How we took a run-down cinder block house and turn into the perfect farm shed for lavender and other sustainable product production.
When we purchased our farm in January, there were only two buildings on the property. A cinder block house near the entrance, and a barn further back on the property. Both were in poor condition, and needed some serious TLC. Not sure the old barn is salvageable, but want to restore if possible at a later date. Since we needed storage, we decided to reno the small run-down house and turn into a shed that would later be used for lavender and other sustainable product production. With only a small budget set aside for the reno, we knew that a lot of the upgrades would be done by us.
Luckily, our next door neighbor was a demolisher/recycler, so we enlisted him to completely gut the interior and some of the exterior. Thankfully, we only needed one roll off as a lot of the demolition material was recycled. We did hire an electrician to completely rewire and add fans/lighting, and a plumber to clear out the floor drain and install new indoor and outdoor faucets. Plus, we hired a door company to install a new front and a back garage door.
The rest of the reno was completed by us: replaced broken window panes, power washed all walls and floors inside and out, patched walls, primed with drylock and painted the interior and exterior walls. We also made and stained exterior wood shutters for all the windows. The panel front door was made by a friend with inspiration that we found online. Next we addressed the outside. We leveled the side yard by the hill [to prevent water run off], added rock from the property to create a rock wall as well as added a stone path. Last and certainly not least, we added thirteen lavender plants and pea gravel with more rock from the property to the front. Hope to paint the interior concrete floor, add more plants, and a bench or two in Spring 2023!
note: updated shed picture on May 2, 2024.
