In the alternate universe called Instagram, we met Tracey Hiebert a few years ago and were transfixed by her charming shed. Not only is Tracey’s landscape a wondrous place — she and her husband live on a 95-acre farm in South Ontario, Canada just a few minutes’ drive from Lake Erie — but it also has a vintage potting shed that is just as chipped and charming and cat-friendly as can be. We took to it immediately.
You’ll find The Hydrangea Farmhouse on Instagram and also featured in the month of August of this year’s She Shed Living calendar. Tracey’s husband built it from scratch, with old windows and a door that Tracey had collected. He designed it around her vintage materials and also her antique chandelier. For the floor/foundation they used old brick that was lying about the farm. The roof is polycarbonate that maintains diffused light inside through all of the seasons.
Tracey’s Three DIY Favorites
It’s clear that Tracey loves to be creative and make pretty things out of old castoffs, so we asked her for a few favorites. The first one is a clever reuse of old wire garden fencing. Tracey had a short piece she couldn’t do anything with and then decided it looked like an old-fashioned cloche, which is a bell-shaped covering that was used to keep pests like rabbits and deer from nibbling on plants. You can find how-to instructions on her blog.
These cloches are scattered about on Tracey’s front porch of the shed and look right at home with all of her other vintage finds.
Ever see an old iron headboard without any of it’s other bed parts and want to take it home? Well now you’ll have a great way to reuse it. Tracey created a picturesque garden gate by installing two hinges on one side of the headboard. See her how-to on the blog and find out the clever way her husband modified the opening of the hinges so the gate fit nice and snug.
The third DIY project is a genious (and easy) way to grow a topiary. Tracey was snipping her leggy coleus one day and found herself staring at one of the clippings. It had a nice leafy top and a straight stem. She popped it in a glass of water and let it grow roots. Then, she simply potted it and continued to keep the “trunk” free of leaves and the top nicely shaped. “This project was VERY popular on my Instagram feed,” she says.
We can see why.
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