When Joanie Wilken needed a space to design and sew quilts, she only had eyes for Tuff Shed. After seeing one of our barn style sheds in a friend’s yard, Joanie headed to Home Depot to find a style that would fit both her backyard and neighborhood zoning regulations. Her plan for a customized building came to life with the help of the Boise Tuff Shed team.
Due to strict zoning laws, the building could be no larger than 120 square feet, with sidewalls no higher than 7’, while being at least 6’ away from her home. In addition to the zoning regulations, Joanie also had a 6’x6’ storage hutch that needed to fit inside the shed, adding another layer to the design. But even while working through all the codes and restrictions, Joanie knew she was in good hands. “We had a lot of specifications to meet, but we worked through it all, and we really made sure that the finished design would work for me.” After months of planning, designing, and approvals from her HOA, the quilt shed began to come to life.
The final result is a highly custom 8×15 TR-700 with a steeper 8/12 roof pitch. The project took a bit longer than a typical design, but it’s easy to see that the quilt shed was well worth the wait. “It fit just perfectly into the space,” says Joanie.
After the building was installed, Joanie and a contractor friend got to work finishing the quilting shed. While shopping around a local window store, Joanie had found the perfect awning windows on sale. To match their unique green enamel trim she ordered additional windows from the Home Depot for the front and back walls of the quilting shed, along with the front door.
To complete the interior, she found a blue pine bead board at Home Depot for the ceiling and 4×8 plywood for the walls. She originally planned to paint over the plywood when it was installed, but later fell in love with its natural look. Since her walls and ceiling were the most eye-catching parts of the shed, she finished out the floor with a coat of simple dark brown paint and a few rugs.
Joanie owned Rabbit Run, a quilting and gift shop in northern Idaho, and had kept quite a few décor and furniture pieces from the shop, which fit perfectly in her quilting shed. The quilt shed was finished out with a vintage chandelier, a daybed, and her worktable. With her favorite bolts of fabric in place and a few of her quilts on display, Joanie is loving her new space. “I would recommend Tuff Shed to anyone,” says Joanie, “We had a lot to figure out with this shed, and everyone really took the time to make it perfect. I just had a great experience.”
