel (about 8cm thick) and then compacted it with a compactor hired from Kennards Hire. And then we added a top layer of deco granite (about 8cm thick) and compacted that. Then the fun part – adding soil to the garden beds and planting everything. We used a lot of the same varieties of plants in our back garden (see this blog post for the full list).
DURING: We hired an excavator guy to come and dig up the old driveway and some of the dirt too for an even base.
DURING: We used Ekodeck screening for the garden edging in this grassed area. It’s too thin though so don’t recommend using for this purpose - it’s slighly bowed
DURING: We used White’s OxyShield flexible edging for the garden footpath
OUR SHESHEDZ STUDIO
Both me and Mark work from home which isn’t an ideal situation in a small house. We had always dreamed of having a backyard studio where Mark could work from and I can work in peace and quiet inside ha! We stumbled across SheShedz online and knew it was a perfect fit with it’s barn-like feel, pitched ceiling and exposed beams. We hired a carpenter to help us put it together – it’s a bit out of our skill set. It comes as a kit so you get everything you need to build it, including the roof shingles.
As it’s Mark’s work space he chose to paint it all black (Dulux ‘Colorbond Night Sky’) – yep even the internal walls and ceiling. Whilst I was a bit hesitant at first (every part of me wanted to paint it all white), I knew this was his space and he needed to feel comfortable inside it and besides it’s just paint – we can always paint it a different colour later on if we want.
Mark has a photography/videography business so he needed a space to work from. But he also wanted a chill-out space to listen to records in his spare time, and let me tell you this. He is out there all the time, in fact some nights I have to call him to see when he’s coming inside. He just loves this shed so much. A space all to himself. Plus it works for me, because I wouldn’t have let him paint the interior of our house all black! We customised our SheShed by adding a small deck, hooked it up to electricity and also added a ‘‘Universal’ gooseneck barn light from Barn Lights Australia (which instantly gave it that barn feel we wanted).
Whilst you can use this as a normal shed – it just felt ‘too good’ to be used for storing power tools and other junk! What I love about our SheShedz studio, is that it’s given us an extra room. It’s essentially turned our three bedroom house into four bedrooms with this addition. And we didn’t even need council approval because it’s only 9 square metres. Pretty good hey?
LET’S LOOK INSIDE
Things are about to get dark and moody! Whilst the black feels like a bold move, it really does let everything else ‘pop’ against the darkness. It also has a cocooning effect so it’s a pretty cosy space to be in. And most importantly, Mark loves it! Because it’s a small space we wanted to fit it out with plenty of storage. The ‘Billy’ bookcase with ‘Bottna’ display shelves from IKEA (pictured below) is one of his favourite pieces in the studio. It’s a place he can display and store all of his favourite magazines and design books.
Another requirement for the space was a music station. Mark loves listening to music so needed a spot to stash his record collection, and Pro-ject record player. He’s used the ‘Kallax’ shelving unit from IKEA to contrast against the black wall. Above it he rotates the albums on display, creating an ever-changing work of art.
S-fold curtains in ‘Pure Linen’ and blockout blind in ‘Eclipse Black’ from Online Blinds
WINDOW COVERINGS
Our shed is north facing so it really does get hit with a lot of natural sunlight for most of the day (thankfully the big trees next door provide some shade). But it was essential to get the window treatments right. We installed a blockout blind in ‘Eclipse Black’ to match the wall colour above the french doors. I also wanted to break up all of the black, and put in these beautiful S-fold curtains in ‘Pure Linen’ - they have a light weight backing on them so they’re more private than sheers but still let in some natural light as opposed to a full blockout curtain.
We have a push-out window above the bench seat and for this style of window I felt like a roman blind would be the best fit. It comes with a nickel roller similar in style to what comes with a roller blind so it’s easy to lower and lift. We chose ‘Harrow Barley’ fabric. All window coverings are from Blinds Online. I’ve used them in parts of our house too and they’ve got great pricing and a lot of fabrics to choose from.
We customised a ‘Besta’ TV unit from IKEA by adding a custom made bench seat cushion from Zenn Design. The green complements all of the pops of greenery throughout the room like in the art print from Juniper, the cactus decorations from IKEA and the plants also. We also purchased two IKEA ‘Ivar’ units and painted them in the same black as the walls and added tan leather handles from IKEA.
‘Fintorp’ hanging rail and hooks from IKEA. Everything is nicely organised thanks to a range of clever storage from IKEA.
There are so many smaller storage solutions in the shed, including this pegboard from IKEA. We’ve added the ‘Skadis’ range of hooks, containers, and shelf from IKEA too to keep smaller bits and pieces neatly organised. On both sides of the wall we’ve hung a ‘Mosslanda’ picture ledge. It’s a great spot to display art, small pot plants and decorator items. The plan is to rotate the artwork and change things up to suit Mark’s ever changing style.
Overall we are so thrilled with how it turned out. A space like this could be customised to suit almost any need. It could be a pool house, a home gym, a craft room, a home office – anything really! The possibilities are endless with this style of shed. What would you do with your very own SheShedz?