How to Build a Shed Bunkhouse

Four children sitting on white bunkbeds.

Last updated August 21, 2024

By: Amie Freling Brown

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Perfectly blending traditional design and whimsical style, Amie Freling Brown is an interior designer and artist. For more DIY projects come join Amie over on her Blog.

A Note From The Home Depot

At the 2018 Haven Conference, three lucky winners were selected to make their dream projects a reality with the help of The Home Depot. Read below on how one of the winners, Amie Freling Brown of Meme Hill Studio, was able to transform a backyard shed into anyone’s nautical-themed lake bunkhouse.

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The Itsy Bitsy Bunkhouse
Ready, Shed, Go
Let’s Do This
Dig Into the Details
Screen Doors
Exterior Paint

The Itsy Bitsy Bunkhouse

A woman standing in between two sets of bunkbeds decorated in white and blue.

You make a lot of friends when you own a lake house! Five years ago, my husband and I purchased a small 745 sq. foot fixer upper cottage on Honeoye Lake in Upstate New York’s Finger Lakes region. There began my love for tiny living and transforming small spaces into stylish function living quarters.
We desperately needed more space for all our visitors, and that’s when the itsy bitsy bunkhouse idea was born.

Ready, Shed, Go

A tan shed with a black roof sitting in a yard.

Last winter, our Home Depot backyard shed arrived at the lake. It was easy to customize and design the shed to our needs. There were so many options and ordering took less than 15 minutes. I chose the 10’ by 12” classic backyard shed with a gambrel roof, smart siding, tough floor, charcoal shingles, gable vents, transom windows, 54” double door, black decorative door hinges & shutters and 7 foot walls to give the top campers more head room.

Let’s Do This

A woman holding a five gallon homer bucket inside The Home Depot.

My father and I headed to The Home Depot for all the supplies to transform this shell into a bright, nautical farmhouse-inspired bunkhouse. After running electric from the main house, we wired for a chandelier, outdoor lights and outlets. First we put up the bead board paneling, then whitewashed reclaimed wood panels on the ceiling followed by trim and casings.

A woman and man hammer bead board paneling onto a wall.

The inside of a shed with bead board panel walls and a whitewashed reclaimed wood panel ceiling.

We built the bunk frames in my dad’s workshop and assembled them on site using 2′ by 4’s for the braces, 3/4 inch plywood sheets for the bunk platforms and pre-primed boards for finishing. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. We were almost done! We broke out the paint brushes and painted the walls, trim and bunks Behr semi-gloss Ultra Pure White. The LifeProof Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring in Sterling Oak came last. I installed that all on my own in under one hour. We were ready to accessorize!

The inside of a shed with a bunkbed frame built on one wall.

Dig Into the Details

At the peak of the roofline we have 10 feet. Opting for the taller walls made all the difference in giving the illusion that the space is larger than 120 square feet.

A group of children sitting inside a shed turned bunkhouse.

Two girls sitting on bunkbeds decorated with white and blue bedding.

We built two ladders and painted them gray to pull out the tones in the ceiling and vinyl flooring. I added black door handles to both sides of the ladders for an extra place to grab as the kids climb up to the top bunks. I decorated with nautical navy blue and white bedding and accessories.

A shed bunkhouse decorated in a nautical theme.

A navy blue dresser sits next to white bunkbeds.

Screen Doors

My dad and I made custom screen doors to fit the opening. We built the frames, stretched the screens tight and attached using a staple gun. We covered the raw screen edge with small trim pieces. Even though making these doors from scratch and hanging them took a whole day, it has been the best addition! There is nothing better than sleeping with a cool breeze flowing in or watching the waves crash the shore without annoying bugs.

The wall of a shed bunkhouse decorated with a double pendant mirror.

Exterior Paint

For the exterior, we chose a fresh coat of Behr Red Barn Paint to match the main cottage. White trim delineates the bunkhouse structure and a cool battleship gray complements the 4’ by 12’ deck addition. A cobblestone path connects the bunkhouse to the cottage and boxwood shrubs, perennials and potted flowers neatly hug the deck.

Two children sitting on the front porch of a shed bunkhouse painted in red and blue.

The exterior of a shed painted red with gray doors.

The overall project from start to finish took three of us roughly 8 full weekends. All the hard work is now behind us just in time for summer fun! Time to break out the marshmallows, share campfire stories and enjoy having more friends and family to our little lakefront oasis. It’s a shore thing!

This post was created in partnership with The Home Depot. The author may have received compensation for this article and associated images or video, potentially in the form of products and/or services. All expressed opinions and experiences are the author’s own words.