PAINT THE WALL AND CEILING THE SAME COLOR OR INCORPORATE VERTICAL STRIPES

The first thing you should do if the space in your home has low ceilings is to make it more light-filled by painting the ceiling a light color.  This simple step will make the space feel much larger by making sure it is as bright as possible.  In our home, we use 3/8 plank boards in combination with the same paint color.  Visually, this maximized the height as much as possible.  But there is no issue if you don’t want everything to be white; simply make sure the ceiling is lighter than the walls.

LOW HANG OR RECESSED LIGHTING

And speaking of more involved solutions, this one can be a bit tricky, but it may be worth it because it can make such a significant improvement. Getting rid of any existing low-hanging ceiling fan, chandelier, or other non-flush with-the-ceiling lighting in your room can be a significant upgrade. It may be necessary to hire an electrician to install the recessed lighting, but it will be well worth the cost.  Here you can see we used huge chandeliers where the ceiling heights are way up there and both recessed & a low-hanging light where the ceiling is lower.

MOUNT CURTAINS AS CLOSE TO THE CEILING AS POSSIBLE

This classic design trick gives a room a feeling of openness and airiness. Hang the curtain rod as near to the ceiling as you can if your room has 7 or 8-foot ceilings. Yes, even higher than the window’s trim. Many people believe that the trim serves as a guide to indicate where to place a rod, but honestly, we went all the way to our ceiling in our old house, and I think they looked great.  These ceilings were about nine feet and the hanging the curtain rod close to the top still worked!

USE LOW HEIGHT FURNITURE

Large, heavy furniture can make any space appear smaller. Consider choosing furniture that is proportionate to the height of the ceiling. We laid our mattress directly on the floor and added extra throw pillows so that it doubles as a lounge recliner.  An option for dining or living areas is to use long, slim, low-profile couches in dining or living spaces to make the furniture proportionate to the size of the space. To create a room that feels larger, you may also use full-height shelf units and thin shelving that reaches the ceiling. Low-height furniture gives the impression that there is more overhead space whereas towering furniture focuses attention.

Making the most of rooms with low ceilings calls for careful planning, imagination, and a good sense of design. When done well, the outcome is a room that is both useful and aesthetically pleasing, giving the impression that it is larger than it actually is

We built our Tuff Shed three years ago.  (If you click this link, Rob wrote a blog post where he talked about the ordering, designing, and construction of our shed.  Also, here is a top 10 questions answered piece that gives a bit more info.)  Since then we’ve done so much with the space.  From Halloween, to birthdays, to simply having an extra sleeping space.  Lately though, I’ve been using the space as a place to relax and I’m here to write about that.

I got to design the space myself and I knew I wanted something that would inspire, be charming, and foster conversation.  Here are three simple tricks that I used to do just that.

• Make it cozy by providing lots of cushions and blankets for cuddling.

• Well-lit areas create moods and personality. It is then welcoming to relax, unwind, read or enjoy a cup of coffee!

• Speaking of reading one of my favorite ways to create coziness and texture in here, is to add books.  There’s nothing quite as good as unwinding and escaping with a good story while enjoy a bit of nature from the comforts of my snuggly chair.

Now that I have shared all this and how we have enjoyed the space the last few years I am beyond excited to announce that we are about to get our hands dirty and give this escape of ours a whole new look inside paired with a whole lot of intention. This space is transforming not only into a sanctuary to get away but we are turning it into a game room as well. Think of your favorite cozy cabin, tucked away in the woods, a crackling fire, books and now vintage games to enjoy!! The girls are so excited but I have to admit mom and dad might be even more!

We can’t wait to bring you along!

These past 18 months have been very hard.  Whether you’re anxious about Covid or one that refuses to let it impact you, socially most people have been limited.  In my family, we were very cautious.  (No judgments here no matter what your opinion).  My in-laws that we see a lot have comorbidities that we felt a responsibility to be cautious against impacting.  So, with that written, we had to cancel the girls’ birthday parties, Daggmas (my hubby before marrying me was kind of an obnoxious jock and named his Christmas party after himself.  The name has stuck), and essentially all big gatherings.

Now that we’re all vaccinated and are feeling a bit safer, I wanted to throw a bash for my girls.  And to me, that means horses and a petting zoo.  Yes, overkill but fun.  I explained to Rob that this was the last year the girls will be light enough to ride the horses, so we essentially had to do it.  Right???!?!?!  And the petting zoo was only $50 more so it was a steal.  Right?!?!?!?!

Inevitably, as the big day approached, the weather had to be rainy.  My original plan to have the animals outside was nixed.  They needed shelter.  And of course, the guests had to be out of the rain as well!  Thank goodness we had the Tuff Shed.

Rob and I put together a borrowed tent in front of the shed, a few more in the patio area, and a couple of outdoor umbrellas and we were good!  The animal cage was set up in front of the shed and guests were able to pet them and then hang out in the shed to get warm.  It was so convenient having this versatile space so that people could be comfortable and dry, while still outside(ish).

Yet again, I am so thankful to the amazing guys at Tuff Shed.  This shed, which is big enough to be considered a small barn almost, saved the day.  Our girls had a blast, the bad weather wasn’t an issue, and the only casualty were my poor ferns that Mr. Llama ate within the first minute!  They never stood a chance.

Happy Halloween!!!

Rob here.  Susan asked me to write about the Tuff Shed installation process since she’s received so many questions about how everything came together.  Here we go!

First off, Tuff Sheds are awesome.  Putting that out there front and center. They’re awesome because they offer 1,000 different customization options but despite that, they are still perfectly manufactured since the entire building process is done at their factory.  This pre-development allows Tuff Sheds to be built under perfect conditions, with pre-cast materials that are specifically designed for each individual customization option.  Thus, the build-out is as near as perfectly efficient as possible.  Waste is limited as raw materials have been studied, examined, and worked in such a fashion as to maximize the quantity of finalized output.  Honestly, the argument can and has been made that all buildings should be pre-manufactured due to this vast increase in efficiency, quality, and the time needed to assemble.  But that’s the sustainability policy analyst coming out in me.

The starting point for building your own Tuff Shed is their website.  On there, you’ll see a ‘Build-A-Quote’ section on the bottom left.  Click that, type in your zip (because pricing differs per region) and you’re taken to the 15 building types and styles they offer.  Susan chose the Premier Pro Tall Barn.  (Note, I liked the Premier Pro Barn Weekender because there is a sweet front porch but I lost out because I couldn’t counter the argument that we couldn’t use the outside space 10 months a year.  But if you’re in a nice climate seriously check that one out!)

Once a style is chosen the details are then determined.  The number of options to choose from will require some thought.  You’ll want to specify everything from the roof to the floor.  Walls, windows, paint, height, and a multitude of loft options for the second floor (if applicable).  Susan and I had to sit down and go through this together in order to figure out which options best suited our space.  Additionally, depending on your specific town’s zoning you’ll want to learn whether the larger sized sheds are considered garages and thus, are required to meet additional specifications.

In our case, the 18X14 size required a concrete slab foundation and that was it.  I’m not in any way a construction expert so I relied heavily on the Tuff Shed staff to provide the engineering and assembly plan to help satisfy our town’s permit guys.  And seriously, Tuff Shed was awesome.  They were patient through all mine and the city’s questions and we had absolutely no issues with the permitting process at all.

From there, the Tuff Shed guys take your instructions and engineer a shed together.  Thankfully, we were completely out of that process altogether.  But I asked one of the Tuff Shed guys how long it takes to actually build a shed in the factory and he said most can be fully built out in less than a day.  That’s freaking fast.

Lastly, we scheduled an assembly date.  We had to wait a bit between our online submittal and the actual on-site assembly of the shed because we needed a few good weather days  in a row for the concrete slab to dry.  The Tuff Shed crew was fully accommodating for all that. Once we began the assembly took two days, which was much faster than I had thought it would take.  Most sheds take only a day to assemble but due to the larger size and breaks for Susan to record the process for y’all, our assembly took an extra day.

After that, we had a fully functioning Tuff Shed.  Everything additional was Susan’s creativity and design. Stay tuned for more of this to come!