CREATIVITY IN A SHED

Pattern play leads the way in this cowboy-meets-girly girl she shed in New Hampshire.

Pattern play leads the way in this cowboy-meets-girly-girl she shed in New Hampshire.

What do you need to get your inspiration brewing

and your creativity flowing? For Amy Mitchell of Home Glow Design, it’s a mix of sweet and rustic. Amy is no stranger to cottage charm-meets-modern farmhouse style. As one of our Project House interior designers, she’s been channeling this vibe for the spaces she’s designed for our year-long Farm Cottage build (you can see the final reveal on page 76).

A wife, a mother of boys and a highly creative designer in New Hampshire, Amy can hardly ignore her roots. She lives in a historic farmhouse herself, which she has infused with her own personality and design style. That’s exactly what brought about the teeny tiny “Cowgirls Wear Dresses on Sundays”-themed she shed in her backyard.

STORIED PAST

This backyard shed has a rich history, like the rest of the New Hampshire farmhouse built in the 1790s. Though it is now a she shed for a glamorous and ever-so-slightly girly cowgirl, it began as a 19th-century blacksmith shop. And after the blacksmith shop came a store for stamp collectors and then an outpost for slumber parties and popcorn. For the last 20 years, however, the shed was simply a storage locker, filled with dressers and workout equipment, among other pieces.

Now, as a vibrant and refreshed space for Amy’s work as a designer, it has two claims to fame: It is the perfect blend of old and new with both feminine and masculine qualities, and it was likely achieved faster than any other transformation in the past. It was completed in six weeks.

This backyard shed has a rich history, like the rest of the New farmhouse Hampshire built in the 1790s.

INSPIRATION ABOUNDS

“I love to work with pattern and color, in a non-garish way, but with any home that I tackle, whether my own or on behalf of clients, the interiors always start with the architecture,” Amy says.

For the shed revival, it was only natural that Amy would look to her own New England-style farmhouse for inspiration. When asked about her home, she says, “I’ve used an English style pattern-on-pattern mix in fresh colors with classic furniture silhouettes and a dose of American ‘brown furniture,’ with a little bit of funkiness thrown in here and there.”

Similarly, in her she shed, she incorporated blush-colored, floral-patterned curtains with a caramel-colored banding around the edges and a cowhide rug for feminine and funky interest. She felt that the blend of materials honored the shed’s masculine past and looked to its future.

In addition to considering her own surroundings, Amy also likes to see what others have come up with. “I especially love to look for those moments where a designer has taken a difficult space and come up with a really cool design solution that is both functional and beautiful,” she says.

FUNCTIONAL FIT

With only 178-square-feet to work with, Amy was certainly limited in her design. But it was those restrictions that inspired her to create an all-white room—something she doesn’t have in her own farmhouse. “I wanted a white envelope in the she shed to serve as a clean backdrop for all the other colors and patterns I work with,” Amy explained.

In addition to white walls and furniture, which enhance a spacious quality, Amy also painted a cork roll above one of her desks with several shades of white paint, creating a blank canvas for her artwork. “I feel that it really helps to be able to hang my schemes higher and be able to walk away and examine them at a distance, as well as up close, to see how patterns relate and play together,” she added.

And “they make nice art in and of themselves in my office!”

“Cowgirls That’s exactly what Amy has done in her teeny tiny Wear

Dresses on Sundays” -themed she shed in her backyard.

SOMETHING MODERN, SOMETHING VINTAGE. Equipped with dark-brown barstools, a vintage Craftsman-style desk and oil-rubbed bronze sconces, the she shed has an old-timey, industrial appeal. But polished-nickel fixtures and bright white furniture also enhance a modern vibe.

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW. The newly painted she-shed door is a real showstopper. The vibrant blue color Amy selected creates a warm and welcoming tone for visiting clients, and pops against the pale-yellow siding—which was left as is, because the rest of the house will need new paint in a few years too.

|BOTTOM RIGHT| WHITE AND BRIGHT. White walls create an ideal backdrop for a creative—and highly visual—workspace. Amy selected a neutral background, and in fact painted her cork-roll wall in several coats of white paint, so the patterns and designs for her projects can take center stage.

|TOP| COME TOGETHER. Amy rocks her hat next to pretty pink tulips in this "Cowgirls Wear Dresses on Sundays”-themed she shed she's created for herself.