One of my main home improvement projects for this summer was to repair and repaint my shed. I finished it up yesterday.

Much of the paint was peeling very badly, especially on the west end. At first I thought I could repair the doors but, once I tore into them, I realized that trying to repair them was futile, so I rebuilt them (shout out to my sister who helped me haul the lumber home from Lowe’s with her pickup). Most of the rest of the shed was in decent shape. So I scraped it down, caulked the leaky spots, and made some other minor repairs. Then I primed and finished coated it.

Two things worth saying: (1) I am so proud of my upbringing on the farm in Iowa where I learned how to do a lot of this sort of work (and learned to work, period), mainly from my Dad; (2) it’s a good thing that my Dad was also a professional painter (owned and operated his own painting business) and that he made me … uh … I mean … I had the privilege of working for him—and it’s a good thing that my Mom taught me the patience needed to do trim painting (so tedious and slow). :-)

Some photographic evidence…

All scraped. Let the priming begin!

Doors beyond repair

First door rebuilt and primed (still needed decorative angle pieces)

All primed!

Body finished

All finished and trimmed!

Here it is (in morning light) (don’t look too close – I have some touch-ups to do and windows to clean). Did I mention that I also rebuilt the ramp? Yes, it is sealed with Thompson’s water sealer.

Next up, I will make some flower boxes to hang under the windows, and I want to build a little work bench in the shed for basic carpentry, lawn equipment repair, and tool sharpening, etc.