We have been working on our house for 2 years now and its finally nearing completion.
When we first moved here, we stayed in our camper while working our our house.
You see people staying in campers all the time when they first move to the country to homestead and as a general rule, they all seem so happy...
I'm here to tell you, its a farce!
These jokers are trying to sell you a vacuum cleaner!
Because it sucks!
As such, we ended up moving into our house early and out of our camper sooner than we had initially planned on.
Since then, we have been playing a juggling act with all our possessions. Moving them from one area to the next as we work on that spot and so on.
A month or so back the game played its final hand.
It just couldn't go any farther. More room was needed. But what to do? Funds were non-existent..
When legs are short, minds must cover the distance.
'Time to get creative.' I thought, with the right idea I may yet hit two birds with one stone.
This reasoning gave birth to the $30 Shed.
Lumber wasn't an issue, thanks to the 12 loads I got free, (See Craigslist Part 2 Post) but conventional building styles were out. This would be a build all its own.
By far, the hardest part of this build was lugging up all the lumber on my back, but it was worth it as we only spent $30 total and as far as hitting two birds with one shed, we gained some much needed storage space as well as put a sizable dent in our lumber pile.
We began by setting the posts.
Then building the floor. Luckily, we had enough 2x6's, but the "flooring" had to be comprised of 7 pieces. Then I built the roof out of privacy fence panels. The walls were 2x3's we ripped down from 2x4's using the scraps for roof rafters.
The windows were pulled out of a dumpster the year before last and had previously been used to cover the cold frames we started our seedlings in before we built the greenhouse.
The siding is mainly pallet boards with some fencing slats.
All in all, it might have taken a week... but there's just one of me!
Upon completion, the most surprising thing I found was how many chairs we own!
This shed would not be at home in a city.. but out here it adds beauty and diversity.
-'The Digger
When my firstborn was two, we lived in a rental home in urban PDX. One day, my little boy was playing with a ball, which he inadvertantly kicked into a busy street. Naturally, he chased after it.
Too far to reach him before he reached traffic on our unfenced rental home, I screamed at the top of my lungs, and managed to get his attention, which I retained as I was sprinting towards him with every erg I could muster.
The next day I had a fence, made of pallets donated by local factories sympathetic to my plight.
Soon we had a 1974 66 passenger Schoolbus, our ticket to somewhere else, where there was no traffic.
I love pallets to this day.
I used to have more pallets than I knew what to do with when I worked shipping at a Chevy dealership. I was always turning them into furniture, fences, and had plenty of dry firewood out of them.
Boosing your REAL comment with an upvote.
I knew a guy who somehow was able to get the wooden blocks they used to keep cars from rolling about at sea when they shipped them to the USA. He had an amazing variety of exotic hardwoods (in 4x4 less than 2' long) which he used in various crafts.
Still jelly today LOL
Glad to hear it! Its only getting busier out there.. You did good to get out!
My kids are now profiting from their early adventures in that Schoolie. During their formative years, they pretty much consigned me to Hell as a cruel and tyrannical psychopath, who made them work, work, work, refused to have TV, and was pretty much the source of all misery they knew.
Now, they find life easy, and are beginning to understand what I did for them. At least those that will still talk to me =p
Oh my goodness! I can only imagine the fear and adrenaline you had! A 1974 Schoolbus sounds like a perfect solution! ☺️
We named her 'Any', because Any is enough.
Any had a woodstove that worked superbly, and if properly stoked, would literally glow with heat. I remember my second son scampering about one morning clad in nothing but a diaper shortly after we given a 50% paper interest in a 2 acre parcel of raw forest near Pacific City, Oregon, and blithely scooting past the stove glowing dully red with incredible heat.
That also was a moment of terror, and within minutes there was a barrier, and two days later a propane heater (safe for use inside) that I paid off with labor at an RV repair place.
It would be difficult to describe all the mistakes I made, or how valuable those mistakes were, because that is how I learned not to do those things.
Edit: boy, trying to grammar before the coffee is also a mistake XD
Awesome shed, it looks like it would make a great hunting blind as well
There are plenty of deer here ;)
Now THAT'S AN IDEA!!!
"Shed" you say... tranquil writing cabin, I say. A veritable getaway in the woods and with a very Walden feeling. Great job! It's bursting with character and charm!
Quite impressive!! I love the 2 birds with one stone - using up all that lumber AND getting a pretty sweet one-of-a-kind shed to solve your storage woes! A+ work!
Thanks!
Good job on repurposing that material. Rustic appeal for a wooded area and excellent use for material. Looking forward to seeing more of that homestead.
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Were kind of jacks of all trades haha so theres plenty more on the way! Thank you!
Way to go. Necessity is the mother of invention. Being uncomfortable can really motivate.Happy for you! 🐓🐓
It sure can!
Nice job! How many sheds have windows??
Not sure.. But ours has four! :) Thanks
Now that's the way to build a shed! All scrounged material and your own labor. It looks quite functional. You'll have it full of crap in no time. LOL
haha mostly there
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Love the honesty! 😂 I've always thought that if I had to live in a camper I could and would, but never imagined it would be a joyful experience.
I keep trying to teach my family that it doesn't matter how long things take to do, just keep persisting and it will get done, but they usually give up. The feeling of accomplishment is all the better once a big job is finished. I think you did well to complete it in a week. It would probably have taken me a month! Kidding, more like ten weeks! 😂
So, how many chairs do you have?
There is six in this little 6x8 shed haha! One office chair and five antique wooden ones.. Now.. Ill say this a really large camper would be a different ballgame.. But there not cheap!
wow great job sir! Thats impressive work, what a beautiful setting.
Thank you!
I am impressed! 👍 Love your ingenuity. I agree that it could serve as a perfect tranquil cabin once your house is complete?! I'd love to see the house you've been building! We're doing something similar.
It will be a little while but we may! We started with nothing.. I mean less then four walls nothing!.. But its coming along.
We purchased a lot last year with an old house we have to demolish. (Not at all inhabitable) We built a very tiny 100 sqft cabin so we can stay in on weekends as we work. We have a goal of 4 years to start living and building a home there. The adventure is so exciting.
Were no stranger to small spaces! The camper was a bit much to say the least.. But our home is around 600 square feet and is very comfortable, thanks in large part to eight foot walls and even higher ceilings in some rooms.
We would love to build 500sq ft but we'll have to overcome the by laws to make it work. Currently there is an 800 minimum sq ft by law in place to build. Makes me furious!!! 😤
Ah! Yes, I hate that.. Were wanting to look at some places that don't have building codes for our next place... Or at least very few.
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Nice place for some preps ;0)
;)
nice work !
Thanks!
Nice job! Necessity is the mother of invention. Recycle, reuse, reduce all that wood! could use a pile like that right about now. Need to build a new chicken coop and rabbit hutch...
i have built two since we picked up the free wood, one is for a rooster (don't have at the moment) and the other will shortly house our male rabbit in it. ill see if i cant snap some photos later for a post
Working on that post now, should be up tonight!
Great post! It feels good when you can build things for free, I made a post about building a fence out of pallets that you may find useful for your project. Have a wonderful day!
Thank you! They really do have 101 uses if your creative!
We made a shed out of pallets as well but used clear fiberglass for the roof which gave it a natural light. Good job on yours.
Oh cool! I bet you could use that as a green house! Working on puting the final touches on ours. (green house)
"A cabin in the woods". I think we should start this here in our country too.
well it's dead cheap if not easy :)
Thats great love seeing the use of preloved items being refurbished into something useful. On the chair front I hear yah... LOl... Have a few stored for safe keeping. like six... antique pieces
Well great minds think alike!! Four of ours are from when they cleaned out a "mansion" above where i worked a few years back.. Many wonderful things we found in that dumpster!! Haha, ours are or were made in Yugoslavia.. Don't know that that means anything but there nice chairs!
I already follow you follow me please thank you