Rabbit Hill

Handmade & Happy Things by Jenn Tavoletti

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in House and Garden· Rabbit Hill· Uncategorized

My Garden Shed Studio. It has been 13 years, see it now

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“Honestly, I think my garden shed studio came about from Dino wanting to get all of my sewing stuff out of our house!“

Jenn Tavoletti in my Garden Studio

While it is a cold and snowy winter day here, I am dreaming about warmer weather and really wanted to write about something spring.

snowy day in the garden shed studio
Today in PA

I thought you might enjoy a little look back to another spring when my garden shed was delivered and how it looks these days.

Come and take a little tour of my garden shed studio with me!

My Garden Shed…the beginnings of a studio

Fall 2008

While Dino was shopping at The Home Depot, he noticed a great end-of-season sale on their sheds. After he came home, he forgot about them. It was a few days later, while we were at Baja Fresh celebrating Lydia’s birthday, that he remembered and since the store is right around the corner from the restaurant, we decided to go for a look. I had joked with my sister months before that I wanted a little building. How Dino knows what I am thinking, I am not sure, but God did I get lucky with this man. The next thing I knew we bought a shed.

On the morning that it arrived, I watched my shed sitting on a big flatbed truck backing down our very tiny alleyway. We had to dig our entire boxwood hedge up so that the truck could get through and place the shed in its permanent location. My heart was pounding so hard because that opening was looking very small from the vantage point I had on the back porch.

The drivers had no problem getting through and had it settled in its new home in no time. Now the planning could begin!

delivering the studio shed

My Garden Shed Studio Exterior

BEFORE

before garden shed studio

AFTER

The Building

For the exterior of my garden shed studio, we did not need to do much. We added a window box and reconstructed the door with a wood planking and window.

Dino adding the window to the studio shed

We were unable to locate an attractive shed door so we transformed the original by adding our own window.

The charm that this window brings to the outside of my garden shed studio makes it look more like a little cottage. I hope to add a porch and tin roof someday!

Sherwin Williams: Peppercorn

I gave them both a fresh coat of paint.

Lemonade Cosmos

The garden

The gardens around the little studio shed are a mix of an English cottage garden and a potager.

cottage gardens around the studio shed

Or at least that is what I try to make it look like.

roses around the studio

Both of these styles are inspired by two of my favorite gardeners (and artists) Tasha Tudor and Beatrix Potter.

Enchanting Foxglove

I love the look of a layered, full blooming garden with a mix of perennials, annuals, edible flowers, and vegetables.

Arugula and basil seedlings

You can never have enough roses!

roses by the studio shed
roses by garden studio
Cécile Brünner Heirloom Rose

Inside my Garden Shed Studio

Cottage garden around my garden shed studio
Sometimes I like to work outside in the garden

BEFORE

before my garden shed studio

AFTER

inside the garden shed studio
I found the desk for $5.00 in the basement of an old house.

After my garden shed studio arrived home, we spent the spring getting it ready. We wired it, insulated everything, and used t11 siding for the walls to make it look like beadboard. Cut some simple boards that we already had for molding. We painted the walls Silver Sage by Restoration Hardware and the trim is Downy Gray. I still love those colors, 13 years later!

cupboard inside the tiny garden shed studio
This skinny cabinet holds many books, my patterns, and lots of old sewing notions. Chandelier, desk, and cabinet are all estate sale finds, that all together cost $28.00!
cupboard inside the tiny garden shed studio
I found the little McCoy elephant planter in my grandfather’s basement after he passed away.

Having a very low budget, most of my furnishings are estate sale finds,

Inside my tiny garden shed studio
Most textiles are located behind this curtain.

with a few pieces from Ikea. 

Inside my tiny garden shed studio
Inside the colored cubes are antique fabrics, homespuns, wools, florals.

My friend Jessica has a small interior design business called “The Painted Nest”.

Inside my tiny garden shed studio
The flat drawers hold all of the antique reproduction fabrics by color.

She helped me organize and arrange everything.

Inside my tiny garden shed studio
Lots of baskets and jars for storing needfuls and treasures...an earlier snowman that was featured in Prims Magazine

This is where most of the Ikea wares came in.

Inside my tiny garden shed studio

It’s amazing how a little organization can work to make a small space feel bigger.

Of course I’m not perfect, and things do get scattered and messy a lot.

tiny little garden shed studio

Flowers always help with that, and kitties do too!

kitty cat Iris in tiny studio garden shed
Iris

Thanks so much for touring my garden shed studio and seeing its progress.

I am excited to continue transforming this and the gardens into the cottage style that I love. Follow along as I have plans to renovate its front garden this spring!

evening in the garden shed studio

SAVE THIS FOR LATER

Tour my garden shed studio. Inside a cottage styled studio, and the outside English cottage gardens. jenntavolettidesign rabbit hill

MORE INSPIRATION

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  • Spring Garden Planning
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Living a simple life, creating handmade pieces, always inspired by nature & antiques

Hi, I’m Jenn. I’m so glad you are here! I live in a small town in Pennsylvania with my husband and our three tuxedo cats. Sometimes my daughter is here too, but mostly she’s far away doing what she loves.

Come and join me as I write about simple traditions, handmade projects, decorating ideas, homemade food, cottage gardening…  finding joy and making things pretty!

I hope to inspire you with simple, beautiful ideas and how to find happiness in everyday life.

You can find out more about me here.

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Anyone remember this poem from grade school? Flo Anyone remember this poem from grade school? 

Flowers, flowers everywhere, on the trees and in my hair. 
It may seem strange but not to me, flowers, flowers I can see. 

Hello dear friends! 
I was planning a shop
update this week but we have had the most beautiful weather and I've been busy in the garden. Trying my hardest to finish the latest project, and getting ready to start planting! The poor little seedlings are bursting out of their tiny pots. 

Since it is raining right now, I am inside, watching garden videos and sewing this new fleur piece. I love making little bouquets of blooms!

Flowers, flowers everywhere, full of beauty and of care. 
Life is sweet when in full bloom, flowers, flowers in my room.🌸

Happy Friday! 
….shop update next week for sure! xo
.
#folkart #applique #sewing #handmade #antiquetextiles #vintagefabric #paintingwithtextiles #stitchersofinstagram #stitchersgonnastitch #sewersgonnasew
Happy birthday to one of my oldest and dearest fri Happy birthday to one of my oldest and dearest friends, Shelly. I won’t say how old because I’m up next!!! 🤣🤗 I am so lucky and grateful to have you in my life. Nobody even comes close to how kind, thoughtful and caring you are. Lots of love and happy birthday wishes! xo
#80sgirls 
.#friends4life #ihavethebestfriends 
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@gardengirl516
Happy rainy Caturday! His spot on the front porch Happy rainy Caturday! His spot on the front porch swing. Why is it that you never want to move your cat when they look all cozy? 🤍
#cottagestyle #frontporchliving #tuxedocatsofinstagram #lovelyday
Happy Friday friends! A few of you had messaged me Happy Friday friends! A few of you had messaged me about the textile mushrooms. Three are finished and listed in my Etsy shop. The link is in my bio as well as below. Oh and I also found a rabbit that I forgot to list a few weeks ago 🙄🤣 More pieces to come… There never seems to be enough time to finish everything that I want to.  I’ll add updates here as they are finished. Thanks from the bottom of my heart. xo
#handmadewithlove #mushroomart #antiquetextiles 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/RabbitHillShoppe
Garden mushrooms are popping up everywhere! It mus Garden mushrooms are popping up everywhere! It must be all of the rain here in PA! 😉😘 
Finally these and a few more pieces that you’ve seen in the past weeks will be listed in my shop this coming Friday afternoon. Thank you all for your patience and kind support and lovely messages 🫶
And as always - have a very happy day, friends! xo

#handmadewithlove #mushroomsofinstagram #fungilove #antiquetextileart #fabricbits #cottagegardenstyle #cottagegardenflowers
Hello, lovely friends! The world has suddenly turn Hello, lovely friends! The world has suddenly turned green and feels like we have turned the corner around here! I am so ready to plant out my seedlings but knew that we would have to replace our raised beds first - they are rotting. We now have the wood and hopefully can finish it next weekendI This is what it looks like right now and a glimpse of my plans at what we are doing…basically making the 1 bed into 3 smaller beds. I will have to dig out some of our garlic and a few cucumbers that reseeded here from last year, and move the archway. Lots of work! Lots of fun! And you can see Juney wants to help… (or always lays on my feet when I’m taking pictures lol!)
I would love to hear about what you are doing in your garden this year! Love some inspiration!! I hope that you have the most wonderful week ahead. I’m off to sewing a few flowers now. Thanks for always being here! xo 

#gardenrenovation #greenhouse #greenhousegarden #potagergarden #cottagegarden #raisedgardenbeds
A little obsessed with mushrooms and flowers latel A little obsessed with mushrooms and flowers lately - oh spring, I love you!! Sewing pretty mushrooms in the evenings has  been my nightly project this week. It has been so cold (we had snow!) and finally the sun is shining today. I will be heading to a cute little greenhouse by our cabin later to pick up some pale pink geraniums and then, if there is time, a walk around the woods with hopefulness of finding a few morels 🍄 Happy Friday friends xo
Wonder where this cabin inspo came from? 😊 @the Wonder where this cabin inspo came from? 😊
@thelittlebluecabin 

If you love cabins and gardens and a little bit of decorating, please follow @thelittlebluecabin on Instagram - if you aren’t already. 

The name that I wanted finally became available a few months ago after waiting a long time. Starting soon, I’ll be moving the pictures from the other account over so that I can close that account. It will be from the very beginning if you are curious. And if you have been following along, we are actually back to working on it after a long break 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
💙 
ps. This piece will be a part of my next update - tba soon 💙
@thelittlebluecabin 
💙
#myhappyplace 
#littlecabininthewoods #cabinlove #handmadewithlove
May Day is also Oliver’s birthday. He is the swe May Day is also Oliver’s birthday. He is the sweetest cat, and as you can see, the perfect lazy tom. Swipe to see an old video found of him and his 3 sisters as kittens. The girls are still with my mom. Happy 3rd birthday kitty-cats! God sent you all just when we needed you the most ❤️
Follow on Instagram

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