SMYRNA, Maine — An Aroostook County couple who left their urban Chicago lifestyle three years ago to homestead in Maine have transformed two locally built custom Amish sheds into a large year-round cabin on their 54-acre property outside of Houlton.
Jason and Jennifer Remillard are among a growing number of adventurous landowners who are turning Amish sheds into homes or businesses. On their three-mile-long rural county road there are seven Amish sheds used as cabins, Jason said, adding that “hands down, absolutely” this is a growing trend that he calls the Amish shed to cabin craze.
His YouTube how-to videos about converting Amish sheds to cabins have nearly 10,000 followers. Subscribers have shared that they are also doing it and are looking for ways to complete the interiors, they said.
“We have 127,000 views on the video where we connected the two sheds together,” Jason said. “And a 100,000 views on the inside tour.”
The trend appears to be part of the growing tiny homes movement around Maine and the nation. And like the Remillards, other County residents are discovering financial and customizable advantages of purchasing a custom built Amish shed to live in or use as a separate location for a home-based business.
With costs ranging from $2,000 to about $36,000, depending on size and whether it is a shell or completely finished structure, the sheds are about half the cost of a log cabin package or a tiny home.
Not to mention, they can be completed in about four to eight weeks.
The Remillards’ two Amish sheds — a 14-by-36-foot and a 14-by-32-foot that they connected with a 5-foot hallway — cost $24,000 combined.
“It was delivered as a shell with a roof, studded walls and an insulated floor,” they said, adding that after three years the interior is about 90 percent finished. “The beautiful thing about this is they are so adaptable and easy to add on to.”
In the summer of 2019 and 2020, they lived in an old Amish shed already on their Maine property while clearing land and preparing for a permanent move in 2021. They knew they wanted a cabin to live in, but the high cost of log cabin packages seemed out of reach. It wasn’t until they had coffee at a Maine neighbor’s Amish shed cabin that they knew what to do.
“We could not believe he was living in it,” Jason said. “It was simple and versatile and it felt good.”
Back in Chicago they calculated what they wanted and after a referral to Amish shed builder Johnny Kulp, a member of the Smyrna Amish community and the manager of Sturdi-Bilt Storage Buildings along Route 2 in Smyrna Mills, things started rolling, they said.
“Of all the styles, it was the most affordable, versatile and adaptable,” Jason said. “We worked with Johnny for about six months, planning, designing. He was absolutely amazing.”
Kulp has been involved in constructing the buildings since 2001. The company was originally Smyrna Sheds but several years ago they merged with Sturdi-Bilt, he said.
People regularly come in to talk about how they might use a shed for their home or business, Kulp said. They have done music shops, artist’s studios, photography studios, a concession stand, garages and many homes and cabins, he said.
“We do all this customization so people can use their imagination and say ‘wow this will work well for my office, my studio, my home, my camp,’” Kulp said. “There is a definite trend to use them for camps, tiny homes, cabins, office spaces and artisan studios. ”
The sheds, made from white pine or metal, range from 8-by-8-foot to 14-by-36-foot and can be purchased as a shell with the interior not finished to a complete move-in-ready home. The most popular is the shell with windows, doors and insulated floor, he said.
“It’s pretty much open to the customer’s imagination,” Kulp said.
Kathleen Pew, the owner of Houlton-based Monroe Bridge Books, an online antiquarian bookshop, bought a 12-by-20-foot Sturdi-Bilt structure from Johnny Kulp last August to house 20,000 books.
“I wanted something that was sturdy and solid,” she said. “It is well made and they are a wonderful company to work with.”
Kulp said they work with engineers to design the trusses to withstand heavy loads.
“We tell our customers they don’t have to worry about shoveling the snow off in the winter,” he said.
Unlike many Amish shed owners, Pew said she went all out, choosing to have her interior finished with a double floor to hold the weight of all her books, 2-inch spray foam insulation, pine walls, house wrap, an insulated pine ceiling and more.
With all the extras, the building cost a little over $12,000, she said, adding that her custom building was ready for delivery in four weeks.
Like the Remillards’ Amish sheds, Pew’s sits off the ground with a 6-inch gravel bed on cinder blocks.
Suzie Hiltz, the owner of Cary-based Chapped Hide plantain salves, uses a 10-by-16-foot Amish shed purchased for about $5,000 in 2017 to house her Das Haus Farm Stand & Gift Shop that sits at the foot of her property along Route 1. The structure was a shell that Hiltz and her husband transformed into a quaint yellow cottage.
“We put about another $5,000 into upgrades since we bought it,” she said.
Oakfield photographer Dan Tanner just had a Sturdi-Bilt 14-by-36-foot Amish shed delivered to his home on Nov. 1. He purchased a shell from Johnny Kulp and once the interior is completed it will be a portrait studio, he said.
“I live in a small home and I couldn’t put the studio in my home,” he said. “But having something right outside will be really nice.”
