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The project:
After our children outgrew their ageing cubby house, I decided to relocate and rebuild it as a larger 3.1m x 2.1m garden shed. I designed and built it myself while taking some restorative time between jobs, using AI to help me learn unfamiliar building techniques, calculate materials and solve problems along the way. My husband provided labouring assistance, while Bunnings team members helped us choose everything from structural timber and roofing to hinges and paint. Every new material and tool came from Bunnings—and on one memorable day, there were three shopping trips to the Chatswood store.Â
- Materials:
- H4-treated pine posts for the bearers - 88mm x 88mm
- Bessa concrete blocks for the foundations
- Structural timber for floor joists - 90 x 45
- Structaflor flooring sheets - particle boardÂ
- H2-treated pine framing timber - 42mm x 35mm
- Structural pine rafters and ridge board
- Exterior plywood wall cladding - 12mm CD plywood
- Perspex sheets for the two front windows
- Corrugated Colorbond roofing - Woodland Grey
- Matching Colorbond ridge capping - Woodland Grey
- Roofing screws with rubber seals
- Galvanised timber screws in various lengths
- Joist brackets
- Heavy-duty gate-style door hinges
- Door handle
- Exterior primer
- Exterior paint (Dulux) - Feather Soft - windows, Ironstone - exterior rafters, Endless Dusk - exterior walls
- Gap filler and exterior sealant
- Sandpaper and sanding discs
- Reused components from the original cubby house
- Tools:
- Step 1:
Assess the old cubby and develop the new design
Our children had outgrown their old cubby house and several components had deteriorated after years outdoors. I carefully dismantled it, assessed which pieces could be reused and measured the available area. I then designed a larger 3.1m x 2.1m garden shed with enough room for garden tools and equipment, two front windows, a full-height door and a pitched Colorbond roof.I used AI throughout the planning process to help turn my measurements and ideas into framing layouts, materials calculations and staged construction plans. This was especially useful because I had never designed or built a complete structure before.
- Step 2:
Prepare and level the foundations
We cleared and levelled the site before positioning concrete blocks to support three treated-pine bearers. Considerable care went into checking the spacing, diagonals and levels, as I knew the accuracy of the foundations would affect every later stage.
We reused suitable foundation components from the original cubby where possible and adjusted the block positions until the bearers were stable, level and square.
- Step 3:
Construct the floor frame
I cut and installed the floor joists, carefully positioning them so the edges and joins of the flooring sheets would be fully supported. The joists were fixed to the bearers and the complete frame was checked again for level and square.
The structural flooring sheets were then measured, cut and secured to create a firm platform on which the wall frames could be assembled and installed. Connecting the Structafloor was a little tricky but lifting them slightly helped them slot together snugly.Â
- Step 4:
Build the four wall frames
Each wall was built separately using treated structural framing timber. The front frame included openings for a centred full-height door and two windows, while the side walls were designed to support the plywood cladding and pitched roof.
Each frame was checked for square by measuring the diagonals before being lifted into position. My husband helped with lifting and holding the larger frames while I levelled, aligned and fixed them together.
- Step 5:
Frame the roof
The roof was a little tricky and required a fair bit of research to figure out. I installed the ridge beam using two wedges that held the beam at the right height. I then measured and cut the rafters to create the pitched roof. This was one of the most challenging stages because the rafter angles, birdsmouth cuts and connections all needed to work together accurately.
Not everything went smoothly on the first attempt—including a screw that became firmly lodged in the ridge. After much frustration, instead of screwing in the rafters to the ridge beam we found we could use joist hangers. This worked sooo well. We could attach the hangers to the rafters on the ground which meant all we had to do was to screw in the hanger to the ridge beam. MUCH easier.Â
- Step 6:
Fit the roof sheets and ridge capping
We had ordered the roofing sheets from the Special Orders crew at Bunnings. They were all cut to size so all we had to do was install them. Not quite as easy as we thought.Â
When we first attempted to screw in the roofing sheets the screw kept sliding off. Thankfully, all we needed was the right drill bit to pre-drill the sheets before adding the screws to keep it all secure. We made sure to use roofing screws and not to overtighten them. We had a bit of overhang on each side and a good bit at the front and back to give the shed a bit of protection from the rain.
The corrugated iron roofing sheets were in Dulux Woodland Grey and we managed to get the ridge cap in the same order.Â
- Step 7:
Install the windows and finish the exterior
Initially, I looked at using recycled windows for the shed but there weren't any that were the right size. After a bit of Googling and YouTube video watching I installed two fixed Perspex windows in the front wall to bring natural light into the shed without adding the complexity of opening windows. They came up really nicely and were super simple to install. The trims, gaps and exposed joins were then sealed in preparation for painting.
The exterior was primed and painted to protect the timber and tie the new shed into the surrounding house and garden. Painting the trims and detailed areas took time but brought the whole project together.
- Step 8:
Making and hanging the door
Rather than purchasing a standard door, I built one to suit the opening and the style of the shed. The door frame was made to fit the structure, then clad to complement the exterior walls. When making the frame it had to be square and the diagonals had to match on both sides. The door needed a little bit of shaving off from the top and bottom to get it to swing smoothly.Â
We chose to hang the door so that it would open outwards. This would make moving equipment in and out of the shed much easier and give us more usable space in the shed. To allow for the door to swing outwards a small section of two of the rafters nearest to the door had to be trimmed off.
Hanging the door took quite a bit of work. Firstly, we had to get the right hinges to hold the weight of the door. We made several Bunnings visits while comparing options and eventually found heavy-duty hinges that gave the required reach and support. The first set was not deep enough to fit into the frame and past the plywood shell so we had to swap them with another set that would ensure the hinge could be attached fully to the frame.Â
Once we had the correct size hinges I recessed and fixed them to the door frame but after many attempts and much frustration we couldn’t get the door to open and close smoothly. So after watching multiple YouTube videos I saw that quite a few garden sheds used exterior shed hinges for the door. The installation looked super easy so I thought we’d give that a try.Â
Although they were much easier to use to hang the door they didn’t really give us the look we were after so we used the shed hinges to support the door whilst we correctly fitted the original recessed stainless steel hinges. Hey presto, the door opened and closed super smoothly. We then removed the large exterior shed hinges so that we could add some trim to the door.
- Step 9:
Complete the shed and organise the space
Once construction and painting were complete, I installed the final latch and hardware, checked the roof and exterior seals and prepared the interior for garden storage.
The finished shed is considerably larger and more practical than the original cubby, but still retains part of its story. More importantly, it represents what can be achieved by combining careful planning, new technology, support from family and the willingness to keep learning when things do not go according to plan.
