Ultimate DIY Japanese Shed Build | Full 8-Month Journey Start to Finish
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- Опубліковано 30 лис 2024
- Join us on our ultimate DIY journey as we build a stunning 2-story Japanese-inspired shed from the ground up! Over 8 months, we transformed our garden-filled with Japanese maples and conifers-into a serene oasis with this one-of-a-kind shed. Using American building techniques, we crafted every detail ourselves, and now we’re sharing the entire process with you in this complete start-to-finish guide. Whether you’re a DIY enthusiast, a fan of Japanese architecture, or just love a good project, this video is packed with tips, laughter, and lessons learned. Watch as we navigate challenges, celebrate successes, and create something truly special. Don’t miss out-hit play, and let’s build together!|
To explore the entire Japanese shed build playlist, click here: • Japanese Tea House Gar...
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To your comment about japanese vs craftsman: craftsman was HEAVILY inspired by traditional Japanese architecture and attempted to modernize and adapt it to American climates. If you look at Stickley's early drawings they are extremely similar to traditional Japanese woodworking.
This is super neat! Thank you so much for sharing, we never knew this - makes total sense! This is so cool. Yay! Thanks! 😀
Greene and Greene's inspiration was from Japanese style architecture. This was great...
@@buildingmodern so what’s next guys?!
@@JadeDavis2577 a bunch of things, though, building takes time. 🙂
To be more specific - we have a front porch & stairs renovation/replacement, then a fairly large screen porch & deck addition, and then potentially a new primary bedroom addition/renovation (we'll share a video on the plan - we're pretty excited about it) - and then, waaaay down the road, maybe a huge modern art studio addition (30x48 feet, 14 foot tall ceiling, very modern - lots and lots of 9' tall windows - Anna's been making art/oil paintings, and we're running out of space!).
And, of course, more moving of trees/plants, air layers, and landscaping projects involved as well. 😁
@@buildingmodern great because I really love your build…would love to watch you build a home in this aesthetic!
Love the Japanese elements and simplicity.
Thank you for mentioning the use of eye and hearing protection. As someone who has 70% hearing loss, it is always important to protect your hearing.
I additionally commend you for expressing the issues of safety first.
I watched the entire video and came to the conclusion that this is such a wonderful, beautiful, fantabulus 49:12 shed, so worthy of being called a tiny house!
Thank you so much!! Yes, always safety first - there’s no point in doing something if it ends up harming you long-term.
We appreciate your comment - thank for watching!!
I'm assuming you guys are a couple. How amazing is it to literally build your dreams together? I cannot think of a more healthy activity for a couple to tackle together. You both seem skilled and competent, and you built something truly beautiful together. Congratulations. I wish you guys a long and healthy life together. Bravo on the build, too!
Thank you!! We definitely enjoy building and enjoy our time together :)
Ya'll killed this! I was like "I love the japanese maple! I wonder if they would thrive in zone 6b?" And then I head you drop a "slippy" and I was like...oh they may be locals! time to get some trees!
Thanks! We're actually in zone 8a here, but Japanese Maples do indeed fair extremely well in zone 6b. There's a great Japanese Maples & Conifers group on Facebook that's worth checking out. There seems to be an endless number of varieties.
We have Spring/Summer/Fall Garden tours of our yard/garden as well where we talk about the various varieties that we have and how they're doing. We'll be making a Fall tour fairly soon - we're still a couple weeks out from Fall colors here. 🙂
As a General Contractor there are many things I would have done differently, but it turned out great.
thank you! really appreciate you watching. 🙂
At first I wasn't too keen on it being all black, but the cedar roof trim and skirt really added a good amount of color to the build. Overall a really stylish build
Thank you! We definitely feel it worked out. Thanks for watching!
Love the black and cedar together. It looks really nice.
Thank you!! Thanks for watching! 🙂
This would make a awesome little cabin.
Stunning and inspirational. Thank you!
OK I don't know what's going on with me but watching this made me extremely happy inside and I cried. ( I think I'm at that age. I'm 39 going into 40 next year). I LOVE everything about this shed!!!❤ Absolutely beautiful. Honestly I would sleep in there or use it as a treehouse for my children. The tree on your ground really compliment the shed and vice versa. ❤👘🍜🏯🚜🔥
Thank you!! ❤️❤️❤️
Amazing build. The details shown in this video while building is very helpful to newbies like me it is almost educational. Power tools definitely are a life saver which unfortunately not many people can afford. If im gonna build something like this it would take 10x more time. Aesthetically and structurally sound shed. Congratulations.
Thank you! Thanks for watching 🥳
I love how you love your planer, simply wholesome.
Thanks! Gotta love anything that does the work 🙂
I usually listen to everything on 2x speed, but I was having such a nice time listening to you both talk that I kept it on normal speed the entire time. Well done, it looks great. I would love an update video in a few years about this. Just to learn what worked and what could be improved on. Keep it up, lovely project.
Thank you! We'll take this as a big compliment!! More projects to come in the future. And sure, we'll check back on the shed from time to time in our garden tour updates. So far, we're about a year out, and everything's holding up great. 😄
Beautiful design on the cheap. Bravo
I had a bed made out of cedar wood. It's like sleeping in heaven. I like the smell of cedar. It's worth every euro!
Great design, nice video! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you! Thanks for watching!
Very nice job. 🙂 Just a thought, how about adding some of that dark screen behind the wooden screens up on the second floor sliders to keep the bugs out as well when using those windows? 🤔 I think the contrast would look great just like the doors. 😊 Thanks for sharing.. 🎑
Thank you!! I suppose we could have placed the screen on the outside of the windows prior to applying the koshi screens. So far, it’s doing fine though - we aren’t keeping the windows open often, so it’s a non-issue for now. 🙂
Great build and I loved the commentary. You two are very complimentary to one another. Great work kids!
Great job! Love the team work and creativity!
Great build. Thank you for sharing this.
Great wrap up of your build!
Thank you!!
What a joyful annex for your homestead. I'd love to copy your style someday for a small tea house for meditation and simple guest quarters for my little homestead in the Smokey Mountains. What a treat for you to enjoy for your projects. I'm sure I will learn plenty from you delightful young folks. I plan to study more of your generous sharing. I have no grandchildren, so I'm glad for you and your generation to be our future on Earth. Old Beth
Thanks Beth! More builds to come! Also, go for it - it was a fun project to take on. And thanks, we're happy to be able to build & make things and are happy to share. :)
Cool shed!
Fantastic carpentry, sadly I'm guessing that roof is already leaking 😬
I would use roll roofing when you replace it.
Thanks! The roof is doing just fine so far - not a single leak or drop of water inside (we're about a year after construction now). 🙂
@@buildingmodern good to hear! I would keep an eye on it, 2/12 is way too low for shingle roofing.
We were shaking it. Favorite part.
Anna has such a beautiful voice. Great for video and narrations.
That is gorgeous! What a shed!
I really like the aesthetic of this shed. I’m considering building a structure to use as a combination office/ shop space on my property and this is a really great idea. Thank you for sharing.
Absolutely! Best of luck! With minor modifications, this could be a great office. Though, be sure to check with your local code before beginning the build 😁
I think a workshop/storage is fine with this type of shed build.
For an office you would need heating, electricity and isolation - so much different requirements for the build.
Still doable with some adjustments though.
With "real" isolating windows that let's sunshine in, thicker isolated walls... it could be possible for most of the year.
And it still can be off-grid if you add solarpanels and a small battery for electricity and a small propane heater maybe.
@@theresabu3000 I’m in Texas my biggest concern is AC! But I’ve definitely included thicker insulated walls sealed triple paned windows, a dust collector, and sound proofing the upstairs office space I’m also considering adding a restroom and wash station. But I’m worried about the expense of adding a septic system. I’m not sure if the current one would handle the additional “traffic”.
I'm not done watching this yet. But, I wanted to tell you how much I'm in love with this!! I'd put cedar frames around the outside of the windows.
thank you!!!
Lovely video and shed! Well done! I loved that you shared your thought process and mistakes along the way. I'm sure that you've already thought about this but you could have done the same thing with the main roof that you did for the first floor overhang. In fact, it used to be quite common to sheath the perimeter of the roof deck with cedar planks (just above the overhangs and use OSB for the rest) so you could see them from below. The use of corbels on the first floor overhang would have worked well for the look-outs and would have supported the cedar planks while preventing you from cutting individual pieces to fit between rafters.
That’s really neat and makes total sense as a technique!
I wish I had planed down my floor joists when I built our tiny house lol. Payed the price later on and had to use self leveling concrete
Oooof, we've been there when renovating our home. It's really really not fun - so much easier to have things flat / level from the get-go. Thanks for watching!
Great build! Looks amazing! Just wondering if you find the ramp a little too steep?
Good question! It turns out that it's ok. It is a little steep, but not too bad. The lawnmower & yard max can both make it up the ramp without an issue. Walking up the ramp can be a little awkward, but isn't terrible. I wouldn't recommend going any steeper, but as it is, it works. 😄
Great job guys. Excellent teamwork too. I must admit to being a bit worried about lack of focus on moisture ingress prevention and the apparent lack of proper flashing and techniques. How many hours do you think you put in?
So far, it's holding up great (we're about a year out from the build now). Hours? Not totally sure - recording videos added on a lot of time. I'd say if we weren't recording & making videos, we likely would have finished within ~6 weeks or so. If we were to build it again, I'd say it'd be around ~3-4 weeks (less thinking about what to do). 🙂
If it was going to be a living situation instead of a shed, we also would have gone with a zip system (or similar system to zip), and put flashing above the windows properly. 🙂
❤very very Beautiful ❤
Looks good!thanks so much for documenting your build.
The only thing that sort of sticks out for me is the 1 st story "roofing being such a big slope compared to the top roof.....maybe a lesser slope on the (1st floor) would have looked better,but still looks great as it is.
Also,maybe some battens added to the plain ,visible siding would make it look more like board and batten,or even just paint some lines on to make it look like boards, instead of a solid sheet of plywood.could just be a darker or lighter shade of black,might look good.
I also do a lot of "faux" asian style in my buildings,using both western fo better insulation,and more traditional joinery where really visible.and trim,both inside and outside,to mimic joinery also.and a thicker,rough troweled plaster(joint compound,really)on inside over drywall to mimic more traditional walls.
I have been getting into more real asian style joinery,too,it is very satisfying,but slower and often unfortunately gets sort of covered up in the end.
Thanks again,and best wishes.
That's some amazing work, loved the narration from the both of you. Very enjoyable to watch.
thank you!
Really enjoyable film. A very nice design and the black sets off all the cladding in a good style. Great that you went to all this effort. I've a shed to build soon and I think it may be a bit more adventurous after seeing this ! Cheers for the inspiration.
Thank you! Thanks for watching!
Amazing "shed"!
Stuff like this is what I envy about the U.S., coming from Europe. Your political landscape might look like hell, but you actually have this amazing freedom where you can build things like these. Over here, this would take a year of paperwork and then cost as much as an actual house to get it done in the end.
I hope you guys continue your work, I'll definitely explore your channel more :)
Thanks! Also, it really depends on what you’re building. For a shed, no problem. Even for an addition, we’re good to go (with permits).
However, for a 4’ tall retaining wall? Forget about it - soil tests, permits for days, etc. The permit alone (and the tests & engineer’s sign off on it) will be as much as the actual retaining wall build. … so, not everything is quite this easy.
Still, yeah, it isn’t too bad. We’re happy to be able to improve our property without too much intervention.
Thanks for watching!!
Very nice! Fix that steep incline on your entrance.
Thanks! It’s actually been unexpectedly ok so far. If we start to have issues with it, we’ll extend it out further. 🙂
This is a great channel. And this is one of the most beautiful sheds that I have ever seen; so well designed. I can’t wait to see what you do next.
Thank you!!!
Thanks for sharing, the two of you did an awesome job!👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽🫶🏾💫
Thank you!! Thanks for watching!
Looks so good. Sometimes gluing your miter joints before nailing them will held hold them together. But wood’s gonna do what wood’s gonna do.
Thanks! Yeah, we’re in a high humidity area here. I’m sure someone will say we should have put a domino in there (we don’t have a domino tool). 🤣
I feel no matter what we did, it was going to move eventually. It still looks good though, and I’ll take it as a win 🙂
I'm planning on building my own little place in the near future and I was debating about how certain things would join together. I'm not saying that I'll copy what you guys did, but I do love seeing all the different ideas that went into this. If I show this to my mom, hopefully she'll finally understand that it IS possible to build things without hiring a team of strangers to do everything at ridiculous prices. She's worried that 1 person would be too slow or too dangerous and says paying double the cost for half the value is "worth it" "just so it can be done and over with".
Honestly, I LOVE LOVE LOVE building stuff myself, it's so satisfying and... it's kinder to the budget. I think she assumes that her idea of "fast" is too fast for me and it's equal to 1 window a day or something..... I think her mind math is a little off, lol. I think the only thing that might make me go that slow is if I built a staircase by hand, it's the one thing I struggle with... luckily ladders exist, at least until I get those right 😂
At least I would get to customize the space at no extra cost. I think it's better to make it right the first time rather than to spend the rest of the time accommodating the compromises/imperfections. Like, how many times do you have to duck or bang your head before you finally regret paying someone to build it wrong for you? 😅
Absolutely, go for it! One quick word of caution - be sure to look into how to build to code for your local county & city. What we have done here is approved in our area, but wouldn’t be approved in other areas. So, really, I seriously mean it - learn your local building code.
If it’s a dwelling (someone will be living/sleeping in it), this is *extra* important as you’ll also need to pull homeowners permits and pass inspections (this only costs $50 in our area).
Your foundation will be different - either sonotubes or a poured/cinderblock wall foundation with rebar.
That said, it’s honestly not too hard to do as long as you go slow, look into the proper techniques/code, and use the right tools.
For reference, for this build, it would have been anywhere from $35k to $100k to have it built - we built it ourselves for $5500. 😁 (though, it took months)
Very nice! You should do an interior build for the top floor at least. That'd be dope as well.. just a suggestion, though...
Keep on keeping on my friends 💯 💪
Thanks! Ha, it was a consideration, but, that's for the next build 😁
This build was due to needing additional outdoor storage. In the not-too-distant future, we'll be (assuming permits are approved), fully enclosed additions. Though, these will be more modern in design (they'll look great).
In the meantime though, we also have some upcoming porch, deck, & screen porch builds coming up as well. 😄
Crazy beautiful.
Just FYI, if your bird block holes are big enough for a starling to squeeze through they will tear through the screen wire. After a few years the screen rusts from humidity which makes it easier for the birds to tear.
Well done! Smart design for a shed. The black looks great with the pop of plant color in front. It would be nice to maybe stain the cedar a little warmer to help match with the door now that's a different batch - but a detail not worth doing until it's time to give it more water protection treatment.
Keep up the good work!
Thank you!! Our plan is to let the cedar weather out as this is very common in Japan. With time, everything will come together color-wise. 🙂
This is a beautiful project. Well done.
Beautiful build guys. Your video is also very very well narrated. The pacing is gentle and digestible. I could watch these all day.
Design wise I think you hit all the marks. My only suggestion to create more visual cohesiveness would be to replace the shingles on the mid level drip roof with something more Japanese. Ceramic Japanese tile? Even just more of the same stuff used on the main roofing. The shingles just seem outside the Japanese aesthetic for me.
Thanks for making these vids!
Thank you!! Cedar shakes are very Japanese - often covered in moss in Japan. Given enough time, it’ll definitely have the right feel. I think it depends on what architecture you’re viewing in Japan. 🙂
Incredible! ❤
Build is so classic! Fantastic!
You did a great job. Your instruction is excellent and you both have voices that are probably excellent for podcasts or radio. Keep up the great work.
Thank you!!
I like the design, the colors you used and the overall look. You both did great and you gave me some ideas for my three story moon gate house. Thank you very much and you definitely earned my subscription. 🖤
Thank you! Welcome and thanks for watching 🙂
The final result is just awesome!!! 🤩, i love the Japanese style 🇯🇵🏯, i would like to share you a creation i made a few years ago and in my spare time, i built a Japanese temple dors in concrete, formwork with wood and poured in one go, all integrated into a boundary wall. 😊
Respectfully, one love 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Super neat - we’d love to see it! 🙂
10/10 Awesome Build
I like your build. You have some very professional tools. You did an excellent job.
Thank you! Thanks for watching!
You two are such an inspiration!
Looks really nice.
I love the black against the wood ❤
It looks amazing. You guys forgot to build a full bathroom and kitchen insiden the shed / "tiny house". My thought is if you guys have a bigger house, you could rent that out and live in the tiny house / shed. If you insult it, build a full bathroom and kitchen. :)
Awesome building. Fun video!
Truly beautiful and inspirational!!!
This is so beautiful!! I love it so much! Clever creative ideas, great problem solving. Love it!
Thank you! Thanks for watching!
It looks really great, thanks for taking us with you on that build.
Though I'm worrying a bit about the humidity mentioned?
You installed a lot of sliding doors / windows.
Both could warp and no longer slide with a lot of humidity, though I'm more worried about the windows upstairs.
Hope I'm wrong and it all works out.
Thanks! That’s definitely a real concern - so far, the cedar has been holding up well. It’d have bigger issues if made out of pine or another wood that doesn’t do well with moisture 🙂
it is so beautiful I would love to have a shed like this
Amazing looking shed. You guys do a great job working together!
Thank you!!!
Love it. Great job!
So beautiful! Great job, team!
Thank you! Thanks for watching!!
The cedar drip cap is so gorgeous 😍
Thank you!!
Super sharp build, it makes me sad that its just a shed and not a tea house or a workshop or something.
Ha, true. We thought if we have to look at something, we might as well enjoy what we're looking at. There will be more projects in the future though 🙂
The color is good but I like a brown based black. Same effect just a bit of organic and camouflage plus some weather. 😊 Since you mentioned it.
"JUST" a shed? :O
-a lover of sheds.
Stellar work.
love the cedar drip cap really nice job
Thank you!! Ha, Spencer is super happy for your comment 😂🥳
A dork or a door.... lol this project is so thought through and it looks amazing!! The view through the Japanese maples is excellent.
thank you!! Thanks for watching! 🤓😁🍁
Really a beautiful design . Fits so harmoniously with the trees .
I hate to tell you this but I've been a roofer for almost 30 years and that roof is going to leak and destroy all your work. I recommend to go on top and tear all them Cedar shakes off and at the very least scab in asphalt shingles, but the correct way would be to tear it all off and put down ice and water shield and then shingle it. I really like what you guys did and I just want it to last not trying to be ignorant 💯
Thanks!! On the good side, the shakes are just around the perimeter / don’t go over the actual interior of the building. If it was a house, we’d definitely go about it differently (and would have used the zip system for the roof) 🙂
That said, big thanks! We really appreciate it! We’d rather learn (and others too) than assuming we did it correctly. 🙂
@@buildingmodern Yeah - I think you will have water infiltration around the door and your floor is going to rot out around there in a couple of years
@@timh8324 eh, it is pressure treated ground contact wood. It'll take a bit longer than that. Right now, no water is touching the door during a heavy rain due to the larger overhangs. That said, there is some splash back on the upper side we'll have to rectify (just adding gravel to stop the splash back). So far, a year in, it's going strong. :)
I guess check back with us in 5-10 years, and we'll see how it's doing. :)
Thanks for watching! Would love your feedback on our future builds we have coming up (decks, porches, screen porches, and full additions). We'll be hopefully reviewing the plans before the build in not too long. :)
So pretty😍
It's very good 👍.
It looks so great!!!
Great job guys!
Great, they've built a nice house for UA-cam.
Thanks, it’s just a shed though. 😅
We figured if we had to look at it every day in our yard/garden, we may as well make something we wanted to see. 😎
Greetings, I would like to know if you can build me two of those sheds by side by side?
If the location, timing, & budget are right, we’re happy to consider this. Reach out to us at hellobuildingmodern@gmail.com and we’d be happy to discuss it with you. 🙂
If you use a roller and paint the screens on the door, the screen pretty much disappears. Allowing a more perfect view
Awesome! That's a pretty expensive, Japanese inspired, tool shed~ A great building exercise certainly. I hope you build a little zen garden in front of it. 😺 The sliding doors are really cool but they should have opened up the entire door way; otherwise, there's essentially only 1 door. The shed is not structurally sound enough to be a 2-story though. This has nothing to do with your construction skills but the shed's foundation and the terrain it's sitting on. The double edged sword of no permit required I supposed. Cheers~
Thanks! Yeah, we wish we could have had room to have both doors slide to the side. We went back and forth about it for a while, but eventually settled on one side or the other being the best solution.
We'll have to see on the foundation. We do wish we could have put it on sonotubes. So far, it's doing fine about a year out from when we completed it. We'll just have to see how it goes. 😅
Love love love this design🤗
Thank you!! Thanks for watching!!
It's funny that the foundation you used is what complete houses used for years before they suddenly decided it isn't good enough. Pretty sure the 100 year old house we have proves the old way was fine.
Amazing build! Love it!
Wow 😮! I definitely need a battery 🔋 powered nailer! Didn’t even know they made those.
They’re amazing, get one when you can 🙂
What a spectacular build!
Maybe some grip tape for your ramp? You could cut some aluminum strips and throw them on there, so the grip tape can adhere better, then easily replace it when it starts to tarnish.
Thanks, we'll likely end up just doing cedar strips and replace them from time to time. Though, so far, even without anything, it turns out it hasn't been a major issue. :)
Very nice build
Thank you!
wow, I could legit live in that.
edit: btw, that center cap vent made of plastic was likely made by me :) I used to work at a factory and I would install the mold into the machine and set it all up to run those things. we had the contract for all of them.
Ah man, that’s pretty neat! For what it’s worth, they seem to be working & were easy to install. 😁
Ha, we had some neighbors come by and ask us if we were building an ADU or Tiny House. We had to tell them sadly, no, it was just a shed. …. But we *did* measure, and a king bed can fit upstairs (or below) without any issue. 🤩
@@buildingmodern that's awesome!
What a beautiful projcet.
Thanks for watching!
It looks nice, but I have never seen a shed like that here in Japan since most are metal and look lousy. Yours looks so much nicer!
lol, thank you!! It’s definitely more Japanese-inspired. We have seen a few Kura when we were in Japan that did look nice, but not quite like this one 🙂
🎉 good job guys. I love it, Sam
Deck blocks are better than cinder blocks, but your project came out great.
Thanks!
Beautiful 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼❤️❤️❤️
Beautiful design and great execution!
I saw the thumbnail and Honestly I couldn't tell if it was literally in Japan or not. Great job on the design!
Plus I loved how you to really got involved with the project together. great way to stay connected.
Prayers and cheers to you two! I hope you get many years of enjoyment out of that shed.
Thank you! We had a great time building it and coming up with solutions to make it look & feel more authentic while using code-required western building techniques. It was definitely a good project.
Up next for us are retaining walls, a front porch, a large deck, a large back porch, maybe a modern bedroom addition (with *huge* windows), and then down the road, maybe even one more huge addition as an space to make art. Lots of projects ahead 😎
Thanks for watching!
Amazing Build!!
Great work guys. That looks so good and also you guys made a really informative video.
Thank you!!! Glad you enjoyed it - thanks for watching!! 😁