The Australian Housing Industry Association noted that between March 2014 and 2015, construction began for a staggering 205,000 new homes. This is a record breaking number, marking the first time in history that the 200,000 threshold has been breached.
This is great news, because owning a home is a life milestone and a dream come true for many people. We spend so much time designing a house that we can make a home: a building that perfectly fits in with all our needs.
However, planning a shed or garage that is supposed to be built on the same plot of land, adjacent to your property, should also be treated with a similar amount of dedication.
These tips should help achieve this goal. Happy designing!
Analyse the shape of your house
It can help to take into account your home's style of architecture when you're starting the custom designing process on the Shed Boss app. After all, both structures will be visible side by side, and you may want a sense of visual harmony or cohesion between your home and shed/garage.
Is your home a traditional brick and tile with sloping roofs, or instead is it more of a sleek, modern shape with flat roofing?
Beautifully designed objects fulfil our desire for art and poetry.
– Cindy Coleman
Observing the outline your home makes can help plan the overall shape of your shed or garage, too. For example, the skillion roof is mono-pitched, meaning that it slants only one angle.
This creates a contemporary feel, with sharp industrial angles. You can even choose the exact incline of the roof during your planning by specifying the angle for the skillion roof.
On the other hand, the classic gable roof would suit a brick and tile home, because it directly mimics the shape of the roof with two equally slanting sections of steel meeting in the centre with a peak.
You can also jazz things up by choosing contrasting COLORBOND® steel colours in your design, to directly match the exterior wall paint or roof tile shades of your home.
This Shed Boss design uses the classic gable roof, with contrasting blue and creme steel shades to add character. Note which materials stand out in the facade
Does your home have large glass windows, perhaps a floor-to-ceiling ranch slider, or a bay window? Maybe an attic has a small rose window, complete with stained glass? These are just a few examples of the kinds of stand out features that can dominate the facade of a home.
You can create a complementary effect with your shed, by choosing to add Shed Boss extras such as glass sliding doors, windows or skylights. Because all of our structures come with the freedom of custom designing, you can get fairly creative with the placement of windows and also the shape of them. For example, the image below is of a shed that we built and it has a charming feature window shaped like a miniature home, with patterned triangles created using poles. As you can see for yourself, these types of windows really add beauty to the overall look of the shed – it's pretty enough to happily sit beside your new home!
"Beautifully designed objects fulfil our desire for art and poetry," said interior designer Cindy Coleman.
Indeed, you can be as artistic as you feel when designing the exterior of your shed. Treat your design process like a creative journey, not much different to how professional artists work. The team at your nearest Shed Boss franchise are likely to have many years experience in the design and construction industry, and would be more than happy to help you design or get a quote.
Here is an example of a build we did, with roller doors below a charming feature window. 