Inside the Coop de Jardin

 The last time you saw the Coop de Jardin, it was full of scrap wood and buckets of broken glass.  

Still very much in the middle of a work zone.  

I can say now, after moving the wood scraps out and spending hours and hours (and hours) of picking up broken glass (which still continues to appear as if by magic, even to this day) from that broken concrete floor, that the garden shed is as good as it is going to get at this point.

And, in my opinion, that is very, very good.

Come on in and I'll show you around....

That swinging chair was bought at Aldi, after the season was over for $9.  My intention was to give it as a gift to someone but when the garden shed was built, I decided to gift it to myself instead.  ;-)

TEMU allowed me to get lots of beautiful canvas prints of girlie paintings that I love for about $2-3 a piece.  Many times, just a buck!  That was thrilling, because I've always loved the idea of an art wall but that isn't something I could do easily in our house and without cheap alternatives, would be super expensive to do.   

I asked Matt to make a slotted area in the workbench so that dirt could fall through into a bin below.

He built it after it could be used this year to start seeds but I know next spring, Lord willing, it will come in very handy.

I have a stash of old glass jars for filling vases to give away.  

And for the spring and summertime, a few plants in the windows.  

They need to be brought in before they freeze to death, now that I think about it.

Adele' painted this lovely art for me on my birthday.  

(She copied the design from a canvas I admired online)

This framed photo is an ariel view of our home back in the earlier 1940's or 50's, (I think... not sure of the exact date.)  You can see the original chicken coop beside two dark trees behind the house.  

I hung battery powered twinkle lights from the beams in hopes that it would illuminate the building in the absence of electricity.  

Not quite.

But it does provide a magical, twinkly ambiance.

This is the garden shed mascot.  

Moses painted a piece of scrap wood into an alligator for me. 

Matt's dad made us a GARDEN SHED sign for Christmas last year which is extra special to me as his hands shake quite often and I am sure that must have been very hard to do.  But he did it for us anyway.

I cherish it.

I hung two mirrors on the walls of the garden coop.  I did this for a few reasons:

1- They were here when we bought the house and have been getting in the way ever since.

2- It's a miracle they haven't been broken in the granary yet.  On the walls is a much safer place to be.

3. I hoped they would provide more reflective light to a building that does not have electricity.

But mostly, #2.

Matt made it very clear that this was my building to with what I want, but I am not sure that he figured I would make it soooo.....  girlie?!  

From the beginning of Matt's big plot, I've thought how unnecessary a building this size is for garden tools.  You can see how much space that takes up...

not much.

I still feel guilty at the excess and extravagence.

I am not sure how we will utilize this space to its' fullest potential~ I guess we will 'grow into it'. 

 I have dreams of making it an inspiring place that I might eventually be able to use as a writing shed... a quiet and reflective place away from the busyness of a bustling household.  And I think I have done that- all except the fact that winter is fast approaching and it will be freezing cold.  Maybe next spring and summer?

It has been a sleepover shed where girls can laugh all night long without a Papa and Mama bear getting grumpy with all the chatter.

It has been a hangout and visit spot when company comes.

It's been a reading and lounging spot on a hot summer day.

And in August, when Matt's and my anniversary rolled around, I wanted to do something special (read: NOT COOK) but Matt had just returned from a week long work trip in which he stayed in hotels and ate at restaurants... the last thing he wanted to do was go out.  

Instead of being sad about it, I figured I could make our anniversary special and give us both what we wanted.

I strung out an extension cord to plug in some proper lights, I moved the porch bed in there and Matt and I watched a movie and ate take-out while kiddos stayed in the house and watched a movie.  It was all fun and games until a terrible thunderstorm erupted overhead.

(Thunderstorms above and around you in an uninsulated shed with a metal roof are very loud and very scary.  Then add the fact that you are laying on a metal bed... and we hightailed it inside pretty quick.)

(Aunt Holly strikes again with just the perfect anniversary gift.)

And that's the coop de jardin, in all her glory.