Could It "Bee"?
Our clients live on a beautiful hillside in south SLO county and wanted a shed to house their beekeeping equipment adjacent to their hives. This structure is a true work of art. Along with their own salvaged materials, doors, windows, insulators and a wind vane and reclaimed materials and custom built doors from A Place to Grow this structure is exactly what they envisioned it could "Bee".
This wonderful 12' wide by 10' deep shed is framed in Douglass fir, painted Sherwin Williams Queen Anne's Lace, and then distressed, is built on a decomposed granite pad. It is built adjacent to their beehives. The exterior is a mixture of reclaimed wood and the client's reclaimed corrugated metal. The roof has a 5 & 12 pitch and is constructed of new corten metal. All walls are 7'6" tall. The front has a 3' overhang that matches the pitch of the roof and is supported by reclaimed porch posts. The back has a standard 1' overhang that also matches the roof pitch. Both sides have 3' x 10' roof panels supported by corbels. There is ample shade on three side of this shed.
The gable ends are vertical board and batten reclaimed fence boards with dog ear down detailing. A custom Queen Bee stained glass window from, Victorian Stained Glass in Old Orcutt, CA, is centered in the front gable surrounded by a rainbow of glass rondels. This shed is dripping with custom details that make it a place our clients want to "Bee" in all the time.
The front wall opens up with custom built, single lite, barn doors. Our client used a salt paint finishing technique to give the doors a unique color and texture. The front doors are flanked by 7 diamond vintage windows. You may be wondering why they chose such large clear glass front doors? And the answer is...so you can see the "Brady Bunch" door on the back wall! The framing is Douglass fir that has been painted white and distress to contrast the reclaimed fence boards, siding and metal use in the "Bee" House. Each of the front doors has a custom 10" kick plate. The "Brady Bunch" door is centered on the back wall has single lite fixed windows on either side. The door opens out with a 1' over hang above. Even this back wall has an array of the client's vintage insulators mounted in it.
Center on the right wall is a vintage 4 lite window, it may have begun its first life as the top of a dutch door, turned on point and fixed. The window frame is painted a vibrant red, (SW Real Red #6868), which adds even more contrast to the reclaimed building materials and white distressed framing. The client's reclaimed metal surrounds the window. Everything on this wall as well as all the other walls and windows of the "Bee" House are clear coated with marine grade Spar Varnish. The 3' x 10' side roof panel creates a shady porch on this side of the "Bee" House where our clients can enjoy a view the their second shed, just across the dry creek they have installed, it wasn't so dry in January with that crazy storm we had.
Buzzing over to the final wall, the left wall, of this fabulous structure we find another unique door, this time a dutch door! Like the "Brady Bunch" this door features a diamond window with 12 lites. The door is beautifully centered on the wall to allow a view of the on point window on the right wall. There are two fixed single lite windows on either side of the door. Like the right wall this wall also features a 3' x 10' roof panel. The door is painted the same vibrant red,(SW Real Red #6868), as the window on the right wall.
When the doors are open and the sun is out the bees are buzzing in, around and through this amazing "Bee House"!