Tool Shed

As 2021 finished up I was convinced I needed no more construction projects or structure additions to my garden. That conviction didn't last long, as you might have predicted. 

I now need a new tool shed. Like this, perhaps:

My back yard is tiny and narrow, but the potting bench and garden tools are at one end and the garage is at the far other end. So storing everyday garden tools in the garage isn't convenient, and keeping things out on an open bench isn't good.

So I took the gray resin storage closet that the former owners had left in the garage, and moved it to a spot close to the bench. I keep trowels, saws, pruners, ties, kneepads and other miscellany in it. Shovels too.

But it's a cheap, flimsy thing and not meant for outside use. The doors have buckled and no longer close evenly. Without a roof overhang it leaks badly when it rains. I had to drill holes in the plastic floor to let water drain out. The point of a shed is to keep things dry and out of the weather. This is not working.

I will spend the winter looking at pictures of sheds that are about the same height as the plastic closet is, 68 inches tall. It can't be visible over the top of the fence and I don't need much storage space. My friend's husband built this for her:

She has a sloped roof for drainage, double doors, a low height, and rustic latillas nailed on for that coyote fence look. Could I get our handyman to build one like it for me?

The glass door display closet at the top of this post is perhaps too much. I need other ideas.

Something like this, which is a kit ordered online. It's 5 feet tall and 5 feet wide. I'd want more of a roof overhang, but this is the idea:

I had a 4 foot high cedar wood enclosure built from a kit at my house in Connecticut. It worked okay, but had a hinged top that opened up (it was designed to store garbage cans). It isn't what I'm looking for this time. I want an upright, taller closet shape to store shovels and taller things.

Like this, but with a standing seam metal roof.

Or like this with a terra cotta tiled roof. This one is built into a wall, but mine would have to be freestanding on legs or a base.

It has to sit on something other than the ground (on a brick footing or on short legs). I'd like a sloped lean-to roof, no higher than the fence, which is just over 5 1/2 feet. It can't be visible above the fence, as sheds are not allowed in our HOA, but everyone has them as long as they can't be seen inside fenced yards.

It has to be tight and waterproof. It can be super simple, like this zinc-roofed storage closet . . . 

     . . . but I don't want it to look like an outhouse, which is actually a thing: garden tool sheds designed on purpose to look like outhouses, one even with a sign saying "outhouse". No.

I think I can show pictures to our handyman (not the outhouse ones) and have him spec out the dimensions and materials. There are build plans and dimensions on the internet he could use. 

Or maybe I order one of the kits and then have him retrofit a sturdier roof and bigger overhang on it. There are options to explore and I have all winter.