Creative Ways to Make Your Shed Blend In

Pick the right colour

Your colour choice is going to be crucial, here. Luckily, all of the colours that are offered through EasyShed are neutral earth tones. This is going to prevent any garish colour contrasts that will pull the eye away from the true stars of your garden like your flowers or vegetable garden.

In fact, these neutral tones are going to highlight the bright natural colours of your garden - a Tuscan Red shed will make cherry tomatoes pop, just like a Gull Grey will highlight purple flowering plants like lavender or sage. Here are a few other suggestions:

• Use a light blue colour like Blue Horizon in a garden with yellow poppies or marigolds
• Use a dark green, blue, grey, such as Caulfield Green, Mountain Blue, or Iron Grey, or for gardens with a lot of white flowers like roses or lilies
• If your garden uses a lot of dark greens and even purples and reds, you might go with Ebony or Monument
• For a garden that is absolutely bursting with colour, choose a shed colour that is the perfect backdrop, such as Smooth Cream or Pale Terracotta

This is all to say, if you’re not sure about what colour will be right for your shed, just take a look at your backyard. Think about what colour would set the stage for your garden’s gorgeous display.

Creative placement

You want to be conscious about the placement of your shed for a few reasons. If it’s too centered, it will look like you planned your garden around your shed. If it’s too far away, the curious eye might be drawn to it.

Misplacement of your shed can also lead you to break one of the fundamental rules in garden design: balance. For example, placing your shed right alongside another eye-catching feature, such as a standing swing or a coy pond, will make the outdoor space look lopsided and strange.

But, of course, there’s a logistic component to this as well. Your shed is going to need a solid, level base, which could dictate where in your backyard your shed could go. You might also avoid placing your shed underneath trees, whose roots could threaten the integrity of the base over time or whose branches could cause damage during storms.

Obviously, this might pose you with a little bit of a design challenge, so take your time in choosing the right location for your new shed. A good trick you might use would be to print and cut out a picture of the shed that you want and hold it at arm’s length with your garden in the background. This will give you an idea of what it will look like in your space.

Use Matching Accents

Another way to take focus away from your shed would be to make it look like an extension of your home. This can be done through a couple of different ways.

In the first option, you might rely on similar accents as your home. For instance, if your home is surrounded by a patio, you might use the same material to create a patio around your shed. Another way to achieve this would be to use the same material for both your shed and the fence around your garden.

The other option is to physically tack your shed onto your house. This can be done with one of our skillion roof sheds, which, when placed alongside the outer wall of your home, gives a sense of being attached. That way, when you and your guests step outside into the backyard, there will be a natural separation between the garden and the house/shed.

Plants will be huge allies!

Whether you grow vines up the side of your shed, hide your shed behind towering plants, or use your shed as a planter itself, plants are going to be really helpful in integrating your shed into the backyard.

To learn more about the kinds of plants that you can use to help your shed blend in, take a trip to your local nursery and talk to the experts. They’ll know exactly what will grow in your area.

But in the meantime, here are some examples to get you inspired:

Trellis plants

If you’re looking to completely cover your shed, crawling vines are a great option. Even if you choose to cover only one side, it will give the viewer an idea that the shed belongs in that space. It’s literally being taken over by the garden.

But, there are some practical considerations with these types of plants. You have to be willing to maintain them. That’s because, if you’re not careful, these fast growing plants will become large, heavy, and destructive to your shed.

Trellis plants are beautiful, but it’s important to give them a fortified structure (a trellis) that they can grow on top of so that they’re less likely to damage the side of your shed.

Here are a few wonderful examples of climbing or trellis plants to make your backyard shed blend in:

• Wisteria. These are truly stunning plants that will give you boughs of full, drooping purple flowers. Their vines are very thick and sturdy, which gives them a really magical look. Wisteria bloom in the summertime and lose their flowers during winter.
• Bougainvillea. Bougainvillea, or Santa Rita as they’re also called, is another flowering vine. It comes in a wide variety of colours, from white, to neon pink, to burnt orange, and they have a lovely delicate vine. In the right conditions, this plant will bloom all year long.
• Creeping Fig. These are non-flowering vines that are perfect for complete coverage of any surface. It’s a hardy plant, but will require a good amount of pruning. Without regular maintenance, not only will this plant take over everything in your backyard, but it will also become more woody and frail-looking.
• Star Jasmine. This fragrant flowering vine has dark green leaves and dainty white flowers. This plant does well with as little as 2 hours up to 6 hours of direct sunlight per day, which makes it a good option for shaded gardens. The leaves will remain green all year long, and you can expect the flowers to bloom in the summer. You’ll love the smell of this gorgeous climbing plant.

There are many different kinds of climbing plants that are quite at home in many different climates, so do some searching to find the right one for your garden.

Tall standing plants

If you don’t like the idea of a high-maintenance plant like the climbing vines, you might opt for some tall foliage that will grow alongside your shed. This option will protect your shed from damage while still giving some coverage.

So, what are some options?

Create a garden on the roof of your shed

If you’re thinking of purchasing a flat or skillion roof, you will have the perfect surface for a roof garden. This is a creative use of space that will make your garden even greener while also making your shed look like a natural part of the scenery. We suggest this and more in our blog: 12 Garden Shed Ideas for Garden Lovers.

To do this, you’ll need to build a shallow planter than can be installed on the top of your roof. Make sure to use lightweight material as well as plants that will take the least amount of maintenance. Consider, for instance, wild grasses, wild flowers, moss, or herbs.

Paint a mural

A mural on the side of your shed is going to bring some attention, yes. But if it’s done well, it can help your shed to blend in, especially if you go with a garden theme. You can get as creative with this idea as you want, although if you’re going for something that will match your garden, you might opt for flowers, trees, and wildlife.

You can check out our recent post on how to paint a mural on your shed, here.

Construct a wall with other materials

If you really want to cover up your shed, you might construct a wall around the outside. There are many different materials that you can use that may blend in with the rest of your garden’s aesthetic. Here are some common construction materials for a DIY cover-up wall:

• Wooden palettes
• Bricks
• Stones
• Concrete blocks

Another creative idea would be to create a mesh screen or a chicken-wire screen from which you can hang potted plants, garden decorations, or string lights.

Convert the wall of your shed into something else entirely

If you’re just struggling to overcome the feeling that your shed doesn’t entirely belong, try thinking about it in a different light. What if that shed could be incorporated into your backyard instead of just something to hide in plain sight?

Here are a couple of examples of how your shed’s alternative uses can actually make it look like an integral part of your backyard:

Let your creativity rule the day

When you’re thinking about how to make your garden shed blend in with your backyard, allow yourself to come up with creative solutions that will work best for your space. You can take any of the suggestions in this article and make them your own!

And if you found this information useful, why not share it with another backyard enthusiast?