Since some of you may be new here and interesting in seeing the shed transformation from the beginning, I thought I’d do a little “renovation round-up” post for y’all. Below you’ll find a list of all the shed posts linked in chronological order.

On September 29, 2019, after painstakingly renovating it for an entire year, I finally moved into the shed. The next morning, waking up to the morning light streaming through the windows that I had installed months prior, I felt incredible. It was a little bit surreal, to be honest... If I could have known what the year ahead would bring, I would have run away screaming. But at the moment, everything felt full of promise and hopefulness.

During my Demo Day, I came across a pretty decrepit old shelving unit that apparently once had some specific purpose, though I have not idea what that purpose was. I set it aside, knowing that I wanted to repurpose the charming “shabby chic” lumber for a new set of shelves later on in the renovation.

Once the interior and exterior paint was done, it was time to build out the inside of my future home! Since I’m such a foodie, my first priority was to get the kitchen up and running.

Since I’d already rented a paint sprayed for the interior, I pushed myself to go ahead and do the exterior in the same week. I’ve always loved all black houses, and even thought they’ve rightfully received some criticism as the trend gains popularity, I still just love the way they look.

Now that I had spent a night sleeping in my shed, it was time to send this project the rest of the way home. The next step was painting!

In between bouts of manual labor, I spent my time sketching and daydreaming about how I would lay out my small space. I wanted it to be efficient yet inviting, classic yet current, airy yet cozy. That’s a lot to ask of 108 square feet, but the challenge was exciting.

Once the crack in the floor had been ground down, it meant that the door could swing freely inward. Time for a new door!

After the windows were installed, I turned my attention to the concrete floor. It was rough, stained, and had a huge crack running all the way from the front door to the back wall.

I knew I wanted to add a window to let more light in, so I shopped around at Urban Ore until I found one that was the right size.

As shown in the Demo Day post, I had an unpleasant surprise during the deconstruction process when I discovered that the back wall of my soon-to-be home was completely missing! Furthermore, the shed was built so close to the neighbor’s house that there was no way to rebuild it in the typical fashion.

After I was finished with demolition and clean-up, my next priority was shoring up the framing and replacing the roof.

“Do you really want to live in the shed?”

It had been a couple weeks since my sister had given me a tour of her new rental house in East Oakland, including the dilapidated tool shed in the back yard. At the time I had half-jokingly referred to it as “my house.” She was surprised but curious, and even a little bit encouraging. I imagine she said something to the effect of, “That would be sick.”