Outbuildings: New Styles for Sheds & Potting Stations.
Location: Santa Monica, California
Designer: Lewin Wertheimer
Features we love: Fresh white interior, farmhouse touches, flower drying rack
This pretty floral station, designed by Lewis Wertheimer, sits inside a Craftsman-style home in Southern California and features a farmhouse sink, white cabinets with brass pulls for storing shears and other floral supplies and custom shelves for holding vases. An overhead rack, which could be used for drying flowers or clean laundry, is a nice finishing touch.
Location: Washington, Connecticut
Designer: Haver & Skolnick LLC Architects
Features we love: Bluestone floor, ceiling beams, Shaker pegs for tools
This potting shed sits as an outbuilding as part of a 70-acre farm in Litchfield County, Connecticut, with a mix of historic and new buildings thoughtfully updated by Haver & Skolnick LLC Architects. The 10-by-12-foot potting station features bluestone floors (laid on a concrete slab base), a farmhouse-style sink, walls covered in white pine and Shaker pegs for hanging gardening tools.
Location: Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
Designers and builders: Lowell Custom Homes in collaboration with Heritage Beam and Board
Features we love: Wood, brick, and copper sink were all reclaimed; ample counter space
This galley-style indoor potting station slots into a narrow room of a home on Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, but it benefits from parallel cabinets that offer plenty of open workspace. Heritage Beam and Board, the builders behind the potting station, sourced nearly all reclaimed materials, including reclaimed wood planks and beams for the work bench and shelving as well as reclaimed brick — once used for city streets in Iowa — for a new herringbone floor, plus a vintage copper sink.
Location: Villanova, Pennsylvania
Designer: Country Carpenters
Builder: Gardner/Fox Associates
Features we love: Indoor window box, elegant lighting, plenty of workspace
This multifunctional potting station is tucked in a room of its own within a larger barn on a property in Villanova, Pennsylvania. The clients, who are avid gardeners, had Country Carpenters design the space and Gardner/Fox Associates build it out to provide a year-round place for potting and storing gardening supplies. The potting station includes generous workspace, overhead pendant lighting and a sunny window box for plants or seed starting.
Location: New Canaan, Connecticut
Designer and builder: Karp Associates
Features we love: Dutch door, concrete floor, generous storage
There’s plenty to love about this picture-perfect potting station, which was part of a new-build home completed by Karp Associates for Connecticut-based clients. Features include a Dutch door that opens onto the garden, minty green cabinetry, a farmhouse sink and wall pegs for hanging garden boots. But for all its charm, it also has practical elements like a concrete floor and a rustic-style storage rack for tools and sports equipment.
Location: Portland, Maine
Designer and builder: Wright-Ryan Homes
Features we love: Trough-style sink, vintage touches, pendant lighting
This gorgeous indoor floral-arranging station designed and built by Wright-Ryan Homes would be any flower-lover’s dream. The light, airy space opens to the garden through large-format sliding doors, which flood the space with natural light. Open shelving displays a choice of flower-arranging vessels within easy reach, as well as a collection of vintage watering cans.
Location: Arnold’s Bay in Panton, Vermont
Designer: TruexCullins
Builder and Cabinetry: Birdseye Woodshop
Interior Designer: Chapman Design
Features we love: High ceiling, vertical shelving, blue-gray cabinet color
Set on Arnold’s Bay, this beautiful indoor potting station was part of a much larger renovation of a historic stone house and shoreline landscape. The potting station, complete with checkerboard tile floors and a trough-style sink, may well be our favorite part.
A lick of stylish medium-gray paint conveniently disguises scuffs from muddy boots or dirt clinging to stems in the working area. A pitched roof allows for custom vertical shelving and a charming window set into the gable.
Location: Annapolis, Maryland
Designer: Melissa McLay Interiors
Features we love: Botanical-inset sink, barn-style pendant light, cheerful cabinet color
Robin egg blue cabinets, rich wood shelves and a custom concrete sink — complete with a botanical leaf print — set this indoor potting station apart from others. The floral station, designed by Melissa McLay Interiors, sits inside a waterfront home in Annapolis, Maryland. In the shed the homeowners can arrange homegrown flowers and take care of minor potting tasks.
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Location: Seattle
Designer: Mutuus Studio
Builder: Crescent Builds
Features we love: Warm cedar walls, flexible use, ample seating
This multipurpose shed, renovated by Mutuus Studio and Crescent Builds, functions as a flexible outdoor space for a family in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. Twin tables with bench-style seating can be used for garden and floral tasks or set as a semi-alfresco dining table when the homeowner entertains.
A hidden built-in storage nook (to the left, above the padded bench seat) doubles as a fort for the client’s daughter. Budget-friendly cedar fence boards cover the walls, giving a warm finish to the interior and a durable surface for hanging garden tools.
Read more about this cleverly designed backyard shed