I had been planning to build a garden shed for some time in order to clear out space in my garage. I looked around for a kit but didn't like the affordable ones very much because either they were too flimsy or didn't have any loft space. So, I decided to build it from scratch. I spent a lot of time trying to find plans that I liked. I wanted around 100 sq. ft. and under 10 ft tall so I could avoid having to get a building permit and still have a little loft area to store things. I found the plans used here at www.shedking.net. I liked that he seemed very available to ask questions if I ran into trouble as I am NOT an experienced builder. Also, his plans are very reasonably priced. I found out that his plans are not very noob friendly and he didn't return my emails. But the shopping list alone was worth the price so I can't complain too much.
This shady area under the cedar trees seemed like a good place for the shed since nothing grows there anyway
Laurie convinced me to purchase a "chop" saw and I can say it was SO worth the money
Working on the floor
Floor all done
Rear wall frame
Rear wall with siding
Front wall with door cut-out
Work area
Front wall in place
Front and rear walls in place
Trusses in place (that step took awhile!)
Building the side walls
Side wall siding in place
Added upper siding triangle and Z-flashing
Roofing plywood in place
Tar paper installed
Alan working on the shingles
Roofing all done - already pine needles piling up, sigh
Installed most of the trim - ran out of wood
Laurie began painting
Finished trim, caulked everything, installed vents, and got some more painting done. It was a race to beat the rain!
Sunday, July 8th, we set out for a week long family camping trip at Fort Stevens, Oregon which is the Northern most tip of the Oregon coast. It was about a 2.5 hour drive and very hot - until we got to the coast. I wore shorts and a tee shirt for the drive but quickly changed into pants and a long sleeve shirt after arriving. In fact, I wore long pants, a long sleeve shirt, and a jacket for almost the entire vacation because it was very cool and the mosquitoes were very plentiful.
Ready to go camping!
The kids enjoyed riding bikes and riding scooters around the campground. Chris and Byron were especially adept at riding the scooters on their bums.
Here are two pictures of our campsite. Our group took up 4 campsites total and we had 19 people in attendance. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of places to set up a large tent like ours. We ended up on a pretty big slope and David kept on rolling into me in the middle of the night.
The brown tent is ours
The eyebrows on this car seem to be the latest thing - we saw a few
Everyone with bikes took off to find some geocaches one morning
Geocache site
Every time we visit Fort Stevens, we make sure to play "sardines" at Battery Russell. This time was no exception. The kids had a lot of fun and found some amazing hiding spots. Battery Russell is unique among the ruins in that it's not a formal museum and we don't really bother anyone playing sardines.
David looking for the person hiding
Two girls yelling non-stop for about 20 min - I think they liked the sound of their own voices echoing
We visited the Astoria Column not once, but twice: once on our anniversary and again when everyone else wanted to go. 165 steps to the top. Yes, I counted each one.
Looking over Astoria where the Columbia meets the Pacific Ocean
Looking down the staircase
Chris defies gravity
All the kids trying to jump at the same time. Cody looks like he's hovering in the air.
Poor deserted old house in Astoria. Really cool curved glass windows in the rear.
Astoria Pioneer Cemetery - not as exciting as we had hoped
Laurie and I stayed back from going to Astoria one evening and just enjoyed ourselves at the beach
Pioneer Cemetery behind old Presbyterian church next the Camp Rilea where we used to have church campouts as a kid
Oldest continuing Presbyterian church west of the Rocky Mountains
We went to visit the Fort Stevens Historic Area near the end of the trip. We visited the museum, Battery Mishler and found a geocache while we were here.
