Hello, seeking some help in designing a garden storage unit.

Hello,
im a 6th form student working on a garden project,
unfortunatly i have hit a few barriers in regard to what gardeners might want for a garden storage device. I hope that you can take a few minutes of your time to help me develop my proiject. thank you

My initial idea is to create a product for the garden to store the smaller tools for the garden or allotments. From research i have done on the internet i have seen that garden sheds (the aparent most reliable way to store your garden equiptment) are very expensive. and garden sheds are not always the most pretty thing to have in a perhaps well designed garden. my current idea is to have a large mushroom shaped object (made to look like a mushroom) which can easily be used to store smaller tools. the whole aim of this project is to have a small but effective garden storage device which will cost less than �£100 and made so it looks like its part of a garden(eg looks like a decoration) rather than a shed. unfortunaltly i have no way of seeing if this is actually going to be accpepted by real gardeners, which is why i came here.

so if you were to be kind enough i would apreciate feeback on my work, or if you have any further questions about my ideas and its purpouse.
if you have any ideas for a design or extra pupouses you would love to see in this type of design it would be very much appreciated.
other thinkgs i would be looking for is what style of design would fit into every garden or your garden. would a statue looking device look better, tree looking device, vegetation looking, animal looking? colour? patterns? where would you locate this storage device.
i am not planning for this product to have any particular size, i am still at early designing stage, so anything is very welcome

thank you for your help

edward

 

Hi Edward R6:
there is only a handful of people which would choose a mushroom shaped object or a statue for decoration or purpose storage in the garden, because they are quite particular items.
Most people would want something which blends in colour with the garden, meaning usually green and wood colours and practical in the shape.
Main purpose of it beeing to keep the tools dry and clean and safely away from the way.
In a shed (I havent got one unfortunately) you can be pottering about for a longtime maybe when you were feeling like gardening but it is raining.
And you can also do some little work etc.
If you really like the elf feeling you could go for something like this:

a little house which you can open from the top and you put your tools in it.

 

Hi Edward. Yup. Miraflores is right (she usually is). I don't want anything 'phony' looking in my garden, and as I like exotic plants, I think I do not have the same style as Miraflores. I would love a subterranean (no that just means a hole dug in the ground and a box set into it) with a lid on it so I didn't have to keep running to the shed. Rather like MF's elf home (sounds like Rivendell :D ) but totally hidden from first view.

 

thanks for the help so far.
how do you lot think about an idea mira gave about the house? but some of it is under ground. so it gives your more space to store things, but its less visable?
if you were to buy this product, would digging a hole the right dimensions stop you from buying this product?
thank you

 

I do agree with the above about it being green or wood, to be unnoticable. The first thing i thought though about the mushroom idea, is i assume you need to get access to it from all sides? Well wouldn't that take up more space? I dont have a large garden, but do have a shed. Anything i have in my garden needs to be efficient with space and pretty much will only have access from 3 sides max, never 4 (always around perimeter of garden).

I do like the idea of it being underground partially, though its not so great for people with bad backs. Make sure its water proof below ground. Also protect the wood from the weather.

Good luck :D

 

Thank you Sarraceniac for the "always right", even if I happen to be right a handful of times.
For me, yes, it would be an issue to dig a hole in the soil (I know people, I let you down!).
It also depends how big and deep it has to be.
If there is too much work to do to install a finished product, one could go an extra mile and build the little wooden house itself. (and by the way, wood would rot uderground, correct..?)

 

Sorry to sound negative, but the garden shed has evolved (or not) over the years, its still basically the same thing it always was.
Methods of hiding it have improved, and the materials it is made out of.
But at the end of the day its the ideal thing for the job, I think your going to be hard pressed to come up with a viable alternative, but I wish you luck.

 

Underground - all the tools would end up rusty. Why not build a storage box that is both practical and fulfills two purposes? How about a nice seat with a comfortable back with a seat that lifts up to allow access to the storage underneath?

 

How about one that looks like a telephone box but it had loads of room inside :D seriously the subject as been well covered I was looking at some only yesterday some are indeed garden benches the storage box being an integal part of it, some are modular and link together made of rot proof plastic, the only problems with the ones I have seen is they are rather obtrusive if they were done in a floral design they would blend in better.

 

Don't agree that tools go rusty underground. NewbieGreen has it right. A member of my local club, who has no shed, has been keeping his stuff in a plastic box set into the ground, for years. No problem. :D

 

thank you for the replies everyone, youve been great.
well one thing i perhaps didnt make clear is that i am aiming to store only smaller products. so things like mini pruners, gloves, seeds, trowls, paints and varnishes perhaps, power cables (anything else im missing)? anything small you dont want to lose etc.
at this point in time its still possible to design something for bigger objects, but as pointed out, sheds are the best way for that.

i think with amount of materials available today i do not think rusting is going to be a very big problem.
really im only talking about having to dig a hole maximum 1mx1m and depth would not be deeper than 25cm. how would people feel about digging that size hole? or do you think for this size product the subteranean idea should be s****ed?

 

Not at all Edward. Just make sure it's plastic lined. :D

 

But what would this store look like? Trouble is if you make it look like a piece of vegetation, or some ornament etc it can easily look a bit naff...or some people will think it does. That is why i said something practical. Benches can be attractive and contribute to the look of the garden if tastefully designed and of course you can never have enough of them.

 

I'd go along with Geoff here - mushrooms, etc would look REALLY naff - I'd go for something that has a practical use, like a bench, which gives a reason for it being there.

I quite like the idea of a submerged box too. As for digging a hole to put it in, well, we've had to do that for a dog loo, and that was deep - and we regularly dig holes for planting things, so I don't think that should be a real problem :rolleyes:

Good luck with your project.

 

If it's only for smaller stuff why not make it portable so you can tuck it away somewhere unobtrusive when not in use,I designed and made a tool box once it had 3 sections that lifted up and locked into place so you could get at all the tools the top was a height you could work off and it had a small vice for small jobs it was on 4wheels the front 2 rotated 360 deg and it had a handle for pulling it,very manouverable in its down position capable of carrying a heavy load, try and vector in all the additonal uses you could use it for eg convieniance,security, cost,fit for purpose, durability lots of things to consider, good luck.