Outhouse Tool Shed


This month’s Design Workshop at http://www.gardeninggonewild.com/?p=1935#more-1935 calls for sharing our outbuildings and sheds. One of Nan’s suggestions is “a tool shed that masquerades as an outhouse.” Well, instead of a tool shed that masquerades as an outhouse, we have an outhouse that masquerades as a tool shed.

As with many older homes in our area, ours came with an outhouse. In New Jersey, it is illegal to build an outhouse, but it is not illegal to have one. So, we did what most people do, just kept repairing it. At our place, we never have just your ordinary anything.

When the original flat roof could no longer be patched, Dan decided to make a garden feature out of “the little house.” He learned a lot when he put the first replacement on; no need to dwell on that. Suffice it to say that this is the second attempt, made with very thin shakes that were applied to plywood that had been bent to the desired shape. He turned the building around 180-degrees, so that the back faces the garden. The outhouse now stores the multitude of our purchased and inherited long-handled tools.

The little closet on the side was added to hold a small spade, the poop patrol picker-upper, and two garden forks, which are used to turn the compost pile, out of view to the right. The wreath is a castoff from friends who moved to Florida and has held up surprisingly well, having lost only one or two pinecones in more than 10 years.

Attractive all year-round, the outhouse-toolshed perches on the cliff and stands like a lone sentinel keeping watch throughout the winter. Come spring, phoebes usually find their way under the eaves to lay their eggs and raise their young.

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