This Backyard Shed Was Called "The Murder Shed" - Wait Until You See It Now

In the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, there once stood a tiny, dilapidated shed. It was dark, falling apart, and so unwelcoming that the architects who first saw it nicknamed it "the murder shed." But in 2018, a homeowner named Roger Merians reached out to two young architects on Instagram - Corie Saxman and Keith Marks - with a seemingly impossible request: turn that rundown shack into a modern guest house on a budget of just $100,000.

Saxman and Marks had never taken on a project alone before. They had just graduated and were running their small firm, Ham Design Group. Yet Merians and his husband Gregory Strait were open to "crazy ideas." The architects remember the shed as being "falling apart," but they also saw an opportunity. Because the existing structure was already on the property, it allowed them to build a 350-square-foot accessory dwelling unit (ADU) without the usual permitting headaches.

The duo started backward - choosing colors before anything was designed. The homeowners picked a bold coral-pink for the exterior. Flamingo lawn ornaments became a major inspiration. "We were always thinking of it kind of like a lawn ornament," Saxman said. The result would be anything but typical.

➡️ How do you turn a murder shed into a quirky pink tiny home? Turn the page to see the transformation take shape.