The top 10 benefits of owning or upgrading a shed.
Let’s face it. We know it. You know it. Your ever-so-loyal dog/neighbour’s dog knows it. You totally deserve a shed for Christmas.
Whether that’s having a new shed built from scratch, replacing a shed or upgrading your existing shed to include more awesome features — there are so many benefits to gifting yourself the shed of your Aussie summer lifestyle dreams.
OR being gifted this by someone awesome – wink wink to the ‘someone awesome’s reading this.
Here are the top 10 benefits of giving the gift of a promise this Christmas — the promise for a kick-ass shed in 2023.
1. Fantastic storage and organisation possibilities — free up space
Whether you need to organise your gardening equipment, your boating and fishing equipment, home renovation supplies, the kids bikes, or a myriad of tools, home and hardware equipment, a shed is a great place to store them.
Jobs around the house and yard are made that much harder when you can’t find the tools you need to get the job done. A shed not only provides plenty of space to store things away out of sight, but also gives you excellent organisation ability to have everything tidy and in its own place.
Shed organisation tip: Maximise the storage space within your shed by purchasing a bunch of clear plastic storage containers, carefully labelled with their contents. If these are the same size, they’ll be stackable. Wheels are often a handy feature for your storage containers.
Shed upgrade tip: Design in some sleek storage options to take your shed design to the next level. From vertical shelving to storage built into your shed door, to built-in cupboards and right through to shelving that stretches right across an entire wall, the imagination of you or your shed designer are really your only limitation. There’s even some clever roof storage options that can see you store railings for a plastic tub to slide into. For bikes, you can purchase and mount vertical bike storage options. For tools and fishing gear there are also vertical on-wall storage options that look fantastic.
2. Your personal space to retreat
A shed doesn’t have to take the format of a traditional garden shed. Your shed can be anything you want it to be. Check out our recent blog on Man Caves, She Sheds and We Sheds, as well as this one on contemporary shed design options. These types of sheds are more of a personal getaway space to disappear and relax into — your retreat at home. Sure, your shed can still do all the traditional shed functions. But why not also make it comfortable.
Shed upgrade tip: Turn your existing shed into your own personal space to retreat, or to add more comfort to the jobs and tasks you do while pottering around in the shed. Add a couch, a beer fridge, some cooling, plenty of natural light, some great decorations and personalisation, and some ambience to make it a cool place to chill out as well.
3. Great guest entertainment possibilities
Sheds can provide great guest entertainment possibilities.
Here are some ideas for adding guest entertainment into your shed:
- Adding a TV, couch and a beer fridge transforms a shed into the perfect place to invite friends over to watch sport (and yell at the TV as loud as you’d like — while taking that noise away from the living room).
- Adding a home bar and some relaxed seating as well as some ambience like music and fairy lights or other cool lighting turns your shed into a more upmarket way to enjoy your shed with guests.
- Add a pool table, table tennis table, and other fun elements to enjoy with others and your shed transforms itself into a games room, ready to be enjoyed by all.
- Add a shade cover or open-side roof panel that extends out from one side of your shed and you’ve got yourself a perfect space for an outdoor entertaining area. Your shed could provide a power source, lighting and even the seating area if you choose. But you also have plenty of options for under the open-side structure that is joined to your shed — with endless possibilities from outdoor dining to a BBQ and more.
4. Great opportunity for time spent together
While sheds can be great to transform into a man cave or she shed, (personal spaces to get away from it all, within your own home), the ‘we shed’ is another fantastic option, and one that allows for time spent together. Basically, there are many elements of designing your shed that can allow for time spent with your family or the other people in your household.
Whether you’re in the shed working on your workbench, organising gardening equipment, sorting your fishing gear or just getting away from it all, adding comfortable seating, some airflow and some good lighting to your shed makes it a welcoming space for anyone to join you. Family members can chill on the couch and keep you company while you potter away, you can enjoy a cup of tea (or a cold drink, age permitting) together, or you can just relax in your zone, but together.
And of course, all the great guest entertainment options apply to the family too — from the outdoor dining options to adding a pool table, darts board, table tennis or whatever else it is that tickles your fancy.
5. Shelter from the elements
The harsh sun and hectic windy or stormy days are nothing new to those who live in our beautiful Australian climate. Whether it’s in the heat of summer, it’s a cold day outside, or the rain is setting in, a shed provides shelter from the elements while you do the ‘outdoorsy’ stuff or home handyman (or handywoman) stuff.
Not only does a shed protect you, but it also protects the gear you store in it — from bikes to gardening equipment to your fishing gear to paints and chemicals. Which actually brings us to the next point…
6. Keeps the nasties away from little ones and pets
If you have small children or grandchildren, or might have friends dropping by who do, you’ll want to make sure anything dangerous is kept well away from children. And from pets. A shed is usually the perfect place to store away anything sharp or dangerous for little people and fur babies. Whether your shed is a storage space or more of a chill out zone, your shed gives you plenty of room and opportunity to store anything away out of reach, out of sight and out of mind. If your shed will be frequented by little ones or you’d like to be extra safe, you could have specific cupboards or tubs for those things within the shed, and could either store those up high or even padlock a cupboard to keep them away.
7. Added security for your outdoor gear
A shed doesn’t just protect children and pets from the dangerous home improvement things that could otherwise be left lying around the home. They also provide great security and protection for your outdoor gear and assets.
Sheds can be a great way to store things you’d like to keep secure; such as:
- Expensive tools
- Bikes
- Kayaks
- Stand up paddleboards
- Boats
- Trailers
- Caravans
- Motorbikes
- Expensive specialist hobby equipment — like golf clubs and fishing gear.
- Your Aunt Mable’s most cherished secret apple pie recipe.
Sheds can be locked up when you’re away or when you want to be extra secure. And they’re a great way of protecting the things that may otherwise be left out and easy to grab.
8. Convenience
While some of the home hardware, home improvement and gardening items can be stored in other places, sheds present a huge amount of convenience for most of these items.
The convenience of sheds is two-fold. Firstly, having a well-placed shed allows you to store a huge number of things close to where you need them; like the mower and whipper snipper, and your bikes. And secondly, it frees up space in the other areas you would otherwise store them; so you won’t need to step over and around a bunch of things in your garage or carport when you get in and out of your car each day, and won’t need to wade through a bunch of hardware and gardening supplies to get to your vacuum or mop on a weekend.
9. Improves outdoor aesthetics
Sheds can look absolutely fantastic and really improve the look of your backyard. They create something to look at, give your backyard more depth of height, and also come in a range of Colorbond® steel colours that can tie in with the overall design, look and feel of your home.
They also allow you to tidy things up, storing items such as your mower, gardening mulch, pots and equipment and leisure equipment (like golf clubs and bikes) away neatly out of sight.
And of course, a shed doesn’t have to look exactly like a traditional shed. They can be designed to make a beautiful and impactful impression on your guests by taking on contemporary shed design ideas. With elements such as greenery and landscaping incorporated into (or next to) the shed’s design and surrounding area, and features like large glass windows and fairy lights to add that extra ‘pezzaz’.
10. Sheds add to the property value of your home.
A shed can improve your home’s value and appeal to prospective buyers, especially if it is designed to be visually pleasing and/or highly functional.
Extra storage space is always a plus for new home buyers, as is security — and a shed can provide both these things, allowing you to lock up ‘outdoor items’ while providing plenty of space to store things away neatly.
Specialty sheds such as caravan sheds, boat sheds, trailer sheds and fishing sheds add a huge amount of appeal to caravan, boating and fishing enthusiasts, and are a huge design feature for many avid enthusiasts of these areas.
And of course, anything that saves the buyer time and effort down the track is a selling point. Adding a shed to your home now while you can enjoy it will not only add to your convenience, but will also take a job off the list of a future buyer for when you look to sell.
So there you have it, the top 10 benefits to owning a shed or upgrading an existing shed. The benefits are clear in owning a shed, or adding to the features of one that’s been established for a while — and these benefits also make it clear as to why a shed is a perfect gift this Christmas, and why you deserve one. In short, it provides convenience, storage, a way to secure your outdoor equipment and presents so many opportunities to create a backyard retreat that you or your family can enjoy.
A shed lets you make the most out of our great Aussie lifestyle, whether that looks like pottering around the garden, working on your outdoor areas, getting out and about on the boat or in the caravan, or other activities. And we totally think you deserve a great shed that is maximised in functionality and comfort this Christmas.
