Garden sheds offer shelter to everything from tools to tomes

SEEMS LIKE gardeners these days are enchanted with small buildings set into the landscape. Whether conceived as an annex to the house, a garden destination or a private refuge, outbuildings can be dreamy, purely practical or simply ornamental.

Tool sheds hide and store the detritus of gardening, while greenhouses protect plants over the winter and give them a boost in springtime. Both sheds and greenhouses are essentially useful, although they often serve double duty as decorative garden features.

Treehouses and playhouses, rustic or sweet, are usually of a scale to delight the hearts of children. When I was growing up we had a little playhouse in the woods behind our house. We didn't play in it, however, because my brother and I had gotten a pair of what our parents thought were female guinea pigs. Turns out George and Suzy lived long, prolific lives, producing litter after litter of babies. The playhouse was given over to guineas for as many years as I can remember.

Gazebos, dovecotes and cabanas are decorative structures meant to lure us outdoors to enjoy nature and the garden. The word "gazebo" sounds so old-fashioned you can't help but picture one of those latticelike domes painted white. But cleaner versions of metal or natural wood are spare and modern enough to fit beautifully into contemporary gardens. The point is for gazebos to perform the classic functions of offering shelter from rain or sun, as well as scaffolding for flowering vines. Not bad for a single multitasking structure.

But garden sheds have been getting the most attention lately. We're captivated by the idea of a private room out in the garden, a place apart. I've seen simple sheds just large enough to lay down a yoga mat, or ones as elaborately appointed with fireplaces, bookshelves and carpets as a Victorian cottage.

Virginia Woolf's 1929 work, "A Room of One's Own," is often quoted as justification and explanation for such structures. Women, especially, seem to long for a place to lose track of time and routine — for a few minutes, anyway. What Woolf actually wrote, however, is: "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." Not the usual reason for backyard retreats.

In his 2002 book, "Men and Sheds," British author Gordon Thorburn explains that the word shed derives from the Anglo-Saxon "scead." He says that, in a metaphorical sense, the word came to mean an "intellectual pantry" or "spiritual home" where a man could reflect and dawdle with tools and toys. So now we have both genders covered in the quest for a private garden destination.

There's nothing metaphorical about Seattle garden designer Virginia Hand's new shed. She needed an office, her house wasn't big enough, so she squeezed an attractive little structure into her Queen Anne back garden. The building is only 10 by 12 feet, but it is light and airy due to the high ceiling, multiple windows and wood-trimmed French doors opening to the garden.

The efficiently organized office allows for a computer, space to draw, store supplies, even room for a cat to curl up on the windowsill. The floor is concrete, the roof metal and decked out with a rain chain to harvest water for irrigating the garden. Hand hoped to spend about $100 a square foot, but her office retreat ended up costing, with heat and good-quality windows, nearly double that.

"It's simplified my life not to commute to work," says Hand. "Everything I need is right here, with enough separation from the house." In a sentiment that Woolf would appreciate, she adds, "And I finally have all my books in one place."

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and author of "The New Low-Maintenance Garden." Check out her blog at www.valeaston.com.