Jamaica Cottage Shop

Hand-crafted cottages and sheds created by Vermont artisans in the post-and-beam tradition.
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Writer's Haven Garden
YOUR GUIDE TO DESIGNING THE PERFECT SHE SHED

She sells she sheds by the shore. No! She sells she sh… What does she sell again? Well, it may be the seashells that she sells, but it is a she shed that you want. And while the shore is not an option, you still have your backyard where you can install a perfect little hideaway for you and your thoughts exclusively. Ok, maybe not exclusively. An occasional guest now and then is welcome. All you need to do now is win the war against your partner over who gets the spot in the garden. Have they caved already? Good. Let’s begin.

What’s the Plan? 

Before you start building the perfect she shed, you need to decide what you will be doing in there. The main idea is to have a tranquil space for you to enjoy your hobby. Is it going to be a reading nook? A yoga or art studio? A space for gardening? Or maybe a home office? Now, when many people must work remotely, this is an ideal solution to distance yourself from your home and manage to keep your private and professional lives separate. If you will be using the space year round it may be a good idea to set up for four season use with insulation. When you know the purpose of this space, you can design it accordingly. 

Steps for Building Your Sanctuary

After you have reached the verdict regarding the activities that will be going down in your woman-cave, two options present themselves. If you have a derelict structure in your garden, you might want to repurpose it. An old kid’s playhouse or a tool shed can quickly and easily become your cozy little slice of heaven. You just need to pack all you find inside and get it out of sight. A fresh coat of paint, some structural work to make it safe, and you’re all set.

Alternatively, you may want to start from scratch and build an entirely new she shed. You can even use a pre-cut kit. There are many different designs to choose from such as a storybook cottage in the woods vibe to more modern solutions. If you opt for a DIY approach, here are the steps for building a perfect she shed:

  1. Build a sturdy foundation – A properly built foundation will keep moisture away and keep your building level. Look at our Site Preparation guidelines for the best shed foundation practices. 
  2. Build your shed – Our complete kits come with everything needed to construct your build from the ground up. Most designs include framing, flooring, siding, roofing, doors, and barn sash windows.
  3. Or buy pre-built – Use our online shed configurator, or work with a designer, to conveniently order your dream she shed delivered to your site.
  4. Add a coat of paint – This is when the real fun begins. Paint your shed in light colors. White is always a classic, but pastel tones are a beautiful soothing feminine option.

Time to Decorate the Interior

Surely you have collected a pile of interior design magazines, and your head is already bursting with she shed design ideas. Although these magazines feature high-end designs, you don’t have to splurge to create a similar effect. All you need is a bit of time and effort. Firstly, think about the furniture you already possess. Perhaps you can refresh the color, refurbish and make it look as good as new. Additionally, flea markets and antique shops are a treasure trove of inexpensive vintage items. They are also a gold mine of decorating ideas.

This she shed was cleverly decorated with wall paper applied to the ceiling, walls and floor. A plastic lining covers the floor to protect the paper.

It’s important to keep in mind, though, that a she shed is not exactly abundant in space. Therefore, keep the clutter to the minimum and plan carefully what you want and where you want it. If this will be your space for entertaining, it’s a good idea to equip it with a mini-fridge, set of glasses, etc. When it comes to decorating, there are no rules. You are free to do whatever makes you happy. Just remember, a she shed is there to provide a space for relaxation, dreams, and inspiration.

8x12 Dollhouse with roof color upgrade and flower boxes.

Have Fun With the Exterior

With your structure finished and painted both inside and outside, it’s time you decorated the exterior. You want to make it inviting and welcoming. You can do this by surrounding it with greenery, which will also add to the secluded atmosphere. Climbing vines or ivy are a fantastic choices to achieve a rustic look and cozy feel. The abundance of plants will make the spot feel tranquil, and taking care of plants is always good for the soul. Use pea gravel for the path to your she shed, and add flower pots alongside it.

Moreover, setting up an outdoor patio is an excellent idea. It will be a magical place for a girls’ night in summer. A hammock, a porch swing, a couple of chairs and a small table is all you need. Maybe a fire pit, too, for when the nights get colder. Finally, don’t be afraid to experiment with decorating. Flower boxes, or an old bike as a flowerpot holder is a whimsical detail that will transform your she shed’s exterior. An old wooden ladder, painted, of course, is another pot holder solution.

Enjoy the Final Result

Reasons for building a perfect she shed are manifold. If you are a mom with a busy daily schedule, this is your escape to tranquility. If you have recently moved in with your partner, this is an ideal way to ease the transition by having your space. Perhaps you have a hobby that requires a special area, such as painting or gardening. Or you want to establish some boundaries between your home life and your work life. Whatever the reason, enjoy the process of creating something that will be yours—space where you can have some quality time with your thoughts. 

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Best Places to Add Custom Decorative Millwork

Pond House Interior decorated
Prefab Pond House interior on display at a Flower and Garden Show.

Custom decorative millwork is an excellent choice when you want to go vintage with your home improvement and interior remodeling projects. Nothing can come even remotely close to the aesthetic appeal of real wood.

This is especially true if the wood was crafted by an experienced, skilled, and seasoned contractor with deep knowledge of the material. For this reason, millwork will increase your home’s beauty and add real value to your property.

Custom cabinetry, antiqued bookshelves, closets, candle holders, and so on, can significantly increase the price of your home and add to its functionality. Custom crafted millwork makes your property more usable by giving you more storage space. The range of options is endless. Whether you are into gorgeous staircase banisters or decorative crown molding, custom millwork is a fantastic addition to your property.

Since placing matters considerably, we’re going to mention the best places to add millwork design and the most common custom millwork options and ideas for your home.

Custom Decorative Millwork for Your Property

If you are a homeowner, you are about to face the challenge of making several essential choices regarding custom millwork in your home. The process can range from quite tedious to exciting and fun, but with the right guidelines, it is doable. It is all about the level of quality and type of wood in the end.

Types of wood greatly matter when making a choice about adding millwork wood. You must take softness, color, grain, rot resistance, and strength into consideration. These are vital characteristics that ensure your millwork is attractive and durable enough.

Consider the following wood types:

  • White oak – oak is known as hardwood. It’s durable, reliable, and heavy, which is why it’s most commonly used for furniture and cabinetry. Its wide grain is a property that most appreciate. White oak means reasonable prices and high quality.
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  • Walnut – also known as hardwood, walnut is well-known for its heavy grain and attractive deep brown color. The price is a bit higher, though.
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  • Fir – depending on the client’s needs, fir can be made light or dark by adding a variety of different stains. Fir is one of the most flexible wood types around.
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  • Birch – birch is an outstanding medium to hardwood with a light reddish color and fine grain, most commonly used with custom decorative millwork.
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  • Cherry – medium weight, deep reddish-brown wood, perfect for adding a nice finish with a fine grain.
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Level of Detail

Now, aside from the type of wood, there is also the level of detail to consider. It all depends on your budget, the style of your home, and the type of project. Some homes demand highly detailed millwork while other homes need something less conspicuous. Traditional millwork almost always includes more details, while the contemporary style is more about minimalist appearance. If you can’t make up your mind between the two, talk to your contractor.

Custom Decorative Millwork Ideas

Here are a couple of custom millwork project ideas for your home:

  • Wainscoting and crown molding
  • Custom millwork creations for your kitchen
  • Storage and media centers for your living room
  • Elegant bathroom vanities
  • Custom home library and office
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Let’s delve deeper into the best places to add decorative custom millwork.

Top Places to Add Custom Decorative Millwork

If you want to add decorative millwork to your home, but you’re having second thoughts on where to put them, here are a couple of ideas to help you manage.

Decorative ceiling moldingThe Ceiling

The first place you should look into is the ceiling, particularly the place where the ceiling and the wall meet. This is simply a perfect and most visible place for molding. It will cover the seam where the ceiling and wall meet.

The best type of millwork for this purpose is a cornice, the most common type of molding. It comes in a wide range of design patterns and sizes to match your home’s architectural style and give your property some stylish edging.

The coffered ceiling is currently one of the most popular solutions simply because it adds just enough elegance to pretty much any décor. You can also add a ceiling medallion around your light fixture in the center to give your room a nice dressing up.

Window MillworkMake Your Windows Stand Out by Bringing Some Character

The surrounding area of your windows is an excellent place to add some decoration. You can top off windows in the interior by adding a pediment above the surrounding. Both window surrounds and casings are a fantastic frame to view the exterior and the outdoors. You also make your windows more durable that way.

The best thing about bringing some character to your windows is that the window casings can be detailed or extremely simple. That is up to you. If the installation of your windows left you with unwanted gaps, this is how you can solve that problem with ease.

Well Dressed Walls

You can add a great accent to any room by simply adding some decoration to a chair rail. This goes particularly well with dining rooms and kitchens. That aside, this is also a great way to protect your walls from furniture scratching.

Interior of mansion in Newport Rhode Island
It can be fun to take ornate elements from mansions and apply them to your tiny house.

Place your millwork at about 36 inches from the floor. The appeal of paneling and wainscoting is also quite popular among stylish homeowners. Both paneling and wainscoting sit well between the baseboard and chair rail, complementing the room’s furniture, wall coverings, and millwork.

Along the Floor

Every home has some sort of baseboard or base to hide any gaps where the floor and wall meet. It’s also one of the best ways to protect the wall finish. If we take a look at the tradition, this baseboard or base is commonly composed of 3 separate elements: the cap, the baseboard, and a shoe.

A bit of a more modern approach led to baseboards coming in as a single piece for a cleaner look. The best way to address any preference is to use a decorative baseboard, ranging from 2 to 8 inches.

Conclusion

A custom decorative millwork design is one of the best ways to add architectural appeal and value to your property, home, etc.

No matter what millwork you choose, a casing or a crown molding, you should remember that millwork adds a visual presence that can turn your average home into a luxurious mansion without forcing you to break a budget or invest huge amounts of time and effort. If you want to achieve such an effect, adding your custom decorative millwork to the right place greatly matters.

Natalie Hutchins has been an avid blogger for 5 years, with particular interests in Engineering and related technologies. She has consistently contributed articles to top AEC and industrial publications. Her other interests are in blogging, movies and photography.

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5 Simple Steps to Achieving the Ultimate Rustic Living Room Interior

Photo by Amy Humphries on Unsplash

When done right, a rustic interior design can make any home feel like it’s a little log cabin nestled away in the country or on the side of a mountain – which is why this interior approach is becoming increasingly popular year to year.

 

Join us as we offer up all of the interior inspiration you need on how to decorate a rustic living room with 5 simple ways you can turn your space into your very own retreat.

 

  1. Expose natural features

If you’re lucky enough to have any natural features in your home, this is the first step towards creating a living area that oozes rustic charm. For the walls, strip back any wallpaper or hanging furnishings to expose the natural bricks underneath. This is a perfect way to give your room a completely different look at next to no cost. If your property has wooden beams, make sure these are on show, too. Remove any old finish from the wood, buff up the beams and then finish with a natural beeswax stain.

With the walls taken care of, it’s time to turn your attention to the floors. While carpet might be associated with helping to retain warmth, it simply doesn’t have the unique qualities you’ll find with exposed wooden flooring – which often has natural blemishes and defects that add character. This will offer the naturalistic vibe you’re looking for and you can add warmth with fluffy rugs to achieve that soft feeling underfoot. 

  1. Update the fireplace

 Most households already have some form of fireplace in the living room – it’s just about getting yours to fit the theme you’re going for. Of course, an open log burner would be the perfect touch for your countryside chic vibe, but if you’re working with an electric fire or no fire at all, there are still ways you can add warmth and charm here. Simply stack old books or pillar candles where your fire should be to create a completely different look.

Turn your fire into a focal feature with beautiful patterned fireplace tiles to create the epitome of a cozy, rural interior. By updating the border or hearth with floral or Victorian tiles, you can draw attention to this often overlooked part of the room. If the fire has a surround, sand this down to bring the wood back to life or consider having a go at creating your own.

  1. Choose cozy furniture

 Photo by Taylor Simpson on Unsplash

 

Your furniture choices can make all the difference when it comes to really nailing that mountain lodge interior feeling. While wooden sideboards and faux fur rugs are the perfect added extras, your chairs and sofas are where you’ll have plenty of chance to create an irresistibly cozy set up. If space is on your side, the bigger the sofa, the better. This will allow you to curl up and doze in front of the fire on a stormy afternoon, providing all the comfort of a holiday lodge.

For your chairs, what better way to achieve a peaceful and tranquil room than by creating your very own reading nook? Choose a corner of the room where you won’t be disturbed by people passing to get to the kitchen and set up a reading space. Choose a chair and footstool that allow you to adopt your ideal sitting position, cuddle up and prepare to get lost in your favorite novel.

 

  1. Add texture with fabrics

 

To add depth to your room, throws and scatter cushions are the perfect accompaniments and will make the room feel truly homely. Both practical and stylish, soft furnishings and blankets can be used to help keep you warm when the chillier weather sets in, but will be just as attractive when draped across the back of the sofa when the room isn’t in use.

Another way to help retain the room’s heat is to ensure your windows are well insulated, and heavy curtains and window dressings offer an ideal way to achieve this. Thick fabrics in rich colors like deep reds or burnt oranges are a sure-fire way to emulate warmth and are guaranteed to help you feel instantly snug.

 

  1. Accessorize with natural materials

 To add the finishing touches to your countryside cabin living room, you’ll want to experiment by adding a splash of your personality into the room with accessories – and in keeping with the theme, what better materials to choose for your trinkets than wood, iron and stone? A little creativity will see you a long way here, and help you turn your room from a carbon copy of every other rustic interior into a bespoke, personalized room that’s undeniably all yours.

From natural wooden photo frames and room dividers to brass bottomed lamps and iron legged tables, these little extras are what make up any room – and when you choose the right materials, they’ll be the perfect way to cement the overall aesthetic you’ve worked so hard to curate. Pop a few rattan baskets beside the sofa for storage and some handmade coasters on the table top and your look will be complete.

With some ambient lighting thrown in, you now know the steps to take to turn your living room into your very own rustic retreat. Enjoy every minute of getting creative and designing your very own slice of paradise.

Author bio:

 Suhayl Laher works at one of the UK’s largest independent tile distributors and retailers – bringing design inspiration to homeowners, architects and developers.