There are again many ways of doing things and the reason I keep saying this is when it comes to design there is no wrong way, just different ways. So when it comes to finishing your shed you could paint it with a good exterior paint or stain it with an exterior stain. The difference between the two is paint builds a protection on the surface and stain penetrates the wood and protects more from within. Another difference that will also determine which you use is dependent on the color and finish you wish to achieve. Stains tend to have a flat finish and don’t come in bright colors while with paint you could achieve bright colors and a gloss finish. I like to use stains for the penetrating aspect and they work well for a mat finish which will give a natural look and help it blend into my back yard. I am going to use a brown stain to the whole exterior of my shed with a little darker brown on the trims just for a little contrast.
Tip: Don’t cheap out on the finish. The better the quality paint or stain you use the more it will insure your shed is around and looking good for a long time.
Go to your local paint supply store and get advice from them on the products they have available and which one you wish to use. Also, guys, do what the instructions say to do for your particular product. Prep the walls correctly and use a good primer when painting. All these details are important if you want a shed that lasts.
To the right is a picture of a shed painted red with white trim and it looks great. You will notice there are some differences in the design. It is taller with 6’ high walls and has a small window over the door.

This brings me to some options.
1. You could easily do the same thing all you need to do is adjust the height of the side walls and the amount of siding needed to cover those walls and the rest is the same.
2. You could use the building for a play house for your kids instead of as a shed. For this you might like to have only a single door in the front and inside build a loft with a ladder up to it for them to get up on and look out the upper window (if the shed was built taller like the picture). You might also use a window that would open.
3. You could use this for a pump house for your pool equipment or a change room. You could also put some solar panels on the roof to heat your pool and extend the days it could be used in the spring and in the fall. It would look great beside a pool.
4. You could use some corrugated clear fiberglass or Lexan panels on the roof instead of shingles and make it into a small green house to get your plants going early in the spring and ready to go into your garden.

The ideas are numerous and these suggestions are only to stimulate your mind and help you to be creative. I am pleased with how my shed project turned out, how about you?

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We are coming down the home stretch as we have our foundation, floor, walls, trusses, sheeting and shingles all done. We need some doors, a window and to install some trims.
Let’s tackle the doors first. We framed our opening for the doors 6’ high and 4’ wide so we need to doors 24 w 72 h well almost. We need some room for hardware and function ability so we will make our door 23 5/8” wide and 71 1/4” high. If we cut 2 pieces of plywood the same material you used to sheet the walls of the shed, (we used decorative plywood sheeting that looks like vertical boards) and then apply 1×4” pine boards around each panel on either side and horizontally across the middle then we have our door panels. For extra effect make a criss-cross of 1×4 pine in the outside of each door on the bottom section. This really looks good. Now install 1×4” pine around the door opening.
Tip: Make sure that when you install these that you keep them 48” apart top, bottom and middle and that the distance from the floor to the bottom of the 1×4” that goes across the top is 72” and that they are straight.
Now install the hinges on the doors approx. 7” down from the top of the door and 10” up from the bottom of the door. The hardware stores sell hinges that are made for exterior use and they are often painted black to prevent them from rusting. Now we are ready to install the doors. They will swing out as this gives the maximum space inside for storing things. When you screw the doors to the jamb you may need help but maintain about ¼” space from the door to the jamb and about ¼” in between the doors with nice equal space all around. If you have done this correctly your doors will swing nicely and not rub on the jamb or on each other. Now install a 1×2” pine stop on the inside of your doors as a stop. This will run the full width of the opening at the top and down each side.
Tip: close one door so that the face of the door is even with the face of the trim board at the top. Hold it there while you nail the top stop in the middle of the opening.
Now, still holding the door shut against the stop, nail the rest of the stop maintaining an eight of an inch space from the door over to the hinge side. Now do the same with the opposite door. The hinge stop can be nailed on the hinge sides of the doors also maintaining a 1/8” space between the door and the stop. You need to choose which door you want to be more fixed and which will be the operator. Use a barrel bolt to pin the door you have chosen to be fixed into the header and then you can use a door handle or just a simple hasp that you can use a lock in to hold the other door shut.
To complete the construction of our shed we need to install a 1×4 pine vertically on each side of each corner to trim it off with the ends ones bumping up into the facer boards we installed before we put the roof on. If you want you could install extra vertical trim boards wherever you think they would look good to finish off our project. I know it looks great.
Next time I will talk about putting some finish on it and some extra and some optional ideas.

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