Friday, June 28, 2013

How to put up a log cabin

An interesting video from Titan Garden Buildings showing how a meeting room is erected. ----------------------------------------------------------
Friday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Indoor shedworking

Another excellent video from Kirsten Dirksen at fair companies looks at the building of an internal shedworking atmosphere with bedroom element in London designed by atmos studio (click for lots more photos). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homestead Timber Buildings - Manufacturers of Quality Timber Buildings

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Twigitecture


"From New Age cocoons and backyard playthings of the rich to public installations made from the wood of hurricane-felled trees to contemporary art objects that you can buy along with your Richters and Oldenburgs, human nests are having a bit of a moment."

Fascinating article at the New York Times -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, suppliers of contemporary garden buildings, offices, gyms and studios, many of which do not require planning

Monday, June 24, 2013

Behind the pixels: a Shedworking and Bookshelf interview

Roger Overall who runs The Digital Storyteller was kind enough to interview me for his latest podcast and the results are above - it covers the birth of the Shedworking and Bookshelf blogs but also includes (for what little it is worth) my thoughts on working in the 21st century, online success, and why it's good to think small. Some of it will be familiar to longstanding readers of this blog but hopefully there's something of interest for everybody. Worth listening to over lunch maybe. -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Friday, June 21, 2013

The Lobster Pod


The Lobster Pod is a rather attractive curved wall garden office (and also ideal for glamping if that's how you roll) from carpenter Patrick McLoone of Donegal who has a long history of boatmaking in his family. Measuring 3m by 4m, it comes with a porthole double glazed window, sheep wool insulation and optional extras including bunk beds, kitchen and any kind of lavatory you wish.


Via Tiny House Blog ----------------------------------------------------------
Friday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Man banned from his own shed


It's not been a good week for Simon Redclift.  After admitting a couple of slightly shed-related cannabis offences at Cardiff Crown Court, Simon was then banned by Judge David Wynn Morgan from entering his shed and warned he could go to prison if he went inside while on bail.

Indeed, the story gets worse as Simon, an antique collector from Dinas Powys, was also told by the judge that he faces the prospect of being forced to dismantle it.

Simon told the court that he liked to relax in the shed, watching films or doing some woodwork and would be unhappy to see the shed go, adding that he was nevertheless prepared to take it down if so ordered.

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Homestead Timber Buildings - Manufacturers of Quality Timber Buildings

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

London’s most economic garden studio?


This bold claim comes from MDA Design on the World Interior Design Network. The 12 square metre 'Raw' (the exterior is uncoated and screws are uncovered), designed by Mike Dye, comes in at under £4,000 and the first one was made for an artist and photographer in East London. WIDN says it is made of "a new innovative waterproof MDF material", an clad in FSC-approved Medite Tricoya 18mm MDF. Interestingly, the windows are embedded in the garden office  so there are no window frames. Apparently, MDA are considering making these more widely available as small studio spaces suitable for tropical climates. -----------------------------------------------------
Wednesday posts are sponsored by The Stable Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

How to read Shedworking

This is a post not so much about shedlike atmospheres but about how you find out about them. Many of you will receive notification of new posts via Google Reader but Google is giving it the boot at the end of the month so if you want to continue to find out when something new pops up here, then you'll need to find an alternative. Rather than going through a big long list, there's a very good article (and do read the comments too) on exactly this subject on the excellent Enterprise Nation site called What’s the best alternative to Google Reader?. Another alternative is to sign up for the email alerts - you only get one when something new goes up and we don't sell or in any way market your email address to other companies.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Renzo Piano's Diogene cabin


A rather lovely shedworki9ng design by architect Renzo 'The Shard' Piano, the wooden Diogene is his smallest building which apparently fulfils one of his longest ambitions (to work in minimalist housing). It's a living space measuring two by two by two metres, enough for a bed, shower, toilet and a small amount of furniture. He calls it a "voluntary place of retreat" which operates anywhere and independently of local infrastructure - it has photovoltaic cells, biological lavatory, triple glazine and a rainwater tank - and was at least partially inspired by Le Corbusier's Cabanon. It's being roadtested by the public at the moment before a decision is made to go into production or not.

The Shedworking staff especially like what he calls it, a 'studiolo', which can be used as a standalone garden office or positioned next to (or inside) a more traditional place of work. Lots more details and a discussion about the history of micro housing at Vitra. -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Go to work in an egg




How do you like your eggs? Do you like them so much you'd like to work in one? That's what artist Stephen Turner is planning to do inside the Exbury Egg, a temporary, eco-friendly workspace in the estuary of the River Beaulieu. He plans to live and work inside it over the coming year while studying the life of the tidal creek "to re-appraise the way we live, to properly consider sustainably and future use of natural resources".

Here's what he says: 
Climate change is already creating new shorelines and habitats. Established salt marsh is being eroded by a combination of rising sea levels and falling landmass and the entire littoral environment is in a state of flux. The implications for wildlife and for the flora as well as for people are challenging. Raising awareness of the past and the unfolding present of a very special location will be the task, whist living in an ethical relationship with nature and treading as lightly as possible upon the land. 
 Stephen’s electricity which he will need to power his laptop, digital camera and mobile phone will be provided using solar energy. More details and some great images at the site. -----------------------------------------------------
Wednesday posts are sponsored by The Stable Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Garden office of the year announced


Congratulations to Jonathan Sullivan of Modbury, Devon, whose Nest Design Studio garden office overlooking Dartmoor has won the garden office category in this year's Shed of the Year competition. It is now in the final and the overall winner will be announced in the first week of July. For a full roundup of winners go to the official announcement on Shedblog or my piece in The Independent. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, suppliers of contemporary garden buildings, offices, gyms and studios, many of which do not require planning

Monday, June 10, 2013

Heather Mills: potential treehouseworker


Heather Mills, the charity campaigner and ex-Mrs Paul McCartney, is joining the growing roll of celebrities with Blue Forest treehouses in their garden such as JK Rowling. She has applied for planning permission to build a pretty spectacular single-storey one with a floor space of 21 squared metres at her home in Robertsbridge which features a climbing wall, two spiral staircases, rope bridge, swings and a fireman’s pole. It's not actually a real treehouse since the whole thing will be on stilts.

Nor is it going to be anything like the Blue Forest treehouse pictured above. That is ‘The Biodiversity Nest’ tree house, walkway and platform inspired by the nest of the weaver bird and to be built by the company for The Eden Project's humid tropics biome. It will be in the middle of the rainforest canopy and linked to two 16m bridges, acting as an education space.
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Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Friday, June 07, 2013

Buy a nice beach hut



A rather lovely leasehold beach hut on for £24,000 with haart in Shoeburyness. Comes with light and power and is on Shoebury promenade with panoramic estuary views. ----------------------------------------------------------
Friday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information.

Thursday, June 06, 2013

Underground shedworking



We're suckers for underground microarchitecture here at Shedworking so were intrigued to chat with Neil Lankford from earthmovesdesign about the underground 'Hobbit hole' which he is building for Jimmy's Farm. It is still at the early build stages but here is the design above, designed so that it blends into the landscape and - here's the best bit - you can run up onto the top of the roof from the ground. We'll bring you more pictures when it's all finished.
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Homestead Timber Buildings - Manufacturers of Quality Timber Buildings

Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Cabin Habit: a new cool way of shedworking?


"Garden cabin cool in mid-century urban-industrial style" is how Pangbourne-based Cabin Habit  describe their garden office buildings which are inspired by wartime Nissen huts (with additional urban-industrial edge) and fill the gap in the market for "a fully insulated garden building with mid-century cool".

"They are the cool alternative to the ubiquitous wooden garden building or modernist cube," they say. "Fill your nostrils with nostalgia, cook up some beans, get your harmonica out and get into the Cabin Habit." The site is well worth exploring and there is a wide range of size and additional features such as security options, underfloor heating, and built-in furnitre, though the standard cabins are 11' x 16', 11' x 12' and 11' x 8' with additional porch at the front. Inside, there is the possibility of adding a partion wall. -----------------------------------------------------
Wednesday posts are sponsored by The Stable Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

Robbie Williams: shedworker

According to the Daily Star, Mr Williams (former singer with popular music band The Take That) has been rehearsing for his forthcoming stadia tour in a steel garden shed at the back of his home in Wiltshire which he had built last year.

According to the Star's insider source, the shed also has a table tennis table on which Mr Williams and his fellow musicians play during breaks in rehearsal.

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Tuesday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, suppliers of contemporary garden buildings, offices, gyms and studios, many of which do not require planning

Monday, June 03, 2013

Hogfield Hedgehog Rescue: charity shedworkers


Hogfield Hedgehog Rescue on Morland Road in Pheasey, Walsall, which is run by Jayne Wingfield, has a new shed thanks to help from Walsall Advertiser readers 


Hogfield Hedgehog Rescue is a shed-based charity in Birmingham run by Jayne Wingfield. The new shed has been funded through donations as reported in the Walsall Advertiser and Wolverhampton Express & Star. Jayne (pictured below with her daugher inside the shed HQ) also raises money through sales of her books. The charity was set up three years ago and takes in injured or sick hedgehogs before releasing them back into the wild at the appropriate time.


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Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.