Garden office decor

A nice short blog post by marketing and social media consultant Lisa McLaughlin for Malvern Garden Buildings looks at how to design the interior of your garden office with a monochrome theme (pictured above). Here's a snippet:

I didn’t have a big budget to spend on creating the space. We painted the outside ourselves and I simply varnished the floor and white washed the walls. I already had much of the furniture, such as the vintage desk, retro office chair and old French leather club chair but I mixed these pieces with practical and affordable office furniture from Ikea. I then added the finishing touches; such as a cow hide rug, cushions, plants, pictures and vintage finds sourced from antique fairs to make it feel homely and cosy.

 Well worth a quick look.

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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

Writing shed cat

Writing shed cat. #Maybe https://t.co/acvrn4yDYS pic.twitter.com/o8k8xQE2Sl

— Christi Daugherty (@CJ_Daugherty) March 14, 2019

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

Free tickets to National Homebuilding & Renovating Show

Shedworking has free tickets to give away to you lucky readers for this year’s National Homebuilding & Renovating Show at the NEC, Birmingham, March 28-31 2019. There are various masterclasses , a new self-build stage and builder Sian Astley,  presenter of BBC2’s Your Home Made Perfect talking about fresh design ideas, cost-effective styling, and mixing traditional style with a contemporary edge, to underfloor heating and insulation.

There are more than 500 exhibitors and 16 free daily seminars and masterclasses, covering everything from eco heating to planning permission. Tickets to non-readers of Shedworking are £12 in advance or £18 on the door (children under 16 free) but for a special e-ticket free of charge, simply click http://homebuildingshow.co.uk/shedworking and follow the instructions. ---------------------------------------

Sunday posts are sponsored by eDEN Garden Rooms. Stunning, bespoke high quality garden rooms, to suit your unique space and style

New shed and garden landscaping increase value of property

New research from Post Office Money indicates that homeowners spent £295bn in the last five years renovating their home, with home improvements like new sheds and garden landscaping providing the biggest return on investment.

Their figures show that while the most common improvement since 2014 was a new kitchen (25%), it was closely followed by garden landscaping (18%) and then a new shed (16%). These homeowners spent £14,015 on average - though the number of homeowners making improvements has dropped by 10% since 2016, the amount spent per home has increased from £12,000.

Those who have made changes to their home estimated that the improvements increased the value of their property by £40,000, from an average of £210,000 before the improvements to £250,000 afterwards. Overall, the report's authors argue that these kinds of works add about 10 per cent to the price of  a three-bed semi-detached home in the UK.

Post Office Money spokeswoman Chrysanthy Pispinis said: “Over the past few years, house price growth has slowed, so homeowners have turned to other options to add value to their homes – with renovations being a clear opportunity. Making the right changes to your home can increase its market value significantly; if improving your home’s asking price is your priority, it’s important to keep in mind the cost of the improvement and the value it could add.”

While only 5% of those surveyed made improvements to their home with the express intention of moving, one in four improvers (28%) did so because they thought it would be a good investment and would add value to their property. The most popular reason for making home improvements was to improve the look of a home (59%).

In order to fund these renovations, three quarters (74%) of homeowners used their savings to fund their renovation, one in five (18%) used a loan or credit card, while one in fifteen (7%) used equity release or mortgages to fund their improvements.

Chrysanthy Pispinis added: “Home improvements are not all about making changes which add value for re-sale. Nearly two thirds of the homeowners we polled had no plans to move. Renovations allow homeowners to create homes that reflect their needs and tastes, with the potential added benefit of adding value in the long term.”
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Saturday posts are sponsored by iHUS Projects, specialists in the design and build of granny annexes for elderly and disabled care.

Homesick: Why I live in a shed

Published in July by Quercus and described as 'The story of a personal housing crisis that led to a discovery of the true value of home', this is one to look out for if you're interested in tiny homes as well as shedworking. Here's the bumph:

Aged thirty-one, Catrina Davies was renting a box-room in a house in Bristol, which she shared with four other adults and a child. Working several jobs and never knowing if she could make the rent, she felt like she was breaking apart. Homesick for the landscape of her childhood, in the far west of Cornwall, Catrina decides to give up the box-room and face her demons. As a child, she saw her family and their security torn apart; now, she resolves to make a tiny, dilapidated shed a home of her own.

With the freedom to write, surf and make music, Catrina rebuilds the shed and, piece by piece, her own sense of self. On the border of civilisation and wilderness, between the woods and the sea, she discovers the true value of home, while trying to find her place in a fragile natural world. This is the story of a personal housing crisis and a country-wide one, grappling with class, economics, mental health and nature. It shows how housing can trap us or set us free, and what it means to feel at home.

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

Virginia Woolf's writing hut as a cushion

Artist Amanda White has produced an excellent series of cut paper collages of writers' homes available as cushions and prints as well as calendars and greeting cards. Above is Virginia Woolf's writing shed at Monk's House, presenting the scene in which Leonard tells her that The Waves is marvellous. 

So whilst trying to catch my new box labels in a good light, I’ve realised I’ve also captured one of my favourite @AmandaWhiteArt cushions. From her ‘Writer’s Houses’ range this is Virginia Woolf’s writing shed. Check out Amanda’s beautiful work #art #collage #cards #original pic.twitter.com/9A7gRm8r3b

— The Saw Maker's Wife (@skeltonsaws) March 13, 2019

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Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master: garden offices and studios to fit any size garden. Top quality contemporary or traditional buildings.

Herringbone studio

Probably our favourite build so far this year, this lovely Larch-clad herringbone-patterned garden office for an artist in Mapperley, Nottingham, comes from Sheltered Spaces. It's in an L shape, marking off an area for work from a rest area and with all main windows and French doors facing east for the morning sun. ------------------------------------------

Wednesday posts are sponsored by Eurodita, the leader in serving smart dealers

Yoga garden studio

This garden room in Enfield, London, was built by eDEN Garden Rooms for a client who had previously been renting a village hall for her yoga business but wanted her own space at home, to improve both her work-life balance and what she could offer to customers in terms of small, private classes.
 
"More and more we are being asked to create spaces that combine a profession and a passion," says Mia Walmsley from eDEN. "This bespoke yoga studio is a fantastic example of just that, and shows how a garden room can not just add value to your business, but also bring a lifelong dream to reality."

The studio is 7.3 x 4.3m (its height fine for planning permission due to distance from the boundaries) with an internal height of 2.4m, and a dividing wall to store customers' bags as well as yoga equipment. 

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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

High winds turn shed into treehouse

High winds in Dorchester, indeed. This one travelled three gardens to get stuck up in a tree. Be safe out there, shedworkers.

09:13hrs #DorchesterFireStation attended to a shed that had blown into a neighbours garden in Grosevenor Crescent, Dorchester. Crews have secured the shed with lines and will be reinspecting later today for safety. pic.twitter.com/OJlkiW4R1c

— DWFireControl (@DWFireControl) March 10, 2019

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