A garden shed is a wonderful thing – but it can sometimes detract from the look of your garden. If you are wondering how to make a garden shed look nice, this is the article for you!
You can absolutely make your garden shed as beautiful as you want it to look, without detracting from its usefulness. Let us count the ways…
How To Make A Garden Shed Look Nice
There are a great many ideas for making a garden shed look nice – from decorating it to growing things up it, or even incorporating into something that looks similar to your house.
- Plants. Plants growing around your shed will really help to distract from the shed itself; you can go for small, shrubby bushes or tall, imposing plants or trees. Climbing plants are great for crawling up a shed; try Honeysuckle or Clematis for some really great results.
- Paint. Painting your shed pretty colours will probably draw more attention to it – but if this is the good kind of attention then you won’t mind too much! If you are of an artistic bent, you could even paint a beautiful mural on it, turning it into a focal point of your garden.
- Trellis. Placing a trellis near your shed for pretty plants to climb up is a great idea for disguising your shed. Not only will this make your shed look better, it is also a great excuse to grow some lovely climbing plants!
- Screen. You can hide your shed with a pretty screen, a little like a room divider. You can either make your own, or buy something from a local garden centre – or even a second hand shop.
As you can see, there are a good many ways to make your garden shed look lovely! If you need any extra ideas, check out this article.
How Do You Disguise A Shed In The Garden?
Sheds are incredibly useful, but they are not always the most attractive part of your garden. If you want to disguise it, there are a good many options for you!
Screen it
Using screens can not only hide parts of your garden you don’t like so much, but it can also add depth and texture, especially to a small garden.
Go for a pretty screen that can become a garden feature in its own right, as well as helping to disguise your shed.
Living walls
Turning the outside of your shed into a part of your garden is a great option – plus, it’s great fro the environment!
Attaching planters to the walls of your shed, or even growing plant directly on the walls, is a lovely way of disguising your shed so that it blends in with your garden.
Cladding
Another simple and easy option to disguise your shed is to clad the walls with some really nice wood.
You could go with oak panels, or shiplap – or go the whole hog and cover it with beautiful driftwood in all sorts of interesting shapes!
How To Decorate A Shed In The Backyard?
There are very few rules on how you can decorate your backyard shed. You can go for wood stain; paint; trellises and plants; a mural… Pretty much anything goes!
It’s a good idea to decorate your shed in a way that fits in with the rest of your garden’s design.
For example, if you grow a lot of beautiful, old fashioned flowers, then aim for a “cottage-y” look to your shed to fit in.
If your garden is a little more modern, you can make your shed a feature by decorating it in a minimalist way and adding a little chrome for effect!
The great thing about a garden shed is that it is yours, and you don’t have to ask anyone’s permission on how to decorate it – the only limit is your imagination.
This is a long video, but it gives some great inspiration on how to decorate your garden sheds:
What Colour Should I Paint My Wooden Shed?
There is no short answer to this one – you can choose any colour in the world you would like for your garden shed!
If you like bright, cheerful colours then paint it this way – but do bear in mind that even the most day glow colours will fade in the sun.
If you want your shed to blend in a little more, then go for natural, muted colours that will not make the shed stand out too much.
Why not go all Banksy, and paint a political mural on your wooden shed? This can create an interesting talking point at your next barbecue!
Whatever colour you decide, make sure you get a natural, chemical free weatherproof paint, so that it will last as long as it can.
Is It Better To Stain Or Paint A Shed?
Basically, you can do whatever you like with your own garden shed (just take care to not annoy the neighbours too much!)
There are good and bad sides to both stain and paint:
- Wood stain is easier to apply. Because it seeps into the grain, the wood can often absorb it more quickly, meaning less elbow grease for you.
- Paint is better at keeping the dirt, dust and debris off – once it’s dry, of course – when it’s still wet you will have to stop anything getting stuck to it.
- Stain can come in a huge variety of lovely colours, and there is the added bonus that many of them are designed to be weatherproof.
- Paint does last for longer than stain, and it is often more resistant to fading from the sun.
- Stain can withstand the shrinking and expanding of the wood in the various weather conditions better than paint, leading to less cracking and peeling.
Final Thoughts
A garden shed is an incredibly useful thing – but can it also be a thing of beauty? Well yes, yes it can!
With the right amount of care and attention, you can make a garden shed that is both functional AND beautiful.
