Need some inspiration for creating an outhouse ~ small garden shed ~ or small outbuilding ? All three buildings are the same same but different.
Outhouse – toilet + gardening tools = Very cool garden shed
DIY OUTHOUSE IDEAS :
I tried to come up with a pretty name for an outhouse. No such luck. So I called in the troops (that’s you) and this is what they came up with :
The Ruby room, the sunshine mission, the pooter scooter, stinky chicken, the sand box, the Mary Jane, the reading room, the dump truck, the library, the la la, the back house, the thunder box, the deuce den, wooden throne, peepee palace, poopy portal.
The good news is that you can create an outbuilding just like this one and it will be no where near icky. Don’t call it an outhouse. Give it a love shack name. It changes everything. Try it. Then get back here and tell me what you named your palace.
I had this same ‘name it’ problem with grapevine BALLS. I still can’t get the word balls out of my head. I may be scarred for life. Now I have scarred you too. My bad.
This {{ boudoir, privy, potty, ladies room, gents room }} outhouse DIY may be adapted as a garden shed [minus the toilet]. Or a small outbuilding. Or a storage shed. It all works.
REALITY OF AN OUTHOUSE :
Want to keep the toilet and make a portable outhouse~boudoir ? I have a cool business idea for you. An outhouse on wheels for weddings and large events.
Boudoirs on wheels.
How gorgeous would that be?
Goodbye gross port-a-potties.
Let’s start a revolution.
One with nice potties.
An outhouse revolution starts here and now 
Imagine a port-a-potty that you could sit on and not be nervous about what may be lurking beneath you? Are you afraid that your somethin’ somethin’ will mysteriously dip into the blue water? Or that an evil beast is swimming around in that blue water? Do you worry if a sea creature will come up and bite you? The horrors.
You are not alone in your fears.
Yikes.
I can promise you that.
Let’s think fresh and clean !
HOW WE BUILT OUR OUTHOUSE
[insert cool name for it]
AND WHY YOU SHOULD BUILD ONE TOO…..
Many cities & municipalities will allow you to build a small outbuilding under the size of 10′ x 10′ without a building permit. Double check first. Jail won’t be fun. Never ever never never evvvvha (Taylor Swift never) never make a building inspector or town official mad. It is sort of like the classic childhood memory where you learned to never ask your Mom to brush your hair while she was mad. Big mistake.
Here’s the good stuff on why it is awesome to have an outhouse :
1. It smells pretty freaking divine !
Yup. It smells good. What’s the secret ? Wood chips. The outhouse becomes a self composting, green machine of awesomeness. Who knew ? It really does work.
2. Sink :
Yes. We added a sink. The toilet doesn’t flush, but the sink runs with nice clean water. A reclaimed old porcelain sink. I stole it from the same guy that I stole this one from for the treehouse.
A sink with running water in an outhouse. What an oxymoron. We tried to keep the true authentic nature of an outdoorsy outhouse. Sort of.
An old porcelain corner sink
3. Lighting :
A chandelier. It was easy to do. And inexpensive. We spray painted an old light with gold spray paint. Wham. Bamm. Thank you Ma’am. Mini chandeliers and outhouses are amazeballs of awesomeness. Lighting is something to pay attention to. It can make or break a peepee palace room.
3. Toilet paper roll holder = twig
Twigs are your friends. Cheap friends with ahhhmazing design potential. Want more twiggyness in your life? You can get a few more twig ideas here : 15 Ways to Decorate with twigs. Just like Pocahontas. You can create epic stuff for free. Nice price tag.
4. Windows :
Old stained glass windows that hinge out on a stick. Nice and breezy. We lined the windows with screening. No creatures are allowed in the outhouse ladies room. Stamped it. My girlfriends and I hang out in there. No joke. With glasses of wine. The kids have no idea where we are. Neither do the flies.
Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best solution
5. Venting system :
Therein is where the magic happens. The vent thingy {you can see it in a few of the photos} keeps the ‘air flow’ going out the pipe. Think of it like a chimney pipe. Minus the smoke. It is what makes an outhouse smell awesome. For an outhouse. It works like a charm. I don’t know about you, but if an outhouse smells bad, I’m not going in it. I would rather do a wilderness tinkle. Gross, but it’s the gospel truth.
6. Toilet containment :
We dug a hole. A fairly deep one. I say we. I had nothing to do with that whole digging business. Ewwwwhhh. However, number two was my number one business of solving. Why? I didn’t want to smell a thing. I wanted it to feel like a place that was fresh and clean. No ickyness allowed. Steal my idea. It works.
7. Weddings :
We do normally rent port-a-potties for weddings and events {for hundreds of visitors} around this neck of the woods. I have no idea why….because… as soon as someone sets their eyes on our outhouse…. there is no port-a-potty happenin’ for them. Hence, everyone lines up for the outhouse. All the other port-a-potties are lonely.
Solution for outhouse heavy use :
Aromatherapy oils. Have you tried them? Wowsers. They smell fantastic. A scented candle would do the trick too. Only a beautifully scented one. No need for an outbuilding to smell like baked apple pie and cinnamon. The thought of that just made me throw up in my mouth a little.
Creating an Outhouse ‘mood’ LOL
8. Curtains :
Ikea sheers. They are my ‘go to’ curtain for pretty much every window on earth. They are dirt cheap to buy. Almost free. They require no sewing. No effort. Zip. Ikea can be your bestie.
9. Shelving ideas & display pieces :
The outhouse shelves are important. People like to sit in there and just stare. No joke. Go ahead. Build one. Then talk to me. It is really quite entertaining in an outhouse.
We mix up the outhouse decor every year. Sometimes we load the shelves with books. Sometimes candles. Sometimes nakedness. Not my nakedness. Shelf nakedness. Sometimes baskets of magazines. Sometimes pretty little rocks and shells. Colourful bottles are funky too. This year it was candles and shells……
Think outside the box.
The glass cover over the toilet paper is from West Elm. Technically it is normally used for plants. The candles are from the dollar store. The candle containers are recycled glass yogurt containers.
10. Walls :
We kept the walls as natural wood for a long time. It looked fine. Then life changed around here. I became a white paint lovin’ trollop and painted everything that didn’t move… white. For the outhouse, we mixed white paint with water and did a white wash look. We = me and the mouse in my pocket.
Hey !
I originally wrote this blog post for a free ticket giveaway to the National Home Show Toronto. The show runs from March 15-24 at the Direct Energy Centre / Exhibition Place.
Here are the winners of the tickets : Michelle Clark, Kevin Ross, Alexandra Katschilo, Joanne Yinger, Home Reno 1 and Tunde from TNY photography.
CONGRATS to the winners !!
Thank you to YOU !!
….for ‘liking’ the Facebook Page of the blog. I hope the facebook page brings as much funny into your life as it does for me. Click here to go to the Facebook page and come say hello to me. I share funny quotes, design inspiration, daily goofball-ness and I try to keep my potty mouth to minimum. No such luck so far.
A room with a view
Taddahhhh ! Now get to it. Facebook like like like the Design The Life You Want to Live page of nuttiness.
Do it now.
Don’t make me chase you with a wooden spoon.
