Ways To Use Costco's DIY Shed To Upgrade Your Backyard

Are you sick of scraping your car on snowy mornings? Guests tired of sleeping on your pull-out couch? Fed up with working out in your living room? For as low as around $6,500, you can have a space to solve any or all of those problems, right in your yard. No surprise, then, that the popularity of Costco's Yardline Upton wood shed is snowballing. Available for about $1,500 more with a floor, you and a team of experienced friends can assemble this shed over a few weekends. The reviews are in, and this is a must-buy if you want to add value to your home without paying a fortune.

This 12 feet by 24 feet outbuilding adds nearly 300 square feet of indoor space to your property. It's a blank slate that you can customize in many ways. Among its stand-out features are two doors, five windows, loft space, and the possibility to purchase a floor and installation. It's meant to hold up in high winds and heavy snow, and it's backed with a 15-year limited warranty. Kits include pre-cut wood, fasteners, doors, and windows (you'll have to purchase paint and roof tiles separately). Reviews are largely 5-star, with the main criticisms being that the costs add up with customization, and that it's best done as a DIY if you have construction experience.

Configure it into a one-car garage, deck it out with gear for a home gym, outfit it for entertaining, or shorten your morning commute to a walk through your yard. If you've been scratching your head about how to gain some extra square footage, Costco's Upton will come to the rescue.

Where the Upton gets extra cool is that you can build it as a one-car garage. If your snow-zone home wasn't blessed with covered parking, place the double doors on the narrow end of the shed for a perfect car shelter. Even housing a vehicle, there will be up to nearly 10 feet of space to stash other common shed-dwelling items. The double doors open to the side, but if you want a single-car, overhead-opening garage door, it's an easy swap. Just equip the opening with an 8-foot-wide door or wire the structure and outfit it with an automatic opener.

People have long been using garage space as a home gym, and the Upton's manageable size makes finishing the interior more cost-effective than doing the same in a more standard garage. Afterward, you can move your workout center into the space — unfurl yoga mats on the floor, line the walls with free weights, and hang a boxing bag or TRX straps from the rafters. As a bonus, you can crack one of the three openable windows for a breeze to cool you off as you break a sweat. You can even keep the costs low by leaving the walls unfinished and lining the floor with interlocking rubber gym tiles.

There are endless possibilities for adding a shed to your yard. Trick the Upton out with power and finish the walls, ceiling, and floor for a comfortable extra room ready for any season and any reason. After all, you probably learned the importance of dedicated home work spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of settling for dissatisfying bedroom or living room corners, let the Upton become a home office that will help keep your professional and personal space separate. Carve out a computer corner and hang shelves for resources and materials. A comfy chair and coffee bar for breaks can also invigorate your productivity. Tuck in a stocked mini fridge, and you're on your way to making the shed morph quickly into an entertainment or guest room.

Why designate your new space for only one purpose? Outfit the Upton shed with the trappings of a guest house that doubles as a cozy man cave (or woman cave!). By adding some versatile seating to the loft, you can convert your work space into a sleeping area and get more mileage out of your outbuilding. Guests can stretch out in their own den when visiting, or you can host paying guests in the cozy structure. Add a pull-out couch or a Murphy bed for discreet sleeping solutions in your workspace, or install a railing to the 12-foot-by-4-foot loft area and add bedding for a one-person sleeping spot. Let your imagination run wild!