How do you convert a 8 by 4 ft shed into a sort of cabin/out room on a low budget?
I am 16, and my mum has given me the shed to make into a sort of out room/hang out area, its about 8 by 4 ft and one story, your average garden shed. I don't know where to get the cheapest paint/flooring, what to get etc, any help?
I have a red couch donated by my mum, and I obviously want to do it as cheaply as possible and don't want to spend over £100.
I don't know how to heat/get electricity to it either
Please help
The couch will fit, we have checked but I'm looking more for paint/flooring dealers or websites that do it cheap, and ideas for heat/electricity
Getting wiring to it will be costly and require some electrical help and might not meet codes BUT you can get inexpensive rechargeable camping lanterns for around 10 quid that would give you lighting. You can also find fairly inexpensive solar lights nowadays too for garden lighting. For heat, there are portable fireplace units that heat with alcohol gel fuel (like the Sterno cans used in buffet dishes) -- I have one in my fireplace that makes the room nice and warm by burning 3 cans of it and there are no fumes so you don't have to worry about insulation.
here's a link to some examples. You could also build your own out of bricks and just buy the fuel cans.
http://www.homeandbackyard.com/prod_gen.cfm?subcatid=1050&catid=1005
You can also get small heaters that run on compressed gas like butane and propane for camping -- look in sporting goods stores.
If the shed is close enough (within 50 feet or so) to your house or garage where there is power, you could run a heavy duty extension cord from a power outlet to the shed provided it did not lay on the ground in an area where it could be tripped over or damaged. Then you could use an electric space heater. But you would need to disconnect it when you were not using the shed, for safety.
You could check with a furniture or electronics store and see if they throw out any large flat pieces of packing styrofoam that you could have to nail inside the walls for insulation. Staple sheets of plastic to the wall inside first before you attach the foam to keep the wind and moisture out. Once you have the walls and ceiling covered with the foam, get some fabric (flat bed sheets work well for this) and stretch and staple it over the foam. It will look good and the walls will be like a big bulletin board so you can hang up posters wherever you want.
For paint, check with building and paint stores -- they often have cans that were mixed to a color that the customer didn't like and they will sell them for half off price or less. For flooring, you should be able to get a remnant of linoleum or carpeting that small of a size for around 10 quid at a building supply place or flooring shop. You can also get peel and stick 12" x 12" linoleum tiles for about 50p each if you have a floor in the shed. If there is just a dirt floor you would need to build something up with wood -- see if you can get leftovers of treated wood from a construction site (ask them, don't steal it -- they always have scrap). Lay out a sheet of plastic on the ground first, then build a frame of two by fours with a sheet of 4' x 8' plywood over it.
you might want to add a window if there is not already one. See if you can get a small window at a junk yard and cut a hole in the wall and install it, caulking it well around the edges of the frame.
You should be able to put together a pretty nice little "retreat" for under £100.
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