Somehow a large garage and an unfinished basement aren’t enough storage for all our home improvement needs.  Hmmmm…I wonder why?!  Last summer Handy Hubby got the grand idea to build a shed in our backyard after it no longer resembled a swamp.  Once he got to looking at sheds (yeah, Handy Hubby had his own shed inspiration folder), he drew out a sketch.  Even on paper it looked BIG.  Everyone kept telling us, “That’s not a shed!  That’s a single-car garage!”  I didn’t want to disappoint, so I gave Handy Hubby the go ahead for a modern day barn-raising. 

*NOTE:  This will not be a tutorial.  Other than painting and holding a few boards, I had very little to do with this project.  I was the one keeping the kids preoccupied.  This is merely a meager attempt at documenting the construction…mostly in photos.*

Because I didn’t want to spend the entire summer not seeing Handy Hubby, he kindly offered to hire out for the construction of a concrete pad.  (Yes, this “shed” was to have a foundation.)  To make a long story short, we got screwed by the contractor in charge of framing and pouring the concrete foundation.  We were left high and dry.  Or shall I say, low and whopper-jawed.  The framing was all out of whack.

However, I really do believe that everything happens for a reason.  And the reason we got wrangled by a contractor was to have the opportunity to beg all our manly neighbors over for some good ol’ fashion fun.  (My dad got in on the action too.) 

As early as they got up on a Saturday morning…as dirty as they got getting covered with wet cement…as much time as they spent bent over in horrific postural positions…I think they really did have fun.  They won’t ever admit it though.  Like I said, they’re manly.

Then it was onto framing out the actual shed.  Some pictures…(because I couldn’t tell you anything else about this step other than that my little boys cling to me at the sound of a circular saw)…

I’m sorry, Handy Hubby.  These few pictures fall short of all the hard work you put into this project.  Late weekday nights and even later weekend ones.

We’re lucky that my dad is a professional roofer.  He cut and bent all the flashing and put on the shingles.  It was kinda fun to see him up on a roof again like I remember from when I was little.

And because we’re fans of the Third Little Pig who opted for a brick house, we hired out to have brick laid on the front of the shed.  The brick layer was awesome…not like the foundation contractor.  He showed up on time, did exactly what he said he would do for the exact amount of money that he quoted us and cleaned up after himself.  You win some; you lose some.

A shed with pillar columns?!  It was all Handy Hubby’s idea to make it look like our house.  The columns match the ones on our front porch.  Added storage features like the loft area over the shed porch and the roll-up garage door (for the riding lawn mower that Handy Hubby doesn’t have but dreams of) make the most of this useful out building. 

We’re so very fortunate to have had gracious friends, family members and neighbors help out with the construction.  There’s a little piece of every one of them in that shed.  My favorite pieces?  The shutters, the gable over the man door and the open porch.

Handy Hubby (and Friends, Inc.) got it done just before winter set in last year then he locked it up.  He’s looking forward to organizing it this summer.  I’ve been warned by others that this may include running electricity from the house to the shed, putting in a mini-fridge, setting up a twin bed and changing the locks.  Behold.  The Man Shed.

We moved into our Midwestern house during the cold month of December.  Not your typical moving season but we did it nonetheless.  This was one of the first wintry sunsets as seen from the back of our house.

A word to the wise though:  something could be hiding under all that snow!  Once spring hit and everything thawed, to our surprise we were left with this in our backyard…

Little did we know that our new backyard harbored a small marsh.  We jokingly started telling people that we lived on a lake. 

I think it’s quite ridiculous that the builder even sodded up to the marsh.  (Our home is a “spec” home which means it was complete at the time we purchased it.  We did not pick the lot or any house materials.)

According to our neighborhood developer, rain water was supposed to be draining down through the back of our yard into an adjacent neighbor’s yard outfitted with a drainage tile.  Obviously, that wasn’t happening. 

Other than the fact that it was an eyesore, it was also a breeding ground for mosquitos.  We wouldn’t let our boys play out back for fear of them getting eaten up by those bloodsuckers.  We went back and forth with the builder to fix the problem and eventually they did.  They built up the low spot (i.e. the swampy marshland) with topsoil and laid sod.

Much better.  Our kids can now play in their own backyard!

So, why am I telling you all this?  Well, we’ve had some major undertakings outside these past few weeks and I want to share them with you.  But I want you to know what we started out with first…a swampy, sunken backyard.  It’s taken us 3 springs to get our yard in order – not to mention a lot of water.  This week is devoted to showing you those changes.  Tomorrow’s feature will focus on the backyard again but we’ll get around to the front porch eventually!  Hang tight.