Red Brick Garden Shed Beside Gravel Path

Design notes

Colonial design is symmetry and restraint. Look for a central axis from the back door, matched beds and hedges either side, bluestone or brick terraces with tight joints, and white or black picket and post-and-rail fences. Planting is disciplined — boxwood, hydrangea, holly, dogwood and shade trees — and furniture is classic: teak benches, Windsor chairs, a market umbrella. Georgian brick, clapboard and shingle houses all suit it.

What to look for

• Roof pitch, siding and windows that echo the main house
• The path, the light by the door and the planting around it
• Power, insulation and drainage if you will work or sleep in it