Introducing the ‘She Shed’ – female equivalent of the ‘Man Cave’
Shouldn’t everyone have their own personal sanctuary, no matter how small? For less than US$500, you can buy one in kit form
Jimmy Fallon has joked about them, Pinterest has pages obsessively devoted to them, and influential design sites such as Houzz cite them as one of the most prevalent micro-trends in home design.
And anyone can have one – if they have a tiny bit of space on a rooftop, a patch of grass beside the house, or even a garage.
The “She Shed” is largely thought of as the female equivalent of the “Man Cave”, the popular and highly sought after space in a home that can accommodate everything the man of the house might need, including (insert your own cliché), a huge, flat-screen television for sports appreciation; a pool table (where else do you wear your Hawaiian shirt); or a bar, cigar humidor or that set of drums that always looked out of place in the living room.
But women are increasingly seeking their own version, creating a space to read, practice yoga, work on that novel, watch TV, or sit, with a glass of Chardonnay, with friends. They can be, at their most literal, made from pre-fabricated sheds.
“I refer to it as my sanctuary,” said Melinda Yates, a Costa Mesa, California-based artist who built her She Shed outside her home a few years ago.
“It’s my studio, it’s where I write, and it’s really a place, day or night, that’s just for me.”