We love riding bikes; one of our favorite features of the house is that the back yard opens onto the Cady Way Trail. But our bikes don’t like the Florida sun. Even kept in our covered porch, enough sunlight gets through the screen to do quite a bit of damage, especially this time of year with the sun so low in the sky. Additionally, while the screen keeps out some dirt, the porch is still a pretty dirty place. Yesterday, I set out to address these issues.

Inspired by this post, I designed a shelter to store all our wheeled toys. The whole thing is made up of three independent structures, each designed so I can move it out of the porch if needed and each only as tall as it needed to be. I didn’t want to completely block our view of the back yard with this project.

The dimensions of the three structures are approximately (depth x height x width)

• 6′ x 5′ x 4′
• 6′ x 4′ x 4′
• 4′ x 3′ x 3′

The first stores full-size bikes, the second stores mid-sized bikes and our two-person bike trailer and the smallest stores plasma cars and tricycles.

I drew up my plans at 9AM, Charlie and I went to the Home Depot to get supplies (in only one trip!) and I spent the rest of the day assembling. I didn’t work uninterrupted (meals, school pick-up, baths, etc.) but I finished the job the same day, at 11PM

Eventually, we’ll add a tarp or drop cloth to the front to keep out the rest of the dirt, but for now, I’m calling it done!