Backyard Prefabs

Photo by Michael Falco for The New York Times
Cheyenne and Greg Morris, (with Jimmy), installed a Kithaus K4 aluminum shed in their Brooklyn backyard.

Three years after renovating their 1903 brownstone in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, Greg and Cheyenne Morris turned their attention to their backyard, which contained an odd assortment of disused items — sinks, toilets, Virgin Mary statuettes, wheels from street vendor carts and a moldering stucco garden shed. They cleaned up the yard, made preparations to demolish the shed and asked an architect to draft plans for a free-standing studio to be used as a bedroom and office.

The plans were drafted, but faced with the prospect of more construction, they chose to buy a Kithaus K4, an 11-by-17-foot prefabricated room designed by Tom Sandonato and Martin Wehmann. It arrived within three weeks of their mailing a deposit check, and took a week to assemble, without the hassle of permit applications or unexpected construction costs.

By late July, it sat handsomely beneath maple and pine trees at the end of the yard, a miniature modern pavilion. They celebrated on the evening of its completion by stepping inside to eat popcorn and watch “Freaks,” the 1930s cult classic.

Read the entire Heidi Schumann The New York Times' piece: Instead of Trading Up, Adding a High-Style Shed.

And if you dig the above you'll love: The Tiny House Blog and The Green House.

That's Right,

HMK