Collection by Erika Heet
Tiny Backyard Retreats
From a nature writer’s off-the-grid Puget Sound getaway to a Texan’s shipping container guesthouse, these retreats may inspire you to make that backyard retreat you’ve been dreaming of a reality.
The studio’s redwood siding was milled from trees salvaged from a road-widening project in Sonoma County, California. The hardware, “two-hundred dollars’ worth of stainless-steel screws,” says Deeds, was purposefully left exposed as an architectural detail. Photo by Lenny Gonzalez
Though the retreat is clearly meant to afford the solitude writing so often requires, Kathleen reports that "it's very lively. Deer approach, birds bathe. The sun warms my desk and you can hear the rain."
The storefront windows were less expensive than residential windows and provide guests with views to the grand outdoors beyond.
Megan Lea built a backyard retreat with reclaimed materials figuring prominently into the design. What resulted is a polychrome of salvaged 100-year-old barnwood by West Salem-based Barnwood Naturals that makes the facade of this Bernard Maybeck-inspired design as unique as it is environmentally friendly.
A recycled barndoor track and wheels affords privacy behind a siding covered panel.
The architect and his team devised an armature on the back of the container that will eventually be covered with vines, concealing the AC and heating unit, the reservoir for graywater and the composting toilet outlet.