Backyard Bliss

In 2008 Dominique and I moved to an area of Los Angeles called Lake Balboa. The home was a typical California bungalow/ranch. Single story with wood shingles and stucco. Dominique designed an addition to the home to double the square footage. In the back of the yard was a concrete pad that used to serve as a dog run. She developed a plan to convert it to a cute cottage-style garden shed.

There were very cool old metal windows in the main house which we could not reuse due to energy efficiency considerations. So Dominique decided to repurpose those in the garden shed, along with a door salvaged from the main house. Our contractor built the structure and Dominique and I insulated the shed and finished the inside in tongue and groove planking, along with a wood floor. I did the electrical so that the two outside lanterns would come on automatically at night, helping to light the yard, and making the shed a viewpoint when we sat outside eating and drinking on warm nights.

There is a picture of the shed on our De Bilt page on Houzz, and it has received so many views that TV shows and magazines have asked if they could feature it. One such article appeared in the April 2019 issue of “Cottages and Bungalows“. The article is shown below.

Dominique used the shed as her “inspiration place”. She potted plants, rendered architectural drawings. I took some naps in there (wonderful).