Shed space is head space.

This post recognises the power of the shed in life, and has not been written using AI either. Like all shed owners, I’m no different in that I’ve created a special place to play, work or just go to. It’s a powerful place, represents me and I wouldn’t want to be without it. There are a few, different reactions and emotions that occur when I enter my shed, and here they are in no particular order:

I enter the shed because I am focussed on getting tools etc to do a job, so I walk in, inhale the ‘shed scent’ (somebody should bottle it cos’ it’s ace) and go straight to what I need, and then crack on with the job. It’s a transactional shed activity.
I go in because I’m going out for ride on a bicycle or a motorbike. This is less transactional as it’s part of an enjoyment process. Everything is less hurried and it’s all about the next journey starting from the shed.
I go in with no reason to go in. I breathe in the shed scent deeply and just sometimes, sit, look around, think etc, because I am proud of, and appreciate the space that I have created. It’s my space and it’s my head space.
Maintenance time on something that lives in the shed. I like to be organised. If finding the right tool is the more than the first 30 seconds of a job, I’m clearly not organised the way I aspire. My shed space is adequate to put a motorbike or bicycle on a stand to work on whilst not having to move something else out of the shed to make space. I have had to do this in the past, so I built another, smaller shed inside one of our big sheds, and that fixed that problem of shuffling stuff around, or said another way; I had too much stuff!
The natural projecteer in me means that sometimes there is a restoration project going on in the shed, and this is very exciting, so everything is organised around that. I don’t do very dirty or dusty work in the shed. I do that work in another shed or outside. Engine swapping or stuff like that is fine, because usually, everything is easily done without big mess, unless I spill coolant or oil etc, but that’s an easy wipe up.

I don’t think I’m any different in my shed appreciation than any other shed owner, of any gender, and everything I do in the shed has strong, emotional and rational threads that are tightly woven together. I think all humans like their own private (shed) space, if not all of the time, at least some of the time. My wife has her own shed (read as: studio), which she enjoys like I enjoy mine. The quality of the time spent in this shed space is premium. However, whilst some yearn for their own space and time in their shed, others can feel a loneliness in their own shed, or lack of a shed, and yearn to work with others on collective projects, which is where the UK group ‘Men’s Sheds’ (link below post) comes into play. I wasn’t aware of this charity organisation until I started doing some research for this post, and whilst it is called Men’s Sheds, it’s also inclusive to women who want to get involved. I’ll quote the organisation’s website here to explain what Men’s Sheds is all about; “Men’s Sheds are similar to garden sheds – a place to pursue practical interests at leisure, to practice skills and enjoy making and mending. The difference is that garden sheds and their activities are often solitary in nature while Men’s Sheds are the opposite. They’re about social connections and friendship building, sharing skills and knowledge, and of course a lot of laughter.” There are over 1,100 Men’s Sheds groups in the UK, serving an estimated 33,000 members weekly. These community spaces have seen significant positive impacts, with 89% of regular attendees reporting a decrease in depression and 75% feeling less anxious. Men’s Sheds combat loneliness and offer a social environment for men, particularly older men who may be at higher risk.

So, there is more going on in the shed world than I thought. There are Facebook groups dedicated to sheds as well. However, 99% of the photos posted, whilst obviously someone’s pride and joy, are of a shed with no people in them. It’s just stuff of one sort or another. I like to see people in their sheds in the images. A picture just of stuff in a shed without the ‘soul’ that created it, is just a picture with less than half of the shed story. People talk about the amazing things that are made in the humble shed and use the term ‘shed engineering’, but I like to see the person who is behind the work, in the place that they do the work.

Some people don’t have, and don’t want a shed. This doesn’t make them a bit weird, but it did get me to ask myself the questions; Why have a shed? What space am I trying to create and why? What is its actual purpose? The answer to these questions raised another lot of questions like:

Do I just want a storage space or something like a pub, or even an F1 type of garage?
Will my shed be a homemade shed, a building or bigger shed conversion, or purpose built?
How much have I got to spend on my shed?
How should the shed space make me feel?
How might it evolve over time?
How will it be organized & how efficient a space will it be to work in?
Will it have too much stuff in it, even at the beginning?
Is it a shed for messy work or is that done somewhere else?
Will it be heated (like my wife’s shed/studio)?
Will I worry about things like condensation?
What technology will it have? Electric, water, WiFi, TV, fridge etc?
Will it be easy to keep clean?
What do I do about shed security and my insecurity of it not being secure enough?

I’m sure there are even more questions that can be asked, or rather than trying to plan everything, I might just be happy to see my shed go through a process of ‘emerging design’, which is just to let time and evolution create the space. Anyway, and so to my own shed. My shed is the old garage on our property, made of stone with a clay pantile roof. My vision to have a super clean and organised space started in 2012 and was finished the following year. Up to this point, this shed space was used just for keeping stuff. The lighting was rubbish, the doors weren’t very secure and just let the wind, and sometimes the rain in. We needed some work doing on the house which required a builder, so it was a good time to create my shed vision. It was re-roofed, electric and lighting put in, the walls were plastered and painted, new doors and a window installed and crucially, a new floor put in that was painted with some really strong factory floor paint. The exciting bit for me was to choose all of the storage, benches etc. I like the colour red, so I was naturally attracted to red cupboards, benches etc. To say I was pleased with the finished space was an understatement. It does look very empty in the image below, although that didn’t last long.

Life without my shed wouldn’t be as rich as it has been, and still is. Over the last decade, it has evolved into what it is now, my perfect space, although it could be a bit bigger, a bit warmer in winter etc etc. My shed has provided some powerful, experiential moments as well as failures and achievements. This makes it a special place, because I’ve created some great memories in it and that’s priceless. Whilst I’m very proud of my own shed, I get as much enjoyment from seeing other people’s sheds or special spaces. Anyway, this is the end of this post because I’m going to my shed to do something.

Here’s the link to Men’s Sheds: https://menssheds.org.uk/

All photos by the Author.