I have a small house and had two children at home at the time so I couldn't figure out how I'd be able to work from home, writes Shedworking reader Todd Daniel of Powder Springs, Georgia, USA. I did some research on the Internet and found a guy in Louisville, Kentucky, who had built an office shed. I corresponded with him for a while and he was very helpful, and I incorporated some of his ideas.
The shed is in my backyard, 40 feet from the house. It is 12 feet x 15 feet. When we were closing our office, my boss suggested that I take a cubicle with me and set it up inside the shed. This turned out to be a brilliant idea because it helps to dampen outside noise and it holds heat in during the winter. It actually makes my office area quite comfortable.
I work in the shed during the day and in the evening it becomes my "man cave" because my hobby is working on computers. I also like the outdoors and working out in the shed makes me feel closer to nature. I do have my two dogs for company and protection.
I use wi-fi for Internet and I have portable heaters for winter and a small air condition unit for summer. There are two separate power lines -- one for my air condition and heater and one for my computer equipment. I did this to avoid the electrical surges that the a/c and heater would have on my electronics.
At the time I was finishing out the inside, my boss sent a professional out to inspect it. Both he and the fellow in Louisville recommended something very important - a fart fan. In addition to its obvious purpose, I also use the fan in the spring and fall to suck out warm air and get the temperature down a few degrees. Thus, I only need to use my a/c in the heart of summer.
It's nice walking 40 feet to work every morning, and the only occupational hazard is stepping on dog poop.
More photographs of Todd's garden office are on his Flickr site ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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