Thursday, March 28, 2013

Shedcicles


Cumbria-based Cartoonist Colin Shelbourn points out that not only has the area recently seen the worse snow storms since 1950, dozens of motorists overnighting in local schools and electricity cables tumbling down, his shed has grown shedicles. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homestead Timber Buildings - Manufacturers of Quality Timber Buildings

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Stannexe: before and after



A great post at Tiny House Blog by Benjamin Vine gives the rundown on The Stannexe (studio+annexe), a garage conversion in Hastings to be used as an artist's workspace with accommodation, designed by rpd architects. Here's a snippet:
"Externally the new elements of the building are timber framed with efficient locally sourced Sweet Chestnut cladding, the roof finish is reclaimed slate and the doors/windows were all manufactured locally. Internally, the Stannexe has a kitchen, large double height studio/living space, a fully tiled wet room, a separate unheated storage space with mezzanine storage/sleeping platform above. Due to the building’s large south facing windows and high thermal efficiency with modern under floor heating it requires minimal energy to heat and light."
You can see lots more photos at the post and rpd's Facebook page. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Monday, March 25, 2013

1 in 10 planning to build a shed this Easter


According to Nationwide Building Society nearly half of Brits are planning to spend at least some time this Easter doing DIY. And while 52% are painting/decorating and nearly four in ten are landscaping the garden or doing something to the fence, lawn or patio, a big 9% (ok, nearly 1 in 10) say they'll be putting up a shed or outhouse.

Graham Pilkington, Divisional Director Banking, Insurance and Investments at Nationwide said: "Easter has traditionally been a favourite time for DIYing, and this year is no different with over half of us planning to break out the paint brushes and filler. The number of people moving house over the last few years has declined, so the increase in the number and size of personal loans suggests that homeowners are spending more to maintain and upgrade their current property rather than moving on." -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Sunday, March 24, 2013

Shed Sunday


Two sets of beach huts to be located at East Beach, Shoeburyness, Southend on Sea...  The walls are to incorporate recycled timber pallets bolted into timber frames and faced with tough translucent plastic sheeting to the outside with plywood to the inner face. The panels will be bolted into place on site and then walls then infilled with pebbles, gravel, glass chippings, shells and other recycled materials laid in drift layers visible through the plastic. The result will be walls that each differ from one another while utilising the materials indigenous to the beach. The prefabricated roofs are to be planted with sea hardened sedum.
Pedder & Scampton Architects -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Saturday, March 23, 2013

Smart's new garden office range launches


Smart Garden Offices is debuting a new range next week called The Suffolk Barn which they call "a unique blend of traditional architecture coupled with high specification construction", available in five different sizes and using the ISIS building system. We also rather like the look of their new Book Nook in their fitted furniture offerings.

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Thursday, March 21, 2013

The sound of Walden


In an excellent piece about using your ears as well as your eyes when you're on holiday, David Hendy in The Independent talks about making a trip to the Walden location in Massachusetts of Godfather of shedworking, Henry David Thoreau. Here's a snippet"

I went to this famous literary haunt fully expecting to find a natural soundscape now ravaged by the din of modernity. It turned out to be the best moment in our entire recording schedule. On a misty January Sunday morning, and within a 30-minute drive from Boston, Thoreau's Walden came to life before my ears. Ice creaking as it formed by the shoreline, the low hum of pine needles swaying in the breeze, and, just as Thoreau had promised, the faint rattle of a train tearing through distant woods – an intimation in sound of the Machine Age.

The sounds were pretty subtle. Perhaps I wouldn't have noticed them at all if I hadn't been at Walden Pond especially to listen. But they connected me with Thoreau and his age at a deep emotional level. Catching them, I also understood for the first time that every place on Earth really does still have its unique "sound mark". It's a fragile thing, though. And in a globalised world, we should cherish it while we can.
Hendy's series Noise: A Human History is at 1.45pm on BBC Radio 4 weekdays until April 26 and his book Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening is published by Profile Books (£16.99).
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Homestead Timber Buildings - Manufacturers of Quality Timber Buildings

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Anywhere Working Mobile Office

As we mentioned a couple of days ago, it's Anywhere Working Week this week and here are members of the Anywhere Working team shedworking on the move in central London... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Biggest garden office in the world contender


"My wife and I work from home," writes Richard Williams of Eco Bods.  "Once we got more business than the back bedroom could handle we rented an office but then realised we had a chicken shed at the bottom of the garden. Not any old shed but a huge one that I inherited. When I proposed to my wife Swarni she said "Yes but..." - the but was I could not kill animals as part of my income.

"The chicken shed was rented out after my late parents gave up farming poultry and was doing nothing for years Although our current business is still run by my wife and I, we wanted to have a cool space to work in. To do this we made an Energy Conservation Centre to fill with heat pumps and solar. I hope to share it with other like minded people but at the moment my wife and I have 7,000 square feet each." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Monday, March 18, 2013

Anywhere Working Week launches today


Today is the start of Anywhere Working Week 2013 organised by the fine folk at Anywhere Working to encourage people to try out shedworking, homeworking and any other kind of remote working you can name. There are events in Norwich today, Bristol tomorrow, Tavistock on Wednesday, Chelmsford on Thursday and London on Friday, all of which they'll be live blogging and tweeting.

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Sunday, March 17, 2013

Shed Sunday: The Bunkie


The Bunkie is a collaborative effort between industrial design firm 608 Design and architectural design firm BLDG Workshop. It involves "reduced impact materials and adopting CNC detailing from furniture manufacturing for use in pre-fab construction".
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Sunday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, suppliers of contemporary garden buildings, offices, gyms and studios, many of which do not require planning

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Sheds and the Pope

Garden office infographic: updated



While infographics have been flavour of the month for a while, I've not come across (m)any about garden offices and shedworking. The folk at Gembuild Garden Offices though have a nice one up at their site which is worth a look (though I think their estimate of the number of homeworkers is on the conservative side). Click here to see the whole thing.
Update: This is a link to a slightly different version with different numbers for homeworkers
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Homestead Timber Buildings - Manufacturers of Quality Timber Buildings

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Suffolk Barn

Our collective staff eyes were caught by this rather nice Suffolk Barn model from Garden Affairs. It comes with attractive curved doors and felt shingle roof (which they say gives the appearance of old clay tiles) and while it's being marketed as storage for a ride-on mower or children's garden den, we feel it would be ideal for shedworking too. Selfbuild kit comes in at £4,970, or add on an extra £900 for assembly by Garden Affairs.
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Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Soham's 'flying shed' - be careful out there

We've talked before about when sheds go bad in windy weather and here's another example from the Ely Standard who published a set of photos by engineer Vassilis Papanikolaou who was driving out of Soham towards Newmarket on his way to work (sadly, he's not a shedworker) when a large shed was blown onto the road in front of him, forcing him to undertake an emergency breaking procedure.
Thanks to Chris Lindley for the alert. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Monday, March 11, 2013

The cabin that could sleep a small football team



Mark Burton of custombuiltsurrey.com and Tinyhouseuk.co.uk was contacted by a client in Teddington for some ideas about building a cabin that could provide as much space as possible. They needed a garden building at the end of their garden to block out the offices backing on to them and a play room/retreat for four children.

"The cabin was built with a 24 square metre ground area," says Mark, "and has two good-sized bunk bed areas with dormer windows which could sleep four each side with ease. The structure was fully insulated with a robust roof very much the same as you would see on modern houses today."
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Thursday, March 07, 2013


Garden Spaces has much larger stand this year at Grand Designs Live  (May 4-12) at ExCel London Docklands and their theme this year is all about the connection between inside and usable outside space, featuring a studio build using their cantilevered pillar less corners to help open up the room to the outside world.

"We have also designed a range of ‘Bolt On’ undercover areas that seamlessly attach to our studio buildings," says Roger Hedges from Garden Spaces. "These structures have light wells so they are always dry, light and bright, but not fully exposed to the elements. We may even add retractable screens to enhance the effect. These ‘Bolt Ons’ can be added on installation or even retrofitted to an existing structure.


"Our aim is to make the buildings as usable as possible for as much of the year as possible. If you add flexible storage areas it can transform the functionality of your garden and open up a world of possibilities in areas that are generally underutilised." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homestead Timber Buildings - Manufacturers of Quality Timber Buildings

Tuesday, March 05, 2013

Detached: Rachel Whiteread's sheds


Arguably the UK's most famous sculptor, Rachel Whiteread’s new show 'Detached' at the Gagosian gallery opening next month follows a familiar pattern, but while she largely made her name 20 years ago by making a full scale cast of the inside of a house, this exhibition will feature casts of empty sheds (including 'Untitled 2012' above) which, according to Ben Luke in the Royal Academy magazine, "radiate everyday poetry".

Here's what he says: "Inspiration came from a boathouse she cast in Gran, Norway, in 2010. Whiteread said she ‘wanted to make a shy sculpture... that would stand there, peaceful and noble.’ Her subsequent series of cast sheds are uncanny sculptures, revealing her trademark balance of minimalist rigour and gentle domestic poeticism."

Interestingly, Whiteread has a dedicated drawing studio which is detached from her sculpture studio.

Runs at the Gagosian, Britannia Street, April 11–May 25. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Monday, March 04, 2013

Making your garden office fit into your garden

One of the trickiest things about shedworking is making sure that the garden office doesn't stick out like a sore thumb in the garden (unless you want it to stick out like a sore thumb of course). An interesting post on the Gembuild site includes an interview with RHS Gold medalist Melissa Jolly (left) who talks about what to think about when siting a garden office. It's well worth a read as it covers issues such as having the building on show or keeping it hidden, aspect, access comfort and views. Here's a snippet, Melissa talking about security:
"Something else important is to be aware of security because offices and music rooms will contain expensive equipment and could be an easy target for burglars. To address this, think of installing a PIR light, which will go on if anyone approaches the building, or of placing the building so it can’t be seen from outside the property."
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Mudeford beach huts for sale


Denisons has a couple of nice - if pricey - beach huts on sale at Mudeford Sand. The hut pictured above measures 16' x 8 and has fitted bunk beds plus a kind of double bed in the front lounge area. Features include a fridge, sink and drainer, four ring gas hob and oven and internal lighting (powered by solar panel). Nice views to the sand dunes and beach and even to the Isle of Wight. A snip at £136,500.


Meanwhile, Hut 246 near the headland has a mezzanine sleeping area (plus a ground floor sofa bed and seating to make another bed), new gas fridge, solar panel, gas oven and grill. Measuring 15 x 10ft, it's yours for £115,000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Friday, March 01, 2013

The delights of shedworking (video)

Plenty of people are experimenting with Twitter's new toy Vine and here's a rather nice one underlining the joys of shedworking