Deconstruction: David van Alphen’s Modern Shed
You might remember David van Alphen’s name from his Friday Five back in January. I invited him for our Deconstruction column because he built a fantastic modern shed in his backyard for just about $3000 without using a kit. I’ve been watching his progress for quite some time and hoped that he’d be up for sharing the project with you. Check out the process photos and David’s story, which might inspire you to build your own modern outdoor shed this Spring.
When we moved into our beautiful little ranch house, this is what was in the back yard. At first I thought it was a cute little shed but after further inspection, I saw that it was falling apart. Wood was rotting, walls were leaning and the floor was sinking.
Once I decided to replace the shed I decided that I would build a new studio in it’s place. As I said earlier, our beautiful mid-century house is small. This was my current working condition with my studio in the boys playroom. I think that’s all that needs to be said on that situation. I did some searching on the web and came across www.modern-shed.com. I loved the look of them but didn’t have the extra $11,000 to buy a prefab. So I decided I would build it on my own trying to keep the cost under $2500.
The first thing I started with was to remove the barn doors the front of the shed. After doing this, I realized how unstable the structure was and decided to call the professionals!
So I called the great guys at 1-800-GOT-JUNK. They actually offered to tear down the structure for me for FREE. Who wouldn’t want to do demo for free. If I wasn’t scared of knocking down my new fence, I would have been happy to. After they tore it down, I went through the pieces of scrap and salvaged as much of the wood as I could. Unfortunately because of the condition, it wasn’t much. Total cost for demo and haul-away — $275. Well worth it.
Since the old shed was on an angle, I had to move some dirt around to get the ground even again. I put cinder blocks in the ground underneath where the concrete corners to help keep the new studio from sinking. After everything was level, I built the floor using pressure treated wood to keep it from rotting. Then I laid the plywood down. Floors done!
Then, the first wall went up. Within a couple hours, I had all four walls up. My wife Vicki give it the wind test by blowing on it. We do live in the windy City. Gotta be careful.
With the four walls up. Time to put the door in. I decided to spend a little extra on a nice glass exterior door to get the most light in. After the door was secure, up went the roof. This was definitely the most challenging part. I had to call the neighbor over to help me lift it onto the structure.
It was also tricky to figure out exactly where it would lay and make sure that all my dimension were right.
Once the frame was in place and everything was level, It was time to put the walls up. I used .75” plywood since I was routing grooves into them to give it the look of planks.
If you look closely, you can see the one that hasn’t been routed yet on the end. It was actually easier too to route the boards when they were already up.
My wife wanted a front stoop to have her morning coffee. I guess I could have made it a little bigger for her.
I built the AC unit right into the wall to save window space and make it less distracting.
Now for the electrical. This is always fun and exciting. Yeah, right. I actually had my dad out to help me with that so that I didn’t wake up to a midnight bonfire in my back yard.
Took a little break from building and painted the front door. It is actually the same color as the front door of the house.
As I mentioned earlier, I have two little boys. So I thought it would be best to use Plexiglas. I also filled in all the cracks between the plywood.
Now that the outside is done, time to get to work inside. Up with the drywall.
One of my WTF was I thinking moments.
To save money, I decided to just stain the floor an espresso color. I also built a desk to run the length of the room and painted all the trim the same espresso color.
Now that the interior is done, it’s time to paint the outside. I put two coats of a khaki primer on that my neighbor gave me.
After the primer was dry, I painted the trim and routing grooves the same espresso color as the inside and painted the rest a cream color. I think the color scheme goes really well with the little Zen garden I made the Spring before.
Interior view of the couch area, the desk with drawers and mini fridge. I still haven’t moved all the art supplies out yet which is why it looks so clean.
The last detail was the sconce on the outside. It actually took me about two months to find the right one that had a nice modern look and cost under $500! I got this for about $100. The final size of the studio is 8′ x 12′ and with all the extras I spent about $3000 total. Without the AC, fridge and other details, I could have easily come in under my $2500 goal.
SO impressive! The space looks like a wonderful place to work.
Did you install ANY interior lighting, or is it all based on natural light?
If so, does it become problematic on a particularly cloudy day?
Just judging from my experience with construction, it seems like it would work out quite well though. I am 15 kinds of envious of that backyard / shed though – it looks exactly like somewhere I would want to live. And props for the budgeting – for perspective I just built a computer for about the same price as that entire shed with extras. =/
Were there any zoning issues with running electricity to the new structure?
Were there any building code requirements to deal with?
Gorgeous. I guess I have the same questions about zoning/code issues as others. It looks very nice, and I’m sure you’re enjoying the space.
Great job. Excellent space to work in. Be proud ! Wonderful job
and thanks for posting the progress pics.
Thank you guys for the nice comments. As far as the lighting, I have a floor lamp in the corner and a little desk light which is plenty. During the day I don’t need to use and because I get the morning light thru the front door and top windows from the East.
As far as permits, every place is different but in most, if it is under 100sq. ft. you don’t need a permit. Because I ran electrical…well…let’s just say I didn’t know I was suppose to and leave it at that.:)
David what size is the door and what height did you max at?
Great post, I work in a garden office and love it. We often get asked to create them for our clients as well – you can see some on our web-site at http://www.earthdesigns.co.uk. There is a lok of garden office type products on the market now as more and more people seem to be chosing to work from home or the interior space is stretched.
I think you might want to at least attribute the company whose design that you “followed”.
http://www.modern-shed.com/index.html
Ah I see the attribution now….apologies for the rapid scanning.
We’ve been thinking about doing the same thing ourselves. Looks great! Just wondering, how are you heating the shed?
Beautiful! I would love one of these as a little hermitage in my yard… if I had a yard, that is.
Did you install anything as far as moisture barrier in the floor or walls?
From a proper design and construction review standpoint, I am glad it is a shed and not a living space. Definitely not standard construction (and a big part of the cost difference.) All in all, a nice project – congrats.
good
To answer a few of your questions, I have a small plug-in radiator. Since it is only 100 sq. ft. it doesn’t take much to heat the room. As far as moisture, I used pressure treated wood for the floor. ts- ummm…thanks.
Great job! I’m sure you’re happy you didn’t try to redo the old shed, and went with the new one, eh?
Very creative, very artistic.
Looks great. I’m looking to do something similar and I was wonder where you sourced the windows for the top?
Can you send me a close up view of the Plexi in between your Board and the name of the sconce.
Thanks
Brad
Excellent, excellent project! I’m definitely making one of these for a man cave/dog house. Can you post details of the roofing? I live in Florida, does anyone know how to make this project more moisture resistant?
I really LOVE your office! You did a great job. I was wondering what color (and where you got it) is your front door? Thanks!
Did you only paint the exterior? The modern shed uses hardi plank. $$$. Will the wood last long without siding? Nice work!
Beautiful design and finish. I have to redo a metal shed and I like the slanted flat roof with windows.
I love it. Any chance you have building plans that you followed? I’d love a copy so I can build my own.
This is awesome. How long did it take you to build it? Did you only do it on weekends? I need plans for my county before I can get a permit. Do you have anything you can share?
Great job! What an inspiration.
for the external walls, did you just prime and and paint or did you seal the wood with anything? did you use pressure treated plywood for the outside?
David 2 things on your shed, what size is that door and what is the max height at your pitch? Thanks
Wow, this is EXACTLY what I have in mind for my backyard storage shed. Brilliant solution for the $$ Hardie Planks!
Questions:
1. What size router bit did you use for the grooves in the plywood.
2. You said it was easier to route once the walls were up. What did you use for a straight edge?
3. How far apart did you space the grooves?
4. Any chance for a closeup shot of the finished roof?
What material did you use to finish the roof? Very cool project.