STILLA Backyard Tool Shed Reveal
Our cute backyard garden/tool shed from STILLA is finished and I’m sharing my tips on how to organise a compact space.
Photography Mark Zeidler
‘Ivar’ shelving unit, ‘Ivar’ drawers and ‘Ivar’ hooks from IKEA
BEFORE: Old tin shed had to go!
We originally had an old tin shed out the back (pictured opposite). Even though it was bigger than my new shed, it wasn’t organised – everything was strewn all over the floor. Oh and it was filled with geckos and cockroaches galore, and even a small snake was spotted under the paved floor of the shed (does it get any scarier). So it was an easy decision to get rid of it – we listed it on Gumtree for free and of course it got snapped up straight away. Not only did it save us money in demolition costs, it’s a good feeling knowing someone else can get use out of it and not creating more waste in the world.
I looked around a bit for a new garden shed, and I stumbled across STILLA’s sheds at Bunnings. I hopped onto their website to see the full range and loved their selection. I’ve always loved the look of a timber shed over a tin one. They just have a sturdiness and timelessness to them that really appealed to me. We had a small space for the shed so I opted for the Birch 6x3 shed (1.9m long x 0.9m wide). I liked that it was narrow, but knew I had to be clever with storage to make all our stuff fit. Luckily our lawnmower is a light battery-powered one and the handles fold down, so it actually fits neatly inside on the floor, along with our line trimmer (not shown in these images because let’s be honest fluro yellow/lime Ryobi tools are so not attractive haha).
I find timber sheds so easy to personalise. We painted ours and had a carpenter add some timber battens to give the insides of the doors a barn-like feel. We also got him to line the back wall with cheap pegboard from Bunnings. I painted the shed exterior and interior in Dulux Colorbond Night Sky to blend in with the fence and picked up a sample pot of Taubmans ‘Blue Shamrock’ paint to affordably change the insides of the doors and the timber crates from IKEA. I like the idea of changing these up in the future when I get sick of the duck egg blue and it’s pretty cheap to do so!
I knew I could fit all of my gardening and power tools, tins of paint, lawnmower and other bits and bobs in a smaller size shed if I used the space smartly. I’ve used a tall open ‘Ivar’ shelving unit from IKEA combined with a pegboard wall and hooks on the side walls to get everything off the floor and at eye level. There’s even a narrow shelf (installed with black brackets to disappear into the wall) for our Ryobi power tools.
Smaller and not so pretty items are stashed away inside the ‘Ivar’ drawers, ‘Knagglig’ crates and ‘Klamtare’ boxes from IKEA. And wall hooks get things like the shovels off the ground and easy to reach. Everything’s so much easier to find now.
Pegboard and pegboard hooks from Bunnings
Curry plant inside of a tin bucket from Target.
I absolutely love our STILLA shed. It comes as a kit so anyone handy can put it together themselves. And because it’s timber it’s easy to customise and make it your own. The possibilities are endless – imagine hooking this little shed up to electricity and turning it into an outdoor bar/drinks shed by a pool. They’ve got plenty of other size sheds too for those who have more to store, plus a range of work studios, cubby houses, pergolas and even a chicken coop!
Watch the video below.
