Month: January 2020

Stylish & Functional Garden Shed Ideas

Having a small shed available is a nice luxury for the avid gardener. Sure, gardening is an outdoor activity,but having a protected space to do some work and store your supplies is a bonus.If you have recently added a small garden shed to your property, or you plan to do so in the near future, these stylish and functional garden shed ideas can help make the most of your space.

We sell more than just carports at American Steel Carports, Inc. Our fully customizable structures can be designed to fit your exact needs with our Build & Price tool. Try it today!

Add a Potting Table

One of the key tasks any gardener needs to accomplish is potting plants. This is a basic task, and it’s one you probably learned early on in your gardening experience. With that said,it’s uncomfortable and awkward to do this work down on the ground. It’s much more enjoyable to have a table to work with, and your garden shed is the perfect place to house this table.

If you are handy with basic tools and like to build, you could create your own custom table to suit the dimensions of the shed. Even if you’d rather shop than construct, it should be pretty easy to find a table that will serve this purpose. Look for something with a solid tabletop for doing your potting work, as well as a shelf below for storing some tools and supplies.

Choose a Bold Color

On the style side, consider picking out a bold color when you are designing your shed. While you might be tempted at first to go with a natural shade that blends into the surrounding landscape, think twice before you go that direction. After all, it’s likely that everything growing on the property will be some shade of green, other than the flowers themselves. So, adding a pop of color on your shed exterior could serve as a nice contrast and add a whole new dimension to your landscape.

A Ramp May Be Helpful

Depending on the size of your shed and the types of landscaping you do on your property, it might be helpful to have a ramp leading up to the door. Most likely, this will only need to be a small ramp, but it can make bringing a wheelbarrow or lawnmower inside much easier. Also, if there is a small step up into your shed, that can be a trip hazard when you are busy carrying items in and out. With a ramp, you’ll have a smooth entry and it should be easier to avoid an accident.

More Than Just Gardening

If you have a large shed that you are going to use for gardening purposes, you might be able to accomplish more than just potting plants in that space. Dedicate part of the shed to gardening tasks, while designing the other part to be a nice spot to relax and enjoy some peace and quiet. You could add a place to sit, maybe a small table,and even a bookshelf. With this design, you can get down to work when you feel like it, but you can also just take a load off and relax when the mood strikes.

Integrate the Shed into the Landscape

For a new shed, one of your main challenges from the start will be to integrate the addition of the shed into the existing landscape. While we stated earlier that a bright color can add a nice contrast, you still want the shed to fit in – it shouldn’t seem out of place. Planting flowers near the shed is a great way to help nature welcome the new structure to the property. With fresh shrubs or bushes growing in a few spots, and annual flowers planted when the time is right, your shed could look like it has been in place for decades.

Light the Way

This last tip includes a bit of style and a bit of function. If there is a small path leading out to your shed,consider lighting that path so you can more easily make your way early in the morning or late in the evening. In addition to helping you get to the shed safely, the lights will add a nice ambiance at night and give your landscape a soothing vibe.

Design Your Shed

We have included some stylish and functional garden shed ideas above, but you won’t be able to put them to use if you don’t actually have a shed on your property. Fortunately, American Steel Carports, Inc. can help with that part of the project. Explore our site to seethe types of structures we have available, and test out our Build & Price tool to design your own custom steel shed. If you need help at any step along the way, please feel free to contact our team.

Creative Garage Storage Ideas to Organize Your Space

When you feel like you’rerunning out of space in your garage, the only options might seem like throwing items away or renting a storage unit. However, with a bit of creativity and some patience, you just might be able to find a spot for all of your belongings within your existing garage. In this article, we’d like to take a look at a few creative garage storage ideas to help you organize your space and find room where you thought none was available.

Of course, you may reach a point where you simply can’t fit anything else in your garage. When that happens,turn to American Steel Carports, Inc. for a new metal garage. Our structures are affordable and can be installed quickly, giving you a cost-effective solution for storing everything you need. Use our Build & Price tool to create a fully customized building and receive a free quote today.

Build Custom Modular Shelves

There’s nothing wrong with buying stock shelves and installing them in your garage – but you might get better results if you are willing to build some yourself. By building your own modular shelves, you can design them specifically to meet your storage needs. If you have items that need to be stored that take up odd amounts of space, measure them and build the shelving around those dimensions. It will take a bit more time to do it this way, of course, but the resulting storage should serve you better in the long run.

A Seasonal Section

If you like to decorate around the house based on the season, you probably have a lot of décor in your garage that comes in and out as the weather changes. Obvious examples of this include Halloween decorations, holiday lights, Thanksgiving plates, and more. Rather than making space to store every single item among your collection of seasonal décor, plan on having one set of decorations in use in your house out at all times. The way the seasons overlap during the year should make this task no problem at all.

Reuse Household Items

For those who like to handle DIY projects around the house and in the garage, it’s easy to accumulate a lot of loose ends. All the various supplies you have left after a project just tend to pile up in the garage, and they are rarely organized. Pieces like screws, nails, nuts, bolts, and more can easily overrun your garage if you don’t have a plan for them.

To win this battle, consider using some other items from around the house that may have outlived their useful life for their original purpose. For instance, if you have some muffin tins that are losing their coating and can no longer be used in the kitchen, place them in your garage to collect small parts on your workbench in an organized manner. Or, use pie plates the same way for slightly larger items. Also, you can repurpose plastic kitchen storage containers – the kind that are used for leftovers – as handy little garage organizers as well.

One Step at a Time

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by this kind of project. As you stare blankly into your crowded garage and wonder where everything is going to go, don’t give up hope – progress on this task starts by taking one step in the right direction, and then going on from there.Pretty soon, you’ll have a clean and organized garage space that is welcoming rather than intimidating.

Seek Assistance from American Steel Carports, Inc.

We hope you’ve found a solid starting point with these creative garage storage ideas to organize your space. However, if you’ve come to the conclusion that there really is no more room available, consider adding a new garage on your property from American Steel Carports, Inc. With our Build & Price tool, you can customize every aspect of the structure to fit your exact storage needs. We look forward to assisting you with this project!

10 Great Uses for Carports

At American Steel Carports, Inc., we are proud to sell some of the best metal carports on the market today. When you order from us, you can count on getting a great price for a quality carport that will serve your property well for years. But why would you buy a carport in the first place? What can they be used for? Here are 10 great uses for carports—and there are plenty more!

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#1 – Parking Under Cover

We might as well get this one out of the way right off the bat, since it is one of the most obvious uses for a carport. With a carport on your property, you’ll have a good place to park your vehicles where they will be at least partially protected from the weather. This is a cost-effective parking solution for those who don’t have an enclosed garage available.

#2 – Covered Storage

You may have items that need to be stored out of the weather but don’t require fully enclosed storage. A carport would be a great option to store those items.This is common in agricultural operations, where various supplies and materials need to stay dry but would take up too much space inside a garage or barn.

#3 – Outdoor Events

Who says a carport has to be all about business? Sometimes, the best use for your carport may be to clear the cars away and use it as a covered outdoor space to entertain your guests. You could build a metal carport as a permanent entertaining space, or simply transition an existing carport into an outdoor party space from time to time.

#4 – Simplify Landscaping Chores

Tired of pulling your lawnmower and other landscaping tools out of the garage or shed each time you need to do some work? Turn to a carport. The open-sided nature of carports makes them convenient for moving your equipment in and out as necessary.

#5 – A Shaded Structure

Those who live in a warm climate may want to add a carport to their property as nothing more than a place to take refuge from the hot summer sun. Given the modest cost of a sturdy metal carport from American Steel Carports, Inc., this is an excellent way to make your outdoor space more comfortable in the summer months.

#6 – Make Your Own Power?

This is a less-conventional use for a carport, but it’s possible to add solar panels to the roof of your carport to generate your own source of power. Of course, if you are considering this option, you’ll need to work with a qualified professional to complete the project.

#7 – Enhance Your Pool Setting

One of the best things about owning your own pool is being able to cool off on hot summer days. But what about when you are out of the pool? While you take a break from swimming, you could get out of the sun thanks to a carefully placed carport.

#8 – Dine Outside Regularly

If you enjoy eating lunch or dinner outside, you may find that the weather doesn’t always cooperate with those plans. It may be too hot or too wet to practically have your meal outdoors. But that doesn’t have to be the case when you use your carport for either sun or rain protection. Add a picnic table, and you’ll have the perfect outdoor dining space.

#9 – Play Area for Children

Want to do something fun for your kids that they can utilize even when the weather isn’t great? You might not have the ability to build a traditional tree house on your property, but adding a carport that can serve as a covered play space for kids is a great alternative. This option will keep the kids out of the direct sun in the summer, and they will even be able to use it on rainy days, as well.

#10 – Use Your Imagination

There are probably thousands of other possible uses for your metal carport that we aren’t including in this list. For virtually anything that could benefit from an affordable roofed structure, a carport will be a nice solution. As you can see from the length of this list, these are versatile structures that can serve many different purposes.

Build Your Custom Carport!

If you made it all the way through this list, you have probably realized that at least a few of those points could benefit your day to day life. So why wait any longer? Get started today with the Build & Price Tool at American Steel Carports, Inc.