The shed's graceful elegance makes Bill Brudon smile. Practical and palatial Custom and mass-produced garden sheds that offer both storage and style are increasingly popular. On the practical side, they can corral all a gardener's flotsam and jetsam, putting it right where the tools and equipment are needed. It can also add to the property's resale value. In addition, sheds can add a design element to gardens and landscapes beyond what the trees, shrubs, flowers and lawn provide.
Some sheds even become a garden getaway, like a playhouse for grownups.
Like trellises, arbors, pergolas and other structures, garden sheds represent a next step for home owners who have already invested considerable time, money and emotion in their gardens and landscapes. Little designed the Brudons' garden shed, which was built three years ago. Garden, or potting, sheds have long been popular in Europe, notes Bruce Butterfield, who studies trends for the National Gardening Association in Vermont. It's almost like people's home away from home. In this country, sheds have tended to be straightforward vinyl or aluminum and employed to relieve garage overcrowding.