Hi Daisy, I'll build stud walls around the shower tray and tile or waterproof with showers panels etc. I live in the Uk and as far as I can see exterior french doors suffers a lot of rain and require occasional sanding back and repainting so would a shower be much more destructive to the paint work?

If you want it to match find out the RAL colour from the window manufacturer and get some exterior wood paint mixed in the same colour.

Hi redkez78. If you like the natural silvered grey look it's really worth the wait. See our shed - just built in first photo and 2 years later in the other images (under veranda you can still see the difference as it's sheltered so will take longer). Friends speeded this up on their house by washing wood down with a large broom and a weak solution of water and bleach which worked well (see Art House B&B, Isle of Skye www.arthouse-skye.co.uk). Maybe good to test on a spare piece of wood first. Advantages - no maintenance at all and it looks beautiful! Alternatively you could use a water based pale grey exterior wood paint well watered down to create a 'wash' effect so you can still see the wood grain and you don't need to paint so neatly. Paint with a large brush then wipe excess off. Again, test on spare pieces of wood to get the effect you like, experimenting with percentage of water to paint. Personally, I'd go for the natural silvered look but that's just my taste! Good luck! Tricia from www.CoastWoodCotton.etsy.com

Hi Damsel, If you really want a white picket fence without the maintenance then you could consider upvc. They are zero maintenance and don't loose their colour. If they get dirty you can jet wash them. The earlier ones weren't great but the newer ones its hard to tell their upvc.