Garden House-Sprucing Up The Exterior

A couple of days ago I revealed the finished inside additions to the garden house and mentioned that I had plans for the exterior. Finished 80% so thought I would post. If you missed the post on the inside reveal, you can read it here. The only item left to cross off the” to do” list is a new light fixture. When I built it, I had to leave when the electrician came (big mistake, I should know better). When I returned he had hung the lantern by the door way too high. I had marked where I wanted it, but he took it upon himself to change it! Because the fixture is an upright one, it needed to be hung lower. So I am on the hunt for one that matches the one over the garage doors, and on super sale hopefully. Two years ago we made cedar shutters, painted them and mounted them on the house. It was long overdue, and was something that should have been done during construction. It made a huge difference. I always wanted them for the garden house as well.

Remember the redwood cabinets inside the garden house that I was so ready to get out of there? Well, I spent an entire day taking them apart, board by board. They were thick, solid redwood, all tongue and groove. Although they made ugly kitchen cabinets, then storage cabinets, the wood was too valuable to waste. So the first thing we did was make the garden house shutters with them. Cost-zero!

One of the BEFORE photos.  I was so happy to have these cabinets out of there. Disassembling them took hours. I ended up with a small bucket full of screws and nails. When the guy made them, it was overkill in the hardware department for sure. He needed a few lessons on joinery and also kitchen cabinet design. These were raw wood, and rough texture on parts. You can see how he used wood putty to try and cover the screw holes. I had to pry each one out, one by one.

Here they are, ready for a new life…….surgery first!

All that wood from just three cabinets.

We began my measuring and taking down the hayrack hanging basket and the iron work. It was badly faded, but in excellent condition otherwise. I have plans for it come Spring.

A clean slate to work with. I decided to make the shutters the combined length of the window height plus the trim around it. It would make the windows look less squat, and visually would be a good choice. I was kind of stuck with the size of the windows when designing it, because of the height of the counters on the inside.

These started out as tongue and groove boards. We left it as such in the middle but ripped the edges so they were flat, both left and right. I presanded, but did more after they were put together. The two smaller cross boards are screwed in from the back so there are no visible nails or screws.

I gave them three coats of a paint/primer combination. It was the same color and paint leftover from construction of the house shutters. It covered really, really well, and there was no bleed through at all after the first coat. I let the paint cure for a couple of days before we mounted them.

Keith mounting the first one.  On the right window you can see mounting blocks between the battens. It is already a nice difference, yes?

BEFORE….no shutters……

AFTER…….I have plans for under the windows,  and the door, and will post the results on that project tomorrow. I can’t wait to show you how it looks all finished!  First I have to clean and maybe re-stain a bit of the siding. Here you can also see what I mean about the light.

The weather has been beautiful all week and I cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed being able to tolerate being outside. Autumn is and always has been my favorite time of year. Weather is supposed to continue like this through the weekend….hurrah! Hope you all are enjoying terrific outdoor time as well. Thanks for stopping by.   Laters, charisse