Sheds are some of the most stylish and versatile features that you can add to your yard. From creating a social gathering place like a bar shed or hangout to something practical like a pool house or a space to store garden tools, your imagination is the only limit!
Are you someone who loves gardening, farming, or appreciates a rustic aesthetic? If so, you may have considered building your own personal barn shed in your backyard.
To help you get started on your custom design, we compiled some popular and practical features frequently requested for barn sheds. Let’s start with one of the most iconic elements: the barn doors.
1: Large Barn-Style Doors
Barn-style doors have experienced a recent revival as a popular decoration trend for homes, businesses, and even public spaces. Appreciated for their timeless rustic charm, barn doors can add a unique touch to any personal escape.
Made with durable, premium woods, barn doors can be painted or finished to match your vision for your own dream shed project. Professionally installed on tracks above the doorway, they conveniently slide open and closed.
If you plan to use your barn shed for farming purposes, barn doors also offer the extra convenience of providing a large, spacious opening for your equipment or animals to travel through. Alternatively, if you want to use your new shed as your own personal escape, the large doorway allows plenty of daylight and fresh air inside and opens your space to the beauty of your property.
16X24 Cohasset with gable dormer, stone siding, cedar clapboard and shingles, and ramp.
Side view of this woodsy 16X24 Cohasset with sliding double doors, transom window, stone siding, and cedar clapboard and shingles
2: Built-In Shelving and Countertops
Depending on how you plan to use your new shed, custom built-in shelving and countertops can provide a stylish and space-saving way to store your farming equipment or favorite decorations. Made with the same premium quality materials as the rest of your shed, these features are installed during the building process so that you can enjoy their functional beauty right away.
3: Storage Loft for Extra Floor Space
If you plan to use your barn shed for yard work, gardening, or micro-farming, you may notice that floor space can disappear quickly as you begin filling the interior with your tools and equipment. A storage loft provides extra space for you to stow away your materials without having to worry about competing for square footage.
Access your out of the way items safely with tucked-away pull-down stairs. If you plan on storing larger items, consider adding a full staircase for easier maneuvering. You may also choose to add a hayloft-style door up top for aesthetic and storage purposes.
4: Room Dividers and Multiple Entryways
Do you want to use your shed for more than one purpose, but hate the idea of two spaces clashing with one another?
Room dividers can be installed to create separation between two or more parts of your shed. You can also further differentiate your two spaces with multiple entryways so that it feels like you have two new personal escapes in one.
5: Electrical Connections
Whether you are planning to use your barn shed for work or as a rustic retreat, an electrical connection can be installed to power your favorite electronics and tools. Wiring your shed also makes it possible to add lighting fixtures inside and outside the building. Your shed can be professionally wired to include outlets in the most convenient and safest locations possible.
6: Custom Exterior Configurations
The exterior design represents some of the most defining characteristics of a barn shed. From bold, statement-making doors to premium wood materials and more, you can turn your dream aesthetic into a reality in your own yard!
When you are building your own barn shed, you may decide to embrace a more natural look and go with natural cedar or pine siding. You may choose to go with a traditional board and batten siding or create an eye-catching mix of vertical and horizontal cedar planks. As cedar ages, it adds texture, character, and charm to your building. One benefit of pine siding is that you can stain or paint the exterior any color that you desire.
You may also choose from a wide range of durable vinyl siding styles and colors. Manufactured materials add a modern take on traditional siding styles. You can even clad your barn shed in siding that’s an exact color match for your home.
Some other features you may want to consider to enhance the charm of your barn shed include:
- Rustic or contemporary stone siding along the bottom of the building
- Classic Dutch-style side doors
- Exterior lighting for 24-hour visibility
- A custom porch, as shown in the Hampton
- Hanging window boxes, which fit nicely along the triple side windows of a Cohasset
- Custom-designed cupolas and weathervanes
- Custom shutters, window configurations, and skylights
If you have a dream for a barn shed that you think might be too big for a standard shed size, don’t worry! We also offer fully customizable larger sheds that can provide enough space to make your vision for your barn shed a reality.
14X20 Cohasset with 10′ gable dormer, multiple transom windows, three large side windows with trim and shutters, 6′ sliding door, and vinyl siding
Build a Custom Barn Shed for Your New England Home
Since 1962, our team at Post Woodworking has installed countless sheds and garages throughout Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and southern Maine. Using only premium, high quality materials, we help you bring your vision to life for a space you can depend on for decades to come.
Want to start designing your own barn shed? View our shed styles for some initial inspiration or use our Shedview tool to create your own digital rendering.
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