Another Before and After Journey

While not as glamorous as an indoor renovation, this has been just as exciting and important for us. Let me take you on a journey as we salvage and renovate an old shed that has it's roots probably in the depression era. 

I've no doubt most would have demolished this poor soldier but trust me, trying to build another shed from scratch in a community where even the "skyline" is heritage listed would be no easy or quick task. We have dug around the perimeter and put in footings for the original walls.

It's profile shows just how sagging and decrepit this building had become. The goal is to keep as much of it's original character as possible and give it a future for a few more generations hopefully.

The beaten 44 gallon drum walls were a common building material of the depression era and provide a lovely patina for the old shed. Many of the upright supports are salvageable but the roof trusses and base boards were mostly all rotten.

A new bone structure...

The new roof for the shed was the corrugated iron that we removed from one of the ceilings inside the house. Hmmm, is that "double provenance"?

Some left over building materials left behind like this laserlight sheeting is also incorporated to maximise natural light as the shed is not powered. Free off cuts of patchwork pieces of cement sheeting lines the inside making it very cosy and weather proof.

The chooks, housed at one end, heartily approve of their new "villa". Weather and wind proofed, yet light and airy with access soon to their own private run and quince thicket. We have designed the new hen house to accommodate when we are raising new generations of day olds or when the separation of the sick/injured is required.

Far left is the new door into the hen house. I plan to paint some black hen silhouettes on this, purely for whimsy you understand. On the right you can see the nesting box with easy opening inspection lid, a big hit with young Julien when collecting eggs. The old milk can is our vermin proof poultry pellet storage.

(Note the lovely new cement floor throughout)

Plenty of recycled shelving...

Loads of character and reclaimed materials...

And a treasured family piece....but that is for another story.

We've kept as much of the old as possible...

And renewed. 

It is essentially the same shed. Exactly the same size and profile, but a little straighter and certainly more weather proof. It's a palace for the chooks and a handy place of storage for our less valuable items (read - my fabric stash and the children's left behinds! Sigh!)

This has given me more space for my preserving equipment and the shearer has gained a much more workable space in his garage for his "toys" too. Little by little, we have unpacked some more and moved our lives in. It all makes a house a home.