Sheds Are Becoming Mini Homes
My brother built a mini-house near the back of my parents’ 10-acre homesite as a young adult. He lived there for years with his dog Ginger (famous for her good nature and killer underbite). When he married, his bride lived in the cabin with him until she had enough of the one-room domicile. They now live in a nice older home, but that love shack still overlooks the Tradewater River snaking around the back of my parents property.
His old living quarters remind me of something that may become a new trend while this economy recovers. Sheds as homes. I heard today that some of the poorer families in the Appalachian region already buy sheds and convert them to living quarters. You can pick up a decent shed for between $1500 and $6784.93 (plus tax), depending on whether it’s a basic design or more flamboyant.
Except for instances of severe weather, I can understand where sheds would be a good alternative to home ownership. If you have hit a rough patch in your life and don’t want to live under a bridge or in public housing, this affordable shelter could be great for someone with an instinct for surviving on little.
To go more plush and with a little more money, Texans have their Texas Tiny Houses.
Plumbing could ultimately be the biggest challenge, but it’s very common for electricity to be run to regular storage sheds today. There would probably be county or city codes that would have to be met before power could be turned on (plumbing too), but a London, England newspaper encourages people to consider using sheds as home offices. Also, look at this shed design that’s already been drawn as a home. And again to England, we have this site that proves “Sheds can be anything.”
This could be a very interesting trend to watch. If you see any sheds being used as a residence, please submit your photos to kathy DOT tyson AT comcast DOT net so we can feature them here.
Shed photos from Lowe’s.com.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
[…] a follow-up to yesterday’s post about people converting small backyard sheds into homes, I saw this article today on the CNN.com […]
June 6th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
[…] a follow-up to yesterday’s post about people converting small backyard sheds into homes, I saw this article today on the CNN.com […]
September 12th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
[…] point. I’ve assured her she could come and stay with me for a couple of weeks anyway. Maybe they’ll buy one of those little sheds for a backyard stay there. In any case, I’m worried for […]