Dad's Amazing Patented Antique Eating Shed

A reclaimed chandelier and antique photo frames

And now fellow- in response both to my word (which is kept out of purely remembering as much as in honour) and your excitement, I present to you Dad's Amazing Patented Antique Eating Shed- in pictures.

a jar of nails and screws

antique tool rests on a restored and aged wood box

rescued from an unloving fate and waiting restoration

You can see by the kind of things Dad collects where my style has come from. When I was a kid, my Dad's shed was a forbidden place. Due to the amount of nails, screws, rusted bits of metal, grease, paint and sawdust all over the floor it wasn't a kid-friendly environment, but you can't tell kids that. It was a rule that wasn't strictly enforced, as long as we didn't touch anything, had shoes on and didn't go past 'the first bookcase'. Of course, that's where I declared the best stuff to be.

metal trunks, wooden chests, lantern remains and a fire surround

A still-life of aged timber

collection of antique tools, mostly all restored and aged for authenticity by Dad

Sitting in the middle of the shed was a massive old Model T. Rusted and beyond rescue, it slept there guarding everything around it like hoarded gold. Cauldrons, wood chests, antique furniture, tin buckets, Gothic dining chairs...everything one might find in a dispensary in the 19th century, one might find here.

stained glass panels

a kerosene lamp packed in paper, awaiting restoration

The trunk my grandmother and mother bought their things in when they immigrated from England in the 1950s, a barley twist washstand (upside down) and a set of very rustic pigeon holes for which I will say 'Dad...can I borrow that..?' when I move house next month.

The shed itself had been made from a lot of reclaimed timber, so although it was only born not long after me (I remember them laying the foundations), it's old wood, low lighting, garlands of spiders webs (decorated with the shed skins of the resident) and arcane things - not to mention that I wasn't supposed to be in there- meant it became a figure of mystery in my life.

Antique boxes and not-so-old boxes made from old timber

antique tools

more antique tools

I know my Dad's shed was instrumental in my aesthetic direction now- and even in my philosophy. An art studio is like a shed, and everyone should have one. I've long said that pottering around at home is the best medicine, and there'd be much less strife in the world if people had sheds to retire to now and again!

a vintage statue that used to be in our bathroom- awaiting (what else) restoration

The shed in these images is Dad's new shed- it's bigger and more modern and not quite so Dickensian. it's still great though, as most of this stuff was in the old shed before it came here.The old shed still stands, but it belongs to someone else now. I can't imagine what it's like inside and I don't want to- it could never be so wonderful as it was.

more antique tools- can we see a theme?

One day maybe I'll have a shed that can live up to the dream...and my kids won't be allowed in it.