Santa Barbara Home Designer Jeff Doubét shares Spanish Style Shed Collection 1 – A portfolio of favorite photos of a Spanish shed that was designed and built in Montecito, California

Some of my most favorite career memories are not so much what was designed or built at the time… but who I was sharing my days with as we made these beautiful creations.

I think everyone has their ups and downs, and life can be a challenge.  Sometimes life is smooth sailing and everything is going exactly the way I want it to.  But sometimes it goes sideways, and you just have to pull up your bootstraps and get through it.

Enough of my Debbie Downer Blues…  With this post, I hope to lighten up my mood (and maybe yours too). Here, I share some photos of a favorite project (where everything did go right).

This Jeff Doubét custom Spanish shed was featured in an article on Buzzfeed. It was also included in a little She Shed Book now available on Amazon. Other sheds I am proud of designing in Santa Barbara have made it on to Oprah.com, as well as Santa Barbara Magazine (page 80). All of this exposure for my custom Jeff Doubét shed designs has been wonderful publicity promoting my local Santa Barbara Home Design business. To see additional photos for these articles, as well as other custom sheds I have designed, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Building a Spanish Shed

It was a Summer + Fall season in Santa Barbara while working with a bunch of guys I know, like and trust.   Looking back, I really think we created a little slice of Heaven for ourselves and that quaint street in Montecito, CA.

Earlier in the year, I had proposed this Spanish style garden shed design to a local Montecito real estate investor and builder. He was in the process of planning upgrades for a fixer upper home he had purchased. It would ultimately become a “Flip”.

The main house and property were relatively modest in square footage. The shed was a way to better utilize the backyard, and add little bit of extra space. It also would charm up the landscaping.

Planning Your Layout

When designing and building your own Spanish style shed, carefully consider the placement of it. Strategically, you want to see and admire it from as many places as possible. Not only will you be able to enjoy it more, it will be a better investment.

As mentioned, this project was part of a larger renovation. You can visit my other website HERE to see a different project page with another story I wrote.

A small Spanish shed can have the same high-end attributes of our Santa Barbara style and aesthetic. Here, the reclaimed wood plank round top door was recessed into the arched opening of the exterior plaster. We also upgraded the entry with a stone threshold and a hand chiseled Santa Barbara sandstone step.

Other high quality design elements can be purchased and installed near your Spanish shed. The trickle of water from this four water spout fountain really adds a layer of overall peacefulness to this backyard reno.

I climbed up on the roof of the main house to capture this shot of the yard. To save some costs, an “S tile” red clay roof was installed on both the main house and shed. There are tricks to making a roof like this look great. More on that in another episode.

Here, the independent trades had weatherproofed the exterior of the shed. I took this shot just before the exterior plaster crew showed up.

Gilding The Lily

This phrase has always made me smile. It’s funny- how could you make a flower any more beautiful than it was originally designed? And a way to describe how this Spanish cupola came about.

My original shed design did not have a cupola with a cast iron finial on the concept rendering. I designed one for the main house, and the developer really liked how it was turning out. When he suggested we add a smaller version of it to the shed, I immediately agreed it would add another layer of decorative panache.

In these photos above and below: the first (scratch) coat of plaster is being applied to the exterior.

Here, the local Santa Barbara Spanish style shed nears completion. The final coat of integral color plaster is taped off so the painters can finish the staining and sealing of the wood window and door jamb.

More Favorite Photos

Here are more shots of the fully landscaped garden with shed. We went with a lot of Oklahoma flagstone hardscape, drought tolerant plantings and mulch.

I apologize for sharing so many photos of the shed. It was fun to share more of my photo album on the project, and reminisce. It did lift my spirits, and I hope it did for you too. Above: The red clay roof tiles of the main house reflect in the glass.

Well friends, that is it for this episode. I hope you will check in once in awhile. I have other Spanish sheds I have designed and I will post photos of others as I get this new blog rolling.