Welcome to Shedworking's celebration of National Work From Home Day (which is today). I'll be updating this post throughout the day, there'll be Twittering in the right hand column opposite, and please do leave a comment to say hi and perhaps a little bit about where you're working and what you're doing today.
8.42: Children off to school, clear up breakfast things and off to the shed with a mug of coffee and the papers.
8.43: Installed in the recently tidied-up shed and on goes the computer. Half a dozen overnight emails including a great find by Shedworking's Literary Editor Sarah Salway which I'll share with you tomorrow, hellos from the two main US homeworking bloggers, and even something from the 'United States Department Of The Treasury' telling me that their records indicate that I am qualified to receive the 2008 Economic Stimulus Refund...
8.45: Start to check new items on the RSS feed - 81 since I last had a look.
8.55: Down to work. I moderate the blogs/forums for The Independent newspaper (as a schoolboy it was always my ambition to work for it) so first of all a check to make sure everybody is playing nicely then onto the final proofs for the quarterly members' magazine I edit for the National Association for Colitis and Crohn's Disease (NACC). These need some final fiddling with before I send them off to NACC HQ (just down the road in St Albans) for final approval.
9.18: Final fiddling over and sent for final approval before it all goes to the printer tomorrow. Next piece of work is a slight rewrite for a piece on China for Travel & Leisure magazine.
9.49: Nipping out to pay in some cheques at the bank and get a passport application for the new baby. Back by 11am.
11.17: The cricket is a bit rainy but the press releases from the Work Wise UK folk are flooding in. This just in, a release trying to allay the fears of small businesses over Gordon Brown’s proposal to force them to introduce flexible working legislation.
11.39: As it's a Thursday I realise that many regular readers will be wanting a Thursday Outhouse. Here's a nice one from the very browseable The Rustic Way.
11.47: Coffee break. I am playing Scrabulous with novelist, journalist and all-round literary good egg Celia Brayfield. JARS for 27.
1.42: The delights of homeworking: the inexplicable loss of my internet connection for an hour was more than a minor irritation but it just as inexplicably flipped back on at 1pm so everything is peachy again. Just spent half an hour going over final amendments to the NACC magazine with the NACC people and it's almost ready to go (just waiting on the medical editor's final comments). Time for lunch. New Zealand are 9 for 1. Good early breakthrough by Anderson.
2.21: England doing very nicely now, NZ are three down for 40. Quick flick through the RSS reader - more nice stuff including something from Shedblog: I'll be adding more details about National Shed Week tomorrow. My friend Mary de Sousa emails me some delightful shed stories.
2.32: I write regularly for the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation's magazine Rapport. The commissioning editor, the lovely Jeanette Boyd, has just been in touch with two more commissions for the next issue, one of which will look at social networking online which is of course right up my cul-de-sac. Nice people, I like working with them.
3.36: I'm going to pinch an excellent post from today's Kits and Mortar about garden offices at the Grand Designs Live show. Well worth a peek.
4.15: A quick but efficient call with NACC's hardworking medical editor who has some last minute points to discuss. Everything is ironed out and it's nearly ready to be put to bed.
5.18: Off to pick up one of my sons from a play date, then nip back home to get ready to go into sunny London for the book launch of Emma Jones' Spare Room Start Up at One Alfred Place. If I'm not too dazed and confused by the time I get home this evening, I shall add a few details about it here...
12.39: Back home now after the launch which was a hoot including a very jolly chat with fellow shedworker and journalist Nikki Spencer. Thanks to everyone who's been following me today, who's left a comment and who's emailed me off-site. Business as normal from tomorrow.
Cheers,
Alex
Thursday, May 15, 2008
National Work From Home Day - updated throughout the day
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Work Wise Week
Just a reminder that Work Wise Week starts tomorrow. As well as being able to read a blow-by-blow account of a typical day at Shedworking HQ here and via Twitter, there are other things going on:
> National Work From Home Day, Thursday, May 15
> Environmental Benefits of Smarter Working, Friday, May 16: focusing on how smarter working can reduce your or your organisation's emissions, and ultimately cost
> Smart Working Weekend, Saturday, May 17, and Sunday, May 18: how smart working practices could help simplify your organisation's weekend cover, making it more effective and less costly, and benefit employees' work-life balance
> Transport, Monday, May 19: concentrates on the issue of transport and how smarter working practise can relieve congestion and decrease emissions, as well as free-up our transport infrastructure, benefiting the UK economy
> Social Benefits, Tuesday May 20: explains how smarter working practices when implemented effectively can lead to a better work-life balance for the workforce
> Work Wise UK Summit, Wednesday, May 21: at the QEII Conference Centre in central London, the summit represents an opportunity for delegates to share the smarter working expertise of eminent business leaders and heads of professional bodies. Speakers include the Rt Hon. Hilary Benn MP, Secretary of State, DEFRA, and Caroline Waters, Director of People and Policy, BT.
Chelsea Flower Show 2008 - more designs
Shedworking took a look at shedlike structures at this year's Chelsea Flower Show here but Shedblog has picked out two more intriguing possibilities. First is The Marshalls Garden That Kids Really Want! designed by Ian Dexter, an organic playground which features a timber orb den (great name). And there's an interesting build from Writtle College too, pictured below, a corner of a traditional Essex flower garden.
Choosing a shed (US) - McKie Roth Design
McKie Roth Design provides building plans for early New England style homes built during the 18th and early 19th centuries with practical floor plans and contemporary building methods. As owner McKie Wing Roth, Jr says: "I strive for lasting appeal through order, pleasing proportions, the use of natural materials, and the avoidance of excess and opulence." Pictured is their garden office model Barbara's Garden Studio with clapboard siding, a cedar shingle roof, and small-paned windows. The garden office has space for tools, storage and general shedworking or as the company delicately says, "enough room for afternoon tea with a guest". The building measures 6'-8" by 12' and is built with a plywood floor over joists anchored to 6 x 6 skids hidden by flat granite stones, laid up to simulate a foundation after the building is positioned and leveled.
Shed of heaven
A pleasant piece in The Independent by John Walsh - Shed of heaven: Why the credit crunch has people heading for their sheds - who comments that the apotheosis of the garden shed has been one of wonders of the new century. It's a very personal piece about what his Courtyard Designs garden office means to him and celebrating the rise and rise of shedworking. As he says:
"It's a nest of beguilements and distractions in which, sometimes, you catch a glimpse of your real self – even if that's a strange montage of cobwebs, dog-ends, wine-stained glasses, faded copies of the TLS, pinned-up photographs and invitations, dry leaves on the carpet and dead wasps in the inkjet printer."Well worth a browse.
Photos: David Sandison
Jimmy Tait-Jamieson
Jimmy Tait-Jamieson is in his last year at secondary school in New Zealand and studying design technology - his chosen project is to design and build a semi-portable garden office for his mother, a journalist. He is still in the design stages but hopes to start building soon and finish by September. Jimmy is particularly keen to get feedback on his design so please do leave your comments below. He says:
"She wants an outdoor space that's both "out of the way" and easily accessible. It has to be big enough for a desk, chair, bookshelf etc... and peaceful enough to be able to focus on writing. The budget is under $2000 New Zealand dollars which I guess is about £800 pounds or 1,000 euros. As I'll be building it myself and as I have little building experience the design is simple and easy to build - timber stick frame resting on bearers.
"The design is essentially a simple lean-to shed of 1.8 metres by 3 metres with a small lean to addition of 0.6 metres by 1.8 metres. The walls on the north and south sides (the north side is the side with the door) will be only 1.8 metres high to keep the overall height low and make the building not be "in your face".
"The building regulations for a shed in New Zealand state that it must be under 10m2, not have any permanently connected utilities and must be further than its own height from the boundary. Due to the placement of the building, it won't meet the last rule. To comply, I'm making a portable, modular building that will be constructed in panels, will join together and rest on two or possibly three bearers. The long walls will be divided into two panels and all the panels will bolt together. As the shed is portable it won't be viewed as a permanent structure (I hope!). Framing will be 50mm x 50mm to keep the weight down and polystyrene sheets will be used as insulation. They supposedly have a very high 'r' value. This will be important as the thickness of the sheets will be limited by the narrow framing.
"The south and east sides will be clad in black onduline (long-lasting tar and cardboard based corrugated siding) and there will be either no or minimal glazing on these sides. The main roof will also be onduline. The north and west sides will be more open. They will be covered with plywood board and batten as for a beginner, wood is easy to work around windows and doors. I'll be using second-hand windows on the west side and on the north side of the addition. The roof of the lean to addition will be transparent corrugated plastic, essentially a skylight. There will be a wireless network connection and caravan style plug-in power. The interior will be lined with plywood as it won't have to be painted and will give the shed a natural look and added strength and solidity. The floor will also be plywood, with foil under-floor insulation."
Hut 33 returns
Not only is Hut 33 one of the very few radio shows set in a shedlike atmosphere, it's also very funny, and it's back on the airwaves a week today on BBC Radio 4 at 11.30am. I'd heartily recommend tuning in as the first series was a hoot and the cast, including Robert Bathurst and Olivia Colman, are excellent. The action is set in a hut in Bletchley Park during World War II where three codebreakers are breaking codes. Previously on Hut 33...:
"Archie, the stroppy Geordie who wants a socialist revolution must now work with Charles, the ultra-conversative snob who rejected him from Oxford because he didn't know how to use a fish knife. Gordon, the child prodigy, wants to be taken seriously, which is difficult in short trousers and tries vainly to act as peace-maker. Minka, their Polish secretary, provides much need efficiency, although she is worryingly keen on extreme violence as the solution to all problems."
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Beach Hut Tuesday - Tankerton
Pallet House
Is building with pallets the next big thing? Simon's lovely - and indeed awardwinning - shed at The Plot Thickens is a marvellous example of what can be done (pictured below). Above is the Pallet House by I-Beam as seen on Dezeen (where there are stacks more very good photos). It is designed as temporary shelter for refugees - quick assembly, no extra building materials needed, easily adaptable using local materials into more permanent housing - and was showcased recently in a New York warehouse.
Mario Scarscelli's capanno
Shedworking reader Mario Scarscelli writes from Umbria (do we have any other readers from Italy out there?) to show us his lovely capanno (= shed). "I built my little shed in the forest with my wife," he says. "It is my refuge for a good day in silence." He also owns a rather attractive ancient ruined shedworking structure nearby.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Meaningful shedworking
Shedworking is not just about working in a shedlike building in your back garden or yard (well, not entirely). It's also a philosophy, an approach to living. As architect and home office designer Neal Zimmerman says: "More than just a periodical review of outbuilding home workplaces, I see your work as being about the spirit, sustenance, imagination and romance of human shelter. There's something in a tiny building which tugs at these fundamental human needs, in a way that no mansion or castle ever can." So Shedworking particularly welcomes the latest essay from The Work Foundation which looks at ‘meaningful work’, why more people seem to be seeking it, and what employers can do to make work more meaningful? Author Stephen Overell says:
"The way people talk about ‘fulfilling their potential’ in a job could only happen in the modern world of work — it is simply not something that would have been said a few generations ago. Meaningful work rests on the rise of individualism and identity as pressing concerns for large numbers of people. It speaks of huge and perhaps excessive expectations of working life — the historically unusual sense that fulfilment occurs, or should occur, in the everyday, ordinary business of going to work... What goes on inside workers’ hearts and minds about work has become profoundly important to what they produce and how they do it."Among key points in the report are:
> Social values that affect work have changed: a basic psychological orientation towards maximising income and status is today being balanced by a stress upon self-expression, diversity of view, aesthetic concerns and issues of self-fulfilment.
> Meaning, identity and individualism at work have risen at the same time as traditional collective institutions such as trade unions, communities and corporate hierarchies are seen has having declined.
> Doing excellent work for no other reason than its own sake is intrinsic to the notion of meaningful work. However, increasing bureaucracy and market forces may undermine the search for meaning.
Well worth a read.
Anna Ryder Richardson is the new face of FinEstAm
Log cabin and garden office specialist FinEstAm have announced that interior designer and television regular Anna Ryder Richardson has agreed to become the company's new media and marketing face.
As part of the deal, Anna Ryder Richardson of Changing Rooms fame and more recently ‘I’m A Celebrity…..Get Me Out Of Here!’ will live in a brand new, high-specification log cabin, sited on Anna’s newly purchased zoo in Tenby, West Wales. The zoo will feature in a Channel 4 programme in September about Anna fulfilling her childhood ambition of owning and operating a zoo. The cabin will be also be featured in a planned Hello magazine photo shoot planned later in the year.
Thanks to Uncle Wilco for the alert
National Work From Home Day
This Thursday (May 15) is National Work from Home Day when up to five million workers are expected to work from home across the UK, according to the not-for-profit Work Wise UK which helps organisations wanting to adopt smarter working practices. Nearly 3.5 million people already work from home in the UK, an increase of 600,000 since 1997. The highest proportion of home workers is in the South West with 15.7 per cent, followed by Eastern England with 14.4 per cent. The lowest is in the North East with 9.3 per cent, followed by Scotland with 9.4 per cent. “The benefits of working from home, even occasionally, are now widely accepted,” said Phil Flaxton, chief executive of Work Wise UK. “Not only does it reduce the amount of commuting people have to do, enhancing their work-life balance, but many are actually more productive. Although many organisations practise the age-old philosophy of ‘presenteeism’, they should open their eyes to the new work ethic spreading across the UK and try out home working: they may well be surprised.”
To celebrate, Shedworking will be repeating last year's highly popular experiment, giving readers regular updates throughout the day of exactly what's going on at Shedworking HQ. If you drop by on Thursday, please do say hello and perhaps include a little about where you're working. I'll also be Twittering about it (see right hand column) if you'd like to follow things that way (there'll be exclusive Twitter-only updates!).
The Poetry House
Probably the most famous Poetry House is detailed in Lester Walker's seminal tome A Little House of My Own: 47 Grand Designs for 47 Tiny Houses and is owned by artist Carol Anthony. It's a 26 square ft converted outhouse, with deck, where she goes to work or simply relax. "Solitude is necessary nourishment for any creative process to begin," she says, describing the shedlike structure as "a small, intimate slice of prose but representative of the bigger conversation of what I'm all about." It's a lovely build and worth the price of the book in itself (well, just about).
Pictured above is an equally lovely example, The Poetry House by sculptor Bruce Johnson (do click - it's a marvellous website, full of gorgeous pictures and a great gong). Inspired by a poem by Elizabeth Carothers Herron, Johnson constructed this smashing building (redwood, copper) as an architectural sculpture inspired by a traditional Japanese teahouse (now on display at the Paradise Wood Sculpture Grove in Santa Rosa). Lines from Herron's poem have been transcribed onto both the interiors and exteriors of the building."The intention is to imbue this small quiet space with poetry," she says. "Bruce created a space for reflection, for slowing down, for being more thoughtful, and poetry epitomizes that state of mind." Johnson adds: ""So what is a poetry house? I have come to feel that it is the empty space where attention resides...like prayers in a prayer wheel the invisible text has resonance."
USB fun in the garden office
USB ports can be useful for many work-related tasks, but they can also help you enjoy your shedworking experience that little bit more. Gogo-gadgets are among various suppliers of USB-based fun including the mini Retro Desk Vac pictured above and the mini fridge and mini greenhouse pictured below. Simply plug and play. And work of course.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Shed art - In The Shed
Another entry in the 'sheds in art' category, this time from Melbourne, Australia, where, as part of their In The Shed installation, Moth Design asked eight 'creative thinkers' to give a twist to the idea of the suburban shed in the city's Federation Square. As they say: "In The Shed will serve as a reminder, a conversation and a metaphor for suburbia, community and the great Australian dream." Each DIY flatpacked shed was placed on the steps of the square "glinting in the sun, perfectly spaced, egalitarian in their very nature, just like the visible houses alongside the freeways as you head out of the city". They continue:
"Each shed appears the same from theoutside. However, as you open each door, you glimpse a private moment in the life of the owner. Contents and meaning vary: from build-your-own DIY icons, drills and other building tools that are flat-packed and ready to be constructed to a set of cards, for a DIY life, with instructions for every element of your life. Each interior represents a different in terpretation of DIY culture, past and present."As an example, below is Stuart McFarlane's DIY Rocking Chair which "investigates the experience of DIY production as value. Formalized as a rocking chair kit, this product encourages individual (open ended) results through a self governing construction and finishing process... Its value as an object is not determined by its form or materiality, but in the journey the user undertakes to complete the object. In many ways this product contrasts homogenized furnishings and replaces it with a model of individuality and personality…an object to value."
A Bill Kratz spot.
Shed champion - Charles Hazlewood
Musician, conductor and broadcaster Charles Hazlewood (his Radio 3 series Discovering Music is particularly marvellous) is also a proud shedworker. As revealed in a piece by Will Hodgkinson in The Guardian:
"Hazlewood's office, an old caravan inside a former cattleshed, is filled with messy piles of sheet music, albums and CDs, as well as wonky family photographs. A sign says: "Symphony in Morris Minor." Despite presenting regular shows on Radios 2 and 3 and various TV documentaries on how music works (plus holding down a day job as a touring conductor), Hazlewood doesn't have email. In fact, he doesn't even use a computer."
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Friday, May 09, 2008
Ochopee post office
Possibly the smallest post office in the world and almost certainly the teensiest in the US, the Ochopee post office is a compact 7ft x 8ft shedworking structure on Route 41 in Florida. A sign nearby explains its history:
"Considered to be the smallest post office in the United States, this building was formerly an irrigation pipe shed belonging to the J.T. Gaunt Company tomato farm. It was hurriedly pressed into service by postmaster Sidney Brown after a disastrous night fire in 1953 burned Ochopee's general store and post office. The present structure has been in continuous use ever since – as both a post office and ticket station for Trailways bus lines – and still services residents in a three-county area, including deliveries to Seminole and Miccosukee Indians living in the region. Daily business often includes requests from tourists and stamp collectors the world over for the famed Ochopee post mark. The property was acquired by the Wooten Family in 1992."According to Roadside America, Ochopee has a population of 11, the shed has a pair of tiny sliding screen doors to keep out the giant horseflies, and the person who delivers mail from this post office has a daily route of 132 miles.
Around the shedworld
Archinect looks at a tremendously thin live-work shedworkingish structure (photo by Luc Roymans)...Shed Style has been out on the road promoting her marvellous new book including a stop at Hill Country Haven owned by Steven and Sylvia Williams (below).
Surviving the Workday is a blog devoted to news, notes, & tips about spirituality and religion in the workplace...materialicious enjoys the Lily Pad Cabin...Kits and Mortar has been having a fine old time at the Grand Designs Live show...Office Snapshots announces the winner of its depressing office competition... The new issue of WHY magazine looks at eco-homeworkers... DutchNews say the Dutch want more flexible working hours... Shedblog looks at another £70,000 beach hut and spotlights blue sheds... Treehugger looks at XXS Swedish flatpack homes from Next House(below)...
Is the vertical house on Bldgblog really a shed on stilts?... Metropolis looks at pocket pads...Ettore Sottsass' flying carpet armchair (below), perfect for lounge lizard shedworking, is showcased by Friedman Benda
Everybody's homeworking
According to Gartner, 41.4 million corporate employees globally will spend at least one day a week teleworking this year.
TUC Commission on Vulnerable Employment report
Grim news in the TUC's excellent new Commission on Vulnerable Employment report. In a timely reminder that many homeworkers are not enjoying marvellous home-life balances, the report compares the exploitation of workers today to those in Dickens' time and quite rightly says this is intolerable, especially since much of it is taking place within a legal framework that fails to prevent exploitation. Among the many workers they interviewed were of course plenty of homeworkers who told them "about lifetimes of poverty, being paid less than £1 per item of clothing they sewed, and receiving no paid holiday or sickness leave". If you only click through one link from this site today, this should be it.
Dressing gown Friday
A marvellous article from The Chap magazine looks at the correct attire for working from home - a dressing gown (as shown here in plaid by Tennessee Williams). Here's an excerpt:
"When it comes to dress, one of the luxuries of home working is that every day is dress-down Friday. You can take this a step further by not getting dressed at all, and spending the entire day in your bedclothes. For the men, a pair of Wynciette pyjamas, a silk dressing gown and a pair of monogrammed velvet slippers are ideal. The ladies can spend all day sheathed in Chinese silks far too expensive to wear outside the house, and enjoy the sadly neglected delights of the bed coat. This splendid woollen garment maintains an even temperature on the arms and shoulders, while permitting the erratic flourishes of the professional writer's pen."Well worth a browse.
Thanks to Derek Workman for the alert.
