19 favorite garden cottages and sheds

Backyard home office

Martha Mendoza’s days are filled with deadlines, after-school commitments and other pressures. Yet the celebrated journalist, teacher, wife and mother ― who in 2000 won a Pulitzer Prize at age 33 for an investigative series on the Korean War ― leads a surprisingly balanced life.

Her secret? This tiny home office, housed in a converted potting shed in her Santa Cruz, Calif., backyard. Here she can steal away from her domestic responsibilities to write, study, and pursue breaking news stories for the Associated Press. "Being detached from the house is key."

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Fairy-tale eco shed

Gail and Mark Dupar’s shed looks like a cozy vacation cabin, or something out of “Hansel and Gretel.” But the cordwood structure is really the nerve center of the couple’s kitchen garden on Decatur Island in Washington’s San Juans.

Here they start seedlings, arrange flowers, raise tomatoes, store tools and dry freshly harvested shallots on the warm brick floor.

• On Sunset.com: Tour the cabin's creative details

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• On our blog, 'Listed': Condo board sues residents over flowers

Office in a water tower

This 1920 backyard water tower was built when this property used to be a ranch. Now a residence, the owners needed a home office.

“The first time I saw it, it was very close to falling down, but I thought it was fantastic,” says architect Geoffrey Holton. “It was like a little piece of history on a typical suburban lot.”

Builders stabilized the tower and added flashing to make it waterproof. They restored the windows and added a ring of transomlike windows at the base of the tower. After finishing the interior, the old ranch water tower is now a cozy home office.

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Garden cottage greenhouse

Owner Connie Featherston overwinters her orchids and raises heirloom vegetable seedlings in this 8- by 10-foot garden shed in Exeter, Calif.

“I had to put a clock in there because I have so much fun, I literally lose track of time,” she says.

A “Cecile Brunner” climbing rose arches over the garden shed entry. The shed features a recycled door and windows that let in plenty of light.

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Recycled retreat

Lisa Phipps has a knack for using found materials in fresh ways.

She started recycling in earnest when she moved to a small farmhouse in Port Orchard, Wash. Like Virginia Woolf, Phipps wanted a room of her own. Money was tight, so she and her husband, Frank, used salvaged materials to build a shed.

The more you recycle, the more the ideas flow, Phipps says. “You just have to loosen up and have fun.”

• On Sunset.com: See more of her garden retreat

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• Video: Patio furniture that fits your space

• On our blog, 'Listed': Condo board sues residents over flowers

Small garden solution

Open areas and intimate nooks: That was what landscape architect Tomi Kobara wanted from a makeover of her Oakland, Calif., garden.

Part of the challenge of the transformation was the backyard's tiny size ― barely more than 1,500 square feet.

When she bought her property, a shed that served as a studio sat in the far corner of the wedge-shaped backyard. In front of it lay a concrete patio surrounded by a large lawn.

• On Sunset.com: See what she did with it

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Pigeon coop becomes a playhouse

Once, this small building was literally for the birds. It was a pigeon coop, abandoned long ago, and it was falling to the ground.

But it had some good points. It sat at the end of the lawn and screened a view of the neighbors’ yards. The family wanted a play area for the kids, so it made sense to save it.

Now there’s room to relax on a daybed with a book, draw on a chalkboard or play at a kid-size table. Later the family may turn it into a studio, office or guest house.

• On Sunset.com: See the before and after
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• Video: Transform your backyard

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Room for easel and canvases

Lin Su, a Taiwan-born artist who lives in Los Angeles, Calif., added a 124-square-foot artist’s studio to her postage-stamp-size lot.

Here she’s free to paint and do art projects without cluttering her little home’s living room.

Clerestory windows and glass doors fill the space with light; tall bookcases along one wall hold books. And there’s ample space for her easel and canvases.

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• On our blog, 'Listed': Condo board sues residents over flowers

Summer living room

Although it is new, the structure looks old, thanks to recycled wood and comfortable furnishings. Painted platters and an old chandelier give the room a funky elegance.

"This space appeals to the little kid in all of us who always wanted a treehouse," says designer Carleen Cafferty. "It's a cozy space, not a formal room. The denlike spaces are the rooms people gravitate to."

• On Sunset.com: Read more about this backyard family room

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Airy backyard shelter

Dave and Terry Maczuga of Bellingham, Wash., devised a trail system through their landscape that leads to their airy glass-and-wood shelter tucked among conifers.

“We love to come here with a bottle of wine and sit and enjoy the birds,” Dave Maczuga says.

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A healing place

It's more than just a place for plants: For Sheila McConnell, the little shed in her backyard in Bellevue, Wash., became a quiet, healing room where she recovered from breast cancer. "Out here I don't get caught up in the pace of life," she says.

The handsome retreat was designed and built by stepson Andy McConnell, who heads his own garden-carpentry firm in Seattle. "It started off as a toolshed and then it just blossomed," he says. Instead of lawn mowers, the 8- by 12-foot structure houses books, a TV and stereo, and an L-shaped counter for orchids and crafts projects.

• On Sunset.com: More about this cozy shelter

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• On our blog, 'Listed': Condo board sues residents over flowers

Shed revival

Evan Sagerman and Marci Riseman needed extra space for a guest room and entertaining area, and they found it in an unlikely place: a tiny, ramshackle shed in the backyard of their San Francisco Victorian home.

The project became an exercise in preservation and space planning.

• On Sunset.com: See the before and after

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Slide show:  Top plants for summer color

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Tropical-style toolshed

A storage shed can be as attractive as it is functional. This one, a 220-square-foot rectangle inspired by a Polynesian dwelling, complements the tropical landscape in Bobbi and Gene Hirschkoff's Encinitas, Calif., backyard.

• On Sunset.com: More about this shed

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Stylish storage

In need of space for basic yard storage at their Seattle home, Ahna Holder and Ryan Smith decided to design and build a simple but fun 10- by 12-foot garden shed.

They used Hardipanel, a cement-based exterior siding material, to cover the standard, uninsulated, 2-by-4 wood frame in an elegant grid pattern, and gave it a sloping galvanized metal roof, which creates the impression of a lid being lifted.

• On Sunset.com: Learn more about their shed

• Bing: When is the best plant-growing season in your area?

• Video: Patio furniture that fits your space

• On our blog, 'Listed': Condo board sues residents over flowers

Courtyard shed

A shed in the right spot can help define an outdoor dining area or patio, as it did for this DIY backyard makeover.

This cedar garden shed in Seattle keeps tools and garden machinery safe, dry, and out of the garage and basement.

"Before the shed, we had to bring the mower up out of the basement every time we cut the grass," says owner Leanne Rubin.

• On Sunset.com: See the before and after

• Video: Sprucing up your patio

Slide show:  Top plants for summer color

• MSN Glo: Resident style: Outdoor spaces

Under-eaves storage shed

Attached to the outside of the house, this 15½-inch deep structure opens to reveal a spacious storage area to keep your garden tools dry and out of sight.

• On Sunset.com: Materials, instructions, and building diagram

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• Video: Transform your backyard

• MSN Living: $150 garden makeover

Flexible modern prefab

Need a little more room? We partnered with San Francisco-based prefab firm Modern Cabana to create a pared-down modular project that provides a bit more square footage without the need for an over-the-top home addition.

The resulting guest suite and home office function separately as highly flexible bonus rooms. And combined with the outdoor entertaining areas, they offer a compelling model of minimalist living.

• On Sunset.com: Tour our cottage project

• Bing: When is the best plant-growing season in your area?

• Video: Patio furniture that fits your space

• On our blog, 'Listed': Condo board sues residents over flowers

Summer retreat home

Sunset's 2007 Celebration Weekend featured a vacation getaway created with tent cabins from Sweetwater Bungalows.

Create your own combination of tents, or put just one in your backyard for an instant outdoor getaway.

• On Sunset.com: See what Sunset did with the tent cabins

• Video: Sprucing up your patio

Slide show:  Top plants for summer color

• MSN Glo: Resident style: Outdoor spaces