Doug and Tamara were in the market for a small storage shed when they visited the Columbus Dispatch Home and Garden Show in 2019. A large building for a personal retirement and hangout shed wasn’t on the radar, just a simple shed. But, as we all know, Home and Garden Shows are a bit “dangerous.” It turns out that Doug and Tamara “fell in love” with more than just a basic storage shed when they visited our booth at the show. Here is the story of how a shed became their hangout and personal vacation spot right on their own property.

Retirement doesn’t mean just sitting around and doing nothing for Doug and Tamara. Doug, retired from 37 years in IT,  still works full-time in Accounts Payable.  Tamara, who is retired from a career as a Buyer in manufacturing, now works as an office coordinator. But, in the evenings or on the weekends, it’s not unusual for them to jump on the golf cart and ride down to their personal retreat shed, nestled in a beautiful grove of 80+ cottonwood trees. It is here where the retirement life kicks in.

Falling in Love with a Shed

The 12×28 Cottage Shed on their property was a display building in our booth at the Home and Garden Show in 2019. For display purposes we had painted the interior and set it up nicely inside. When Doug and Tamara walked through the shed, their creative wheels started spinning. “When I walked through it, I thought ‘Oh boy this a lot of room’ and I fell in love with it,” said Doug. “I didn’t know that she had fallen in love with it also until we talked later.”

As they started talking about it, they got the inspiration that a shed like this could be a little “vacation” cabin right on their own property. The trip to their favorite vacation area in Tennessee was becoming almost more stressful than relaxing and Doug and Tamara thought it would be great to have a getaway space right in their own backyard.

They purchased the shed from us and we delivered it soon after the show. “We were really pleased with the whole process,” they said. “It was excellent and we would highly recommend Beachy Barns to anybody.”

After delivery, Doug and Tamara built a dividing wall (using some beautiful barnwood panels and old barn doors) to separate the building into a 10×12 storage area and a 10×18 living/hangout space. They also added a screen door on one end so they could open the door on nice evenings without mosquitoes coming in.

After they put in some laminate flooring, Tamara worked her magic with furnishing the interior space and adding beautiful touches. She purchased some wicker furniture, turned an old desk/table into a rolling island, strung up some battery operated lights, and added a dining set and area rug to complete the space.

It turned out beautiful!

A Vacation Spot At Home

Doug and Tamara are putting their shed to good use. They often load up a home cooked meal onto the golf cart and drive down to their adjoining lot to spend the evening relaxing in their shed or around the firepit outside under the cottonwood trees. Tamara reported that she’ll often open up the doors, lay back on the couch, and fall asleep to the sound of the wind in the trees and the birds chirping overhead. “I can go in and open the doors and the windows and lay down and just sleep like I’m out in nature,” she says.

It’s also not unusual for their son and daughter-in-law and grandchildren to show up to enjoy Grandma’s good cooking and hangout at the shed, or for them to invite some friends over for dinner and a relaxing evening.

“It was a good investment,” Doug says. “Especially with Covid this year, it’s been really nice since we couldn’t travel.” Doug and Tamara have basically created their own little vacation cabin right on their property. And they absolutely love it.

Still Dreaming...

It sounds like there are still better things to come yet though for this hangout shed. Doug and Tamara are currently waiting for electricity to be run to the building. This will enable them to add in small appliances and better lighting in the future. They are also considering purchasing another small shed (we like to hear that ?) to use for storage and then converting the storage area into a small bedroom. This would allow them to spend the night there sometimes if they would want to, as well as provide a beautiful guest space for out of town visitors.

Based on how well they’ve done so far with turning a shed into a beautiful backyard retreat, we have no doubt that it will only get better in the future. We might build quality storage sheds, but it is customers like this, with their creativity and skills, that end up being the heroes. Thanks Doug and Tamara for sharing your shed story with us and for helping us look better as a shed company.