HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN OUTHOUSE

Need some inspiration for creating an outhouse? We’ve got you covered. This outhouse design is a modern twist on a traditional outhouse idea. The great thing about this one is that it is not only beautiful, it’s functional annnnnnnd it smells GREAT. 

 

DIY OUTHOUSE IDEAS : 

I tried to come up with a pretty name for our outhouse.  No such luck.  So I called in the troops (that’s you) and this is what you came up with :

The Ruby room, the sunshine mission, the pooter scooter, stinky chicken, the sand box, the Mary Jane, the reading room, the dump truck, the library, the la la, the back house, the thunder box, the deuce den, wooden throne, peepee palace, poopy portal.

The good news is that you can create an outbuilding just like this one and it will be no where near icky.   Don’t call it an outhouse.  Give it a love shack name.  It changes everything.   Try it.  Then get back here and tell me what you named your palace.

 

HOW WE BUILT OUR OUTHOUSE

Many cities & municipalities will allow you to build a small outbuilding under the size of 10′ x 10′ without a building permit.  Double check first.  Jail won’t be fun.  Never ever never never evvvvha (Taylor Swift never) never make a building inspector or town official mad.  It is sort of like the classic childhood memory where you learned to never ask your Mom to brush your hair while she was mad.  Big mistake.

Here’s the good stuff on why it is awesome to have an outhouse :

1.    IT SMELLS PRETTY FREAKIN’ DIVINE

Yup.  It smells good.  What’s the secret ?  Wood shavings.  The outhouse becomes a self composting, eco toilet.  Every time you use the loo, you put a scoop of wood shavings in. It is the alternative to a water flush. We also periodically put a refresh of shavings as a top layer too. At the end of the summer, we leave everything as is, until spring. By the time spring has sprung, everything is composted to earth. It is so composted, it doesn’t smell. We dig it out ( using a shovel, through the toilet opening) and dispose of it for a fresh summer start. If we were to build another outhouse, we’d be smarter next time and make a trap door at the back, to open, and dig out from there.

It is of course, not necessary, but we also burn our fave incense, purely for the enjoyment. It is seriously the best smell on earth. We have used the same brand of incense for 20 years. We have it here in our shop. We also use this one outside around the pool, cabin and treehouse.

2.   SINK

Yes.  We added a sink.   The toilet doesn’t flush, but the sink runs with nice clean water.   A reclaimed old porcelain sink.   I stole it from the same guy that I stole this one from for our treehouse. A sink with running water in an outhouse.  What an oxymoron.  We tried to keep the true authentic nature of an outdoorsy outhouse.  Sort of.

3.  LIGHTING:

Lighting is something to pay attention to.  It can make or break a peepee palace room. We started with an up-cycled chandelier and recently changed it to our fave lighting.

4.   TOILET PAPER HOLDER = TWIG

Twigs are your friends.  We made our toilet paper holder from a branch. These are the worlds worst old photos. New life goal… take updated pics of the outhouse this summer 🙂

 

5.   WINDOWS:

Old stained glass windows that hinge out on a stick.  Nice and breezy.  We lined the windows with screening.  No creatures are allowed in the outhouse ladies room.  Stamped it.   My girlfriends and I hang out in there.  No joke.  With glasses of wine.  The kids have no idea where we are.   Neither do the flies.

6.   VENTING SYSTEM:

Therein is where the magic happens.  The vent thingy {you can see it in a few of the photos}  keeps the ‘air flow’ going out the pipe.  Think of it like a chimney pipe.  Minus the smoke.  It is what makes an outhouse smell awesome.  For an outhouse.  It works like a charm.  I don’t know about you, but if an outhouse smells bad, I’m not going in it.  I would rather do a wilderness tinkle.  Gross, but it’s the gospel truth.

7.   TOILET CONTAINMENT :

We dug a hole.  A fairly deep one.  I say we.  I had nothing to do with that whole digging business.  Ewwwwhhh.  However, number two was my number one business of solving.   Why?  I didn’t want to smell a thing.  I wanted it to feel like a place that was fresh and clean.  No ickyness allowed.  Steal my idea.  It works.

8.   SHELVING AND ACCESSORIES:

The outhouse shelves are important.  People like to sit in there and just stare.  No joke.  Go ahead.  Build one.  Then talk to me.  It is really quite entertaining in an outhouse.

We mix up the outhouse decor every year.  Sometimes we load the shelves with books.  Sometimes candles.  Sometimes nakedness.  Not my nakedness.  Shelf nakedness.  Always beautifully labelled hand soap and white crisp hand towels. We did the same in our porta-potty this year too. We have the extra porta potty for weddings and events.

9.   WALLS:

We kept the walls as natural wood for a long time.  It looked fine.  Then life changed around here.  I became a white paint loving trollop and painted everything that didn’t move… white.

 

Happy outhousin’…