Getting the home ready for the winter means a lot of things and making sure our sheds are water-tight and freshly painted means that they will stand the winter cold and rain so much better.

With this in mind, I revisited one of the two sheds we have in the garden, to give it a quick makeover as next week - with Halloween - we'll have roughly a hundred people visiting it and it needs to look the part (more of that later).

She-sheds up and down the country have led the way to getting our creativity out without having to spend too much.

The space is at most 2x3m (for an average size shed) so there's not a lot to spend on paint or even to furnish it - I mean, you probably have as much "extra" furniture and fabrics lying around the house as I do, so instead of throwing anything away why not move it to the shed?

This is a place where you can get really creative (so many sheds are used as artist studios), play or simply relax. It could be your reading nook, a yoga studio. Whatever you want it to be, you are only limited by your imagination.

Preparing Your shed

Is your shed new or old? Did it come pre-treated against insect or fungal decay? Most come pre-treated but check with the supplier to avoid disappointment. Any warranty will require that you treat the newly assembled shed within a few months. Do this before assembling it, otherwise remember to treat all end-grains, like under the doors to avoid water soaking in.

if your shed is old and in poor condition, you can try to build a brand new shed that will last for years to come.

Our shed was already in place when we moved in 2014 but having seen some landscaping plans from the previous owners I believe the shed was put in place in 2008.

When we moved in, the inside had never been painted. It was a pine coloured plain shed with LOTS of garden stuff in it. Outside, the colour was flaking and the felt on the roof was crumbling away.

A climbing rose is on the side of the shed. This can be pruned heavily only around October - December. So before we could replace the roof felt we had to wait 6 months. In the meantime, nothing stops you from painting the exterior walls.

I used LITTLE GREENE's Titley Green in June 2014 as you can see on the tin above. In November 2016, the shed still looks fab outside. I guess this answer's my husband's question "How much did that tin cost?!"

The shed is at one end of the garden looking towards our main patio. It has side windows but I plan to replace the doors with glazed ones so I can see out and have more light in. It comes with power supply and has a light as well.

Before you paint the interior you MUST make sure the shed is not leaking. If it does, you will get water stains quickly. This is SO IMPORTANT. Check the roof felt and replace it if it's crumbling away. You can buy such felt here. It will require some very strong adhesive as well. And finally, go around your shed with some expanding foam and fill in all the gaps you see. Wasps usually make these!

What kind of paint should I use for the interior of a shed?

This depends on whether your interior is treated or untreated wood and whether you have water stains. We did, so I tried a few things to begin with, like stain killer and plain white emulsion paint and that didn't work. The water stains were still coming through. Sanding the whole thing? NO THANKS! So here's what did the trick.

Tip: do not bother with stain killers, just follow the advice a decorator gave me and go and paint the thing with DULUX Trade White Eggshell oil-based paint. The coverage is great. Take breaks often as the smell is intense.

If however you have a shed that is already in a good condition, any interior wood paint will do the trick. Here are a few options.

Use Intelligent eggshell paint by Little Greene, for interior woodwork. It is water based with low sheen. Left to right: Pearl colour mid, James, Hammock and French Grey.

My she-shed makeover

When I started the makeover, the walls were re-painted brilliant white but the floor had seen better days. This was to be a quick makeover so I headed to IKEA and got the biggest outdoor rug they had (2x3m) for around £40.

The floor had seen better days. I could strip the painted rug off and re-do the whole floor or I could cover it up...

The area to the left will be covered with an extra runner I have at home. No need to throw stuff away - re-use!

In my personal opinion, in a shed you should only use outdoor area rugs. You want to have rugs covering all the floor to keep the place warm but nothing wool or too light coloured as you may have to walk over your lawn to get to your shed - you don't want to ruin your rug, do you?

Outdoor rugs made of polypropylene are a good choice and you can wash them very easily. Wayfair have a great choice of such rugs from around £27 for a small rug (120x170).

For my walls I wanted something glamorous - I came across the HONOLULU Graham & Brown wallpaper a few weeks ago and without thinking about it too much I hit the buy it button. It was in the black and gold colour way and boy did it not disappoint!

This would make a great wallpaper for a dining room for a real wow factor! At £20 per roll it is a bargain for the end result. It also has a little bit of shimmer on the black background so it is definitely glam.

Not content with just one type of wallpaper, I also decided to use a plaid wallpaper on the lower part of a side wall, just to add some fun and get people talking about it. At £12 for one roll this was not a big investment. You can get it here.

I have to admit, I had never tried to put up wallpaper before so this took me some time to sort out. Each of the 3 panels you see ahead actually has two separate lines of paper.

Et voila the end result.

This is just the beginning however, as there are still quite a few things to move into the shed and truly turn it into a glam haven. This will happen after Halloween however! Stay tuned. Now go and check out this fab video I made with the whole makeover step by step!

So what do you think? Did you like this makeover?

Jenny Kakoudakis likes to blog about interiors. She launched award-winning Seasons in Colour in 2014 and the luxury interior design blog All The Pretty Homes in 2024.

When she is not chasing criminals out of the financial system (her day job), she gets creative by redecorating her own home.