Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Down The Shed (video)


DOWN THE SHED - MEN WITH VEN from MEN WITH VEN on Vimeo.

Another one to add to the LP featuring songs about sheds and shedworking. Nice piano featured.
Via shedblog ----------------------------------------------------
Wednesday posts are sponsored by The Stable Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Garden office made out of beer bottles



Regular readers with long memories will remember the Beer Shed we featured some years ago. Now, Chinese architect Li Rongjun has built a 300 square foot garden office out of more than 8,500 glass beer bottles (and some stones and cement), partly as a way of advertising his skills to future employees.
Via Oddity Central where you can also see more photos.
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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, July 27, 2015

Ecodom: Could you live in your garden office?



The housing crisis in the UK is such that the spaces we normally showcase here on Shedworking are now being looked on as actual living space. Ecodom is putting one of its Bristol-based properties up for auction later this week - at 12 sqm it comes "fully equipped with kitchenette, shower room and living space with fold down bed" and a guide price of £8,000 which is admittedly a lot less than most first-time buyers will spend. --------------------------------------------------------------------
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Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Buzzispace




Belgium-based Buzzispace has been designing outdoor shedworkingesque work spaces, some of which were on show earlier this year at the Clerkenwell Design Week. So, their Buzzibreeze picnic table is in fact an outdoor workstation that, as they put it, "captures the collaborative needs of the modern workplace". It's made out of a UV resistant, powder-coated metal frame, with a weather-resistant hardwood top and set, or folded aluminium.

It fits nicely with the sheddish galvanised steel construction pictured above to encourage those in a traditional office environment to get outside and do some serious shedworking. ----------------------------------------------------
Wednesday posts are sponsored by The Stable Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Shedworking during children's holidays


New research from small business insurer Direct Line for Business makes interesting reading for shedworkers. It reveals that 60 per cent of the estimated 844,000 home business owners with dependent children will take time away from their business to invest in their young ones during summer school holidays.

On average, these home business owners will invest four hours of working time every day to make up for the time they take away from work to look after and entertain their children during school breaks. Direct Line reckon that the summer holidays will cost home businesses in the region of £658 million.

While there may be financial implications for home businesses, the research reveals that many children gain valuable exposure to the world of business through their entrepreneurial parents. Three in ten parents suggest that their children learn entrepreneurial skills and over a quarter of children learn the value of work.

Almost a third of parents feel their children being at home during the holidays gives them a reason to work hard and succeed, while a quarter receive moral support from their kids and 13 per cent say they benefit from the extra company they receive during the school holidays. Additionally, 10 per cent of home business operators highlighted that they are more productive when their children are on holiday. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, suppliers of contemporary garden buildings, offices, gyms and studios, many of which do not require planning

Monday, July 20, 2015

National Beach Hut Competition: Love Your Hut of the Year


The lucky winner of ‘Love Your Hut of the Year’, which claims to be Britain’s biggest national beach hut competition, can win a £500 shopping spree at Cath Kidston to lavish on their hut.

The owner of the hut crowned as the Best in Britain will be awarded £500 to spend exclusively at Cath Kidston (either in-store or online) or, if they like their hut just the way it is, a rather decadent ‘ultimate’ picnic hamper and four-person dining set. Picnic hampers will also be awarded to the second and third placed huts, and all winners will get a bespoke, weatherproof plaque to proudly show off to their neighbours.

‘Love Your Hut of the Year’ launched back in April and the team at Love Your Hut, beach hut and garden office insurance specialist, emphasise that the ‘best’ hut might not be the biggest, most expensive or lavish, it’s what it means to the owner that counts. For example, there’s often a strong emotional attachment, with some huts staying in the same family for several generations.

Owners are invited to enter their hut or chalet in the competition, submitting at least one picture and a few words, exclusively via www.loveyourhut.co.uk.  Submissions can be viewed on a dedicated Instagram page: @loveyourhutoftheyear. The competition is open until midnight 21August, with the winners being announced the following week.

Pictured above is 'Bertie' on Mersea Island, Essex, owned by Jayne Eyers. "When I first saw Bertie he looked very unloved and sad amongst all the other brightly coloured huts on Mersea beach, being one of the oldest huts, now 60 years old," she said. "So I decided to buy him and rescue him. He is now a very much loved little hideaway, cosy, handsome and stands out from the crowd. Many a family can now visit him with his character and warmth as he is now part of The Little Beach Hut Company and feels he has been given a new lease of life for all to enjoy. A happy ending for Bertie."
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Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Shedworking standing up in your garden office


Working standing up is the new working sitting down according to the trend gurus, so shedworkers on the move in London next Tuesday (21 July) will be interested to hear that Varidesk will be setting up a pop-up standing office on Waterloo Station Concourse.

It will offer full internet connectivity and Wi-Fi facility with computers, keyboard and screens so any passing shedworker can pause, set up their own personal office space, reserve the office space for up to 30 minutes and experience the "office sit/stand revolution". Workers with their own laptops will be able to plug in, launch their emails and get working too.

Also there will be staff from back conditions specialists BackCare.org, providing free advice and back care consultation.  

There will be five dedicated office spaces from 8am until 8pm plus free coffee and a watercooler. ----------------------------------------------------
Wednesday posts are sponsored by The Stable Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Mirrored beach hut


A shedworkingesque thing of beauty on Worthing beach, a mirrored beach hut designed by ECE Architecture. Although it's an art installation put together with Mark Sephton from Creative Forager it would also make a great design for a garden office, like this one in Amsterdam. Here's what ECE say about it:
"It took a team of ECE staff six weeks to design and build the hut to typical Worthing beach hut specifications. They used laser-cut mirrored acrylic sheets applied to wooden panels finished with dark grey shadow gaps. The mirrored acrylic was affixed just hours before joining it all together at 4am on Saturday morning."
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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, July 13, 2015

Shed of the Year 2015: Inshriach Distillery


Arguably, this year's Shed of the Year is a garden office. The Inshriach Distillery in the Scottish Highlands Inshriach Distillery, once a hen house, now a farm shop, bar, general nice place to relax in, and of course, a gin distillery. Lots more information and photos at shedblog. --------------------------------------------------------------------
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Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Friday, July 10, 2015

Garden office and beach hut insurance: "Everyone gets the insurance they deserve"


A guest post by Matt Briggs of Love Your Hut

Remember when supermarkets used to only sell tins, packets, non-perishables and, if you were lucky, the odd bag of frozen peas? Gone are those days, as a trip to any of the “Big 5” will show you. Clothing, washing machines, garden furniture and large screen TVs are just some of the non-food items attempting to part you from even more of your hard earned cash.

Well I don’t know about you, but I’m still a big believer in specialism and expertise: my next TV will be bought from a specialist electronics retailer. Similarly, would you trust your average home insurer to be completely ‘au fait’ with the ins and outs of insurance for shedworkers? Can you be sure that your existing home insurance policy is, frankly, up to the job of protecting your shed/outbuilding and its contents?

Love Your Hut is proudly ‘niche’ – we provide bespoke insurance cover specifically for shedworking, shepherd’s huts, tiny houses, beach huts and chalets. Every case is unique to us, we don’t do ‘standard’ and genuinely believe in personal service. To use the supermarket analogy again, we’re the ‘family butcher’ to the big-name insurer’s ‘pre-packed meat counter’! With over 20 years’ combined experience of insuring unconventional structures of all shapes and sizes, we’re proud of the fact that it’s all we do.

We’re not a jack of all trades, but we like to think we’re the master of this one.

Get in touch with us for an insurance quotation on 01924 580 990, enquiry@loveyourhut.co.uk or visit www.loveyourhut.co.uk.

Wednesday, July 08, 2015

Shedworking in Scotland


The happiest commute is when work is only a 30 second stroll away, according to the latest research from Bank of Scotland’s Happiness Index.

When asked about their daily commute, it comes as no surprise to regular readers of Shedworking that farmers and those who work from home are happiest. The Index quantifies how happy Scots are with their daily commute, the method of transport and the amount of hours they work and found that part time workers are happiest.

While Scots who work between eight and 29 hours a week are the happiest workers, women enjoy these hours more than men. Part time workers aged 55 and over are the happiest of all age groups, closely followed by 45-54 year olds. For those poor souls who do have to commute, the car is the preferred method of travel, followed by bus, and walking in third place. Using the train is the least pleasurable option.


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Wednesday posts are sponsored by The Stable Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here

Tuesday, July 07, 2015

Green Retreats' virtual garden room showroom


This is marvellous, a clever Google Maps virtual tour around the Green Retreats showroom. Here's what they say about it.
"We’ve worked to create an interactive digital walkaround of our real-life showroom to give you a sense of the garden rooms we have on offer. You'll see our five fantastic outbuildings including the Edge, Inspiration, Pinnacle, Expression and RocPod (contact us for more information). You'll also notice other garden rooms on show, including The Garden Office which is a sister company to Green Retreats. Once you’ve had a look, why not pay us a real visit? We are based at Westcott Venture Park in Buckinghamshire and we would be delighted to show you around."
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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, July 06, 2015

Michael Hogan: Shedworker


A nice piece in the Daily Telegraph by Michael Hogan about the delights of his garden office. Here's a snippet.
"My green-and-brown, curve-roofed wooden shed - strictly an 8ft x 6ft “garden office” - is where I work, think, potter and play. I had it installed five years ago when the arrival of our second child meant I was unceremoniously hoofed out of my home office, replaced by cots, cuddly toys and other cute ephemera. Now I can’t imagine life without it."
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Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Friday, July 03, 2015

Shedworker Steve Cowell on Radio York


My friend Steve Cowell's post about building your own garden office is the most popular post on Shedworking (55,300 hits and counting). He appeared on BBC Radio York yesterday morning to discuss very elogquently the delights of shedworking and you can listen to it again here from 1 hour 36 minutes.

Wednesday, July 01, 2015

The distractions of not being a shedworker


A third of workers in traditional offices say they are regularly distracted for up to three hours a day, according to research by budgeting account provider thinkmoney. 

The biggest source of distraction is chatting to colleagues about last night’s television, relationship problems, and plans for the weekend.

Smart phones are also blamed for interrupting concentration, with workers admitting to answering personal phone calls and replying to text messages. The temptation to do online shopping or to browse the internet to look at YouTube videos, book holidays or check  football scores proves too much for many people, the report shows.

Meanwhile, poor office technology, with slow internet connections and systems that crash are a frustrating disruption to the working day, along with uncomfortable chairs and buildings that are too hot. ----------------------------------------------------
Wednesday posts are sponsored by The Stable Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here