Simple DIY solar shed lights

Today I wanted to share how I spent $30 to create lighting for our Arrow shed we just assembled.

I ordered two solar lights from Amazon for $25 (Aootek 48 LED solar lights) and headed to Homedepot for $5 worth of scrap wood. I forgot what the size was for the bigger piece but the thinner pieces were 1x2x8 ($1 each). I really like the solar lights because they have three different settings. I use setting B which is on dim at night but when you come close it brightens up. I love that they are solar so I don't have to run any electrical wiring. 

I painted them black with some old exterior black paint I had laying in my garage and chopped them into pieces with my saw. 

I spent about 5 minutes each light to staple them together. I just thought of the design in my head and just improvised as I went. 

First I stapled two boxes. 

I added four shorter pieces and assembled them into a box. 

I added one more thin piece of scrap wood and one thick piece of wood for aesthetics. 

Second coat of black paint went on. The wall light is not perfect but its good enough for me. I didn't want the shed to look so plain in our backyard. 

Finally add the solar light with screws and screw it onto the wall. 

Here they are with our new Arrow shed I just finished assembling on Wednesday. We also added a nice step at the door with some home depot concrete pavers. ($8 total). I used some left over bricks for the bottom and laid the bigger pavers on top. Today I stopped by Costco and picked up two lavender bushes for $12 each. They smell so good and I can't wait to start landscaping my back yard. 

Here is a breakdown for cost of shed project. 

Arrow shed from Lowes with 10% coupon $320

Two DIY solar lights $30

Base/gravel/concrete $70

Two lavender bushes from Costco $24

Pavers $8

Total: $452

Cost for total project was pretty high but a great investment. The shed not only adds storage space but also nice lighting to our otherwise dark yard. We have a pretty big size lot, about 13,000 square feet so free solar lights is a win in my books. Another great feature is less grass to maintain and water. Along that wall I plan to add drought tolerant plants and succulents so it will further help with reducing water costs. It doesn't seem like much savings in water but we have a pool and our water bill always seems high so every little helps. 

Stay tune for more budget friendly backyard projects. I plan on building a built in bbq, diy pavers for our whole backyard, redo our front yard, and new landscaping. 

*** Update: landscaped shed with some left over bricks from previous project and two new fruit trees from Costco.