Operation paint the shed.

Hi. I apologise for the dreary photo. It's raining today and looks like it's set in for the afternoon. When I started the garden revamp I told myself that I would do the hard grafting bits through the winter and then think about the plant bits in the spring. Unfortunately my brain doesn't work that way. When I get an idea, good, bad or indifferent I have to explore the possibilities. Especially on a day like today when I can't get out to do any grafting.

The scruffy area to the right of the shed is where my raised kiddie area is going to be. Along that wall I intend to position a sandpit and a blackboard. At the far end just below the roof I intend to mount a row of 5 plant pot buckets in bright colours, one for each grandchild. (I am going to try to get them to paint there own buckets and pot there own flowers. I will come back to this idea nearer the time ).

Whilst twiddling my thumbs today I came across hunnysuckle scarlet dropmore. I had previously toyed with the idea of growing something colourful on the corner of the shed. I would happily remove the yellow/green bush, not that there's anything wrong with it, and re utilise the space. Would this be a suitable plant for this? I would be happy for it cover all of the gable end and the first quarter or so of the side. The side of the shed measures approx 3.5 metres which I guess makes the shed 12ft x 8ft. Among my concerns would be the depth of the mature plant and the attraction to bees.

A while back @Verdun suggested that I paint my back fence pale blue. I was thinking it might work well for the shed too. The raised deck will be green. If I were arty, which sadly I'm not, I would paint a meadow on the side of the shed. Hopefully if all goes to plan the sandpit etc will be painted the same bright colours as the flower pots, tying everything in.

Any thoughts on the above would be appreciated.

G.

 

Painting the shed: if you want to do something a bit fancy but are daunted by murals, how about painting the planks alternate colours like a stripy beach hut? Or looking out of the window I can see my neighbours' shed - dark blue with white trim just round the windows and doors - very pretty, like a gingerbread house in the forest as it is under some evergreen trees. Mine is a plain mossy green and that looks nice too.

A honeysuckle sounds good to me - it will provide both colour and scent, but no thorns to prick the grandchildren's fingers. I wouldn't have thought bees should be a problem - honeysuckle scent is strongest at night, to attract moths apparently, and certainly the bees never seem particularly interested in mine

On the other hand honeysuckles are pretty vigorous, so you would want to put up a strong support for it and be prepared to prune - yes they can get very messy and encroaching if you don't take dead growth out, coming forward as well as up.

 

There was a Virginia creeper on that gable end when I first came here. It hadn't been controlled and ended up as a matted mess. Despite my best efforts at tidying it up, it died and had to be removed. If I planted something new I would be in a better position to look after it. With all the help and advice I would get I should have half a chance.

 

I've been painting outdoors today, B&M have some cheap paint in various colours £12 for this tin.

 

Jack, I reckon you`re going to have a problem repainting that shed another colour. If it were mine, I would give it a coat of scrubbing with a wire brush, and re do it dark brown as it is now. If you want to jazz it up a bit, why not buy a bundle of roofing battens (nice and strong) and knock up some trellis to fix to the shed - that trellis would then be nice and new to paint another colour.
The Lonicera dropmore scarlet (honeysuckle) that you mention is not a very strong growing one, although the flowers are a good colour. I would go for one called americana, which is a stronger grower, scented, and very pretty. Halliana is (in my book) the best scent - but yellow and white.

It looks like there`s a fair bit of space along that wall of the shed for planting (where the goal post is lying) so maybe the shrub could stay where it is for now as it adds a bit of structure.

If you like the idea of pale blue, it would actually look very arty over the dark brown

Don`t forget to make a fairy house or two ..........

 

That`s looking good Martin......see Jack what I thought about pale blue and brown

 

I've done that Clare on what one day will be a summer house when I get round to finishing it.



Thanks @Tetters

 

Looks great @martin-f ! I like @Tetters idea of the pale blue over the dark brown for a rustic/distressed finish too. I did something similar in sage green on my previous, inherited, shed. That would have been say 30 years old at the point I painted it, the wood was brown but so well dried out that it soaked up coat after coat and still looked 'rustic.' The effect was quite pretty so when I had to paint again I enhanced it by using a slightly different green. (And then eventually the shed got replaced by the current one.)

 

@martin-f your garden is looking fab. I will have to get myself down to B&M.

@Tetters the American honeysuckle looks good. They sell it at Dobbies which is a bonus.

G.

 

My first thought, Gary, when you mentioned Dropmore Scarlet was it is not scented......or very little scent. I would always choose a scented one. Serotina for one but agree with
Halliana.
Like the idea of 5 plant pot buckets for grandkids.....nice touch

 

What? Is Jack Gary, or is Gary Jack....it`s wicked to confuse old people like me like this........

 

Jack is none other than Jack Sparrow....not THE Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean, although he could be. So Jack is Gary and Gary is Jack. He is also simply G.
Have I got that right Gary?

 

Thanks, Make sure you buy a known brand them cheaper tubs are rubbish you can put 10 coats on and it still looks the same

 

.....still mightily confused here...and it`s getting late which doesn`t help....SO if I pull all the strings.......... will I be talking to ''G''....(string) ?
By the way, we call B&M the bum store.

 

Here B&M and The Range are next to each other. You can get virtually everything you need without paying through the nose.

@Tetters what's in a name?. Would a rose by any another name not smell as sweet?

Seriously though, Jack Sparrow isn't my real name. Same as that isn't actually me in my profile picture.

G.