That's according to 3D printing guru, and high school technology teacher Philip Cotton. Cotton says, if the toolshed of the 20th century was dominated by physical tools like a hammer or a wrench, the 21st century "shed" will be all about designing your own homegrown fixes and hacks—with 3D printing models.

"What can you do with a 3D printer?" Cotton asks, answering that the options are "endless." From home basics like replacing cooking knobs and mending his fence, to shaping original bow-ties for the high school prom, he does it all with his 3D printer.

But today's 3D printing designs, which start not in a shed, but on a computer screen, take a lot of technical savvy to produce.

To build his 3D models, Cotton and his high-schoolers work in computer-aided design software (CAD) programs–the same brands of systems engineers and architects use to build their professional work.