Sunday, December 24, 2017

Happy Christmas from Shedworking


“Yo ho, my boys,” said Fezziwig. “No more work to-night. Christmas Eve, Dick. Christmas, Ebenezer. Let’s have the shutters up,” cried old Fezziwig, with a sharp clap of his hands, “before a man can say Jack Robinson.”
Shutters open again on January 1.

Saturday, December 23, 2017

Haynes Shed Manual


We've saved the best until last for the final post of 2017 and so I'm very excited to let you know that plans are well underway for a Haynes Shed Manual which I shall be co-authoring with the hugely knowledgeable John Coupe who runs the hugely popular Secrets of Shed Building site. Haynes came to us in the autumn to discuss the possibilities and now John and I will be working on the manual throughout 2018. We're both delighted to be collaborating with such an iconic publisher which has an impressive worldwide reputation for its manuals covering everything from cars and coding to the Millennium Falcon.

And we will also be coming to you as readers of our two sites for help and advice about what builds YOU would like to see featured - we'll be doing several to cover various shed-based needs - and what kind of information would be particularly useful so please do look out for regular shout-outs here on Shedworking and on Secrets of Shed Building. We'll also be updating our progress during the year so you can get an idea of how it's all moving on. I hope you will be pleased with the shed manual which should be published in time for spring 2019.

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Friday, December 22, 2017

A 5 minute guide to buying a garden office


The fine folk at Cabinmaster have put together their 5 Minute Garden Office Guide. If you're thinking of buying a garden office in 2018, this is a an excellent (brief but useful) place to start. Here's a snippet on lighting:
Talking of windows, floor to ceiling glass panels don’t only look contemporary but will also bring in plenty of health-giving natural light. Inside the office you have a choice of lighting. Many garden office owners choice LED lighting set into the ceiling. Dimmable lights and different shades are available. You can personalise your office and make it cosier with the addition of standing and table lamps.
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Friday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information.

Thursday, December 21, 2017

The Little Book of Building Fires - book review


Regular readers of this site will be familiar with friend of Shedworking Sally Coulthard and her previous books including Studio, Shed Chic, and Shed Decor. Her latest book, ideal for a last minute gift for Christmas (and just the right size for a Santa sack), is The Little Book of Building Fires ('How to chop, scrunch, stack & light a fire'). Though not specifically aimed at the garden office market, many shedworkers will certainly enjoy it and there are useful chapters on wood burners, choosing the best wood to burn, and making a fragrant fire (the Shedworking staff also enjoyed the chapter on scrunching newspapers). Written as always in her very readable style, the illustrations (in the style of the one pictured below) are especially charming. If you only buy two books this Christmas, as well as this one we'd strongly recommend Sally's.

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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.

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Converted tram shed reconverted into tram


This almost 100-year-old, 32- passenger tram is running once again at the Black Country Living Museum, Dudley, after a fundraising campaign, £75,000 and five year refurbishment project, and life as a shed and garden room. It was built in Tividale in 1920 and is one of only half a dozen of its kind that survives. After many years of good service, it disappeared and was rediscovered in a back garden in Dudley.
  
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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, December 19, 2017

Shepherd's hut garden office


An interesting shepherd's hut garden office build underway at Plankbridge with an extended covered deck for open air shedworking. More pictures coming soon as the build progresses... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, suppliers of contemporary garden buildings, offices, gyms and studios, many of which do not require planning

Monday, December 18, 2017

Garden office in the woods


Here's a lovely piece with plenty of 'how we did it' step-by-step photos of how writer Rasha Selim built her writing shed. This is what she says about it:
This is my Oasis.  In the middle of the lush woods of Upstate New York, I have created something that reminds me of my childhood home. When I step into my office, it is with a smile on my face. Now I have the best of both worlds, my loving kids and husband in New York, and my young life in Dubai.
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Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Saturday, December 16, 2017

How to decorate your garden office festively




Three words. Removable Christmas Murals. If you want to turn your shedworking area in a veritable winter wonderland but also want to do it very quickly, consider a made-to-measure, removable, 'peel-and-stick' Christmas wall mural. Wallsauce has various options including snowy birch trees and reindeer as well as illustrated folklore patterns and mystical landscapes. You can still get them in time for Christmas if you get a move on. Prices start from £26/m². ---------------------------------------------------------
Saturday posts are sponsored by Eurodita, the leader in serving smart dealers

Friday, December 15, 2017

Garden shed built out of acrylic glass tubes



This 6 m² shed was built as a folly in Leonberg, Germany, by Kawahara Krause Architects out of acrylic glass tubes which as they say, creates a place to sit outside in the garden but at the same time being inside. Here's what the architects say about it:
The volume consists of a grid structure of acrylic tubes connected by joints developed especially for the project. Two two-dimensional cross-shaped acrylic parts interlock to create the simple three-dimensional joints. While the tubes are transparent, the joints are lasered from white acrylic, accentuating the white, star-like joints depending on the lighting. The volume of the Garden Folly then turns into a seemingly hovering cloud of points in space.
When it's sunny, the tubes shine. -------------------------------------------------------
Friday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information.

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Experimental hairy garden office reverse Tardis


Here's a remarkable coco-fibre broom-clad garden office from architects 2hd which they call 'Mission Control' and describe as "exercise in teleportation, designed to take us from the everyday hurly burly to a another world — one of calm, quiet and focus... Our intention was that the building should create three totally separate experiences: an enigmatic exterior, a serene interior and a ceremonial commute to work."

There is no obvious door or window as the whole exterior is covered with brooms. Best of all, it's what 2hd call a 'reverse Tardis', i.e. it's actually smaller on the inside than it looks from the outside. The interior is clad in whitewashed plywood and insulated with sheep's wool. A skylight provides ventilation and light.

Lots more marvellous images of Mission Control at 2hd's site here as well as more details of the build.


Mission Control: How to get in from 2hD Architecture Workshop on Vimeo. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master: garden offices and studios to fit any size garden. Top quality contemporary or traditional buildings.

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Garden office in Reigate


A nice garden office build from eDEN Garden Rooms in Reigate with triple bi-fold doors and a double-aspect floor-to-ceiling corner window giving really nice views on to the garden (and in which owner Matt is planting black grasses).  There is also under-floor heating and a large decking area.

"A particularly interesting feature of this clever garden room is the angled roof hang on the left," said Mia Gambrell from eDEN, "which fits perfectly with the garden and allows an extra weather-proof area in a rather awkwardly-shaped space to the left of the garden room, ideal for both storage and shelter."
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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, December 12, 2017

More snowy sheds


Following up yesterday's post on snowy sheds and garden offices, here above is the back garden of Helen Jenkins in St Albans, with other examples below...
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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, December 11, 2017

Tim Dowling's ongoing garden office adventure


Tim Dowling is fast becoming a high profile shedworker - he has now written two columns in a row about his shedworking in The Guardian and we look forward next Saturday to a hat trick. Here's a snippet from the latest:
In the morning I wake up early, get dressed, pull on boots and tramp across the frosted ground to my shed. I unlock the door, turn on the heat, then walk straight back to the kitchen to make coffee.
Working at the end of the garden is peaceful, if a little isolating. Most days I see no one until lunchtime, sometimes until dusk. The shed – a glass and timber pod assembled on site – is absolutely silent with the door shut. For the first time in months I can hear myself think, and I’m not sure I like it.
A sharp rap on the glass causes me to jump out of my chair. The door opens and my wife leans in.
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Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Snowy sheds



It's that time of year again when we ask you to send in your snowy shed photos. Above is one from Rotunda Roundhouse and below are several more to get you in the mood.

A post shared by Andrew David Barker (@adbarker) on

Snowy garden office

A post shared by Marcus Romer (@marcusromer) on

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

Friday, December 08, 2017

Berkeley Statesman caravan garden office


An excellent piece by friend of Shedworking Sharon Dale in the Yorkshire Post about the restoration of the last surviving Berkeley Statesman caravan by Tim Mitchinson in York. Here's a snippet:
When Tim Mitchinson rescued it 10 years ago, the last surviving Berkeley Statesman was a rotting hulk on the point of collapse. He bought it for £1 because he couldn’t bear to see it scrapped and, following a decision driven by what he calls “English eccentricity and insanity”, he and his friend Mark Cranfield embarked on a sensational £70,000 restoration. The vintage van, which was the first off the production line, is now for sale with RM English estate agents for £40,000. Tim reluctantly put it on the market to make way for an extension on the side of his home in York.
Tim believes that it would make an ideal garden office.

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

Thursday, December 07, 2017

How to make your shed the top-rated restaurant on TripAdvisor


A remarkable - and very funny - story by Oobah Butler in Vice which is very revealing about how TripAdvisor works and reveals in detail how he set about establishing 'The Shed at Dulwich' as London's premier eating spot. Here's a snippet:
So there we go: I invited people into a hastily-assembled collection of chairs outside my shed, and they left thinking it really could be the best restaurant in London, just on the basis of a TripAdvisor rating. You could look at this cynically – argue that the odour of the internet is so strong nowadays that people can no longer use their senses properly. But I like to be positive. If I can transform my garden into London’s best restaurant, literally anything is possible.
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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.

Wednesday, December 06, 2017

Beach hut advent calendar


Just a reminder that Beyond Church is running its annual beach hut advent calendar again this year along Brighton and Hove's seafront (see here for our reports of it over the last 10 years since it started). Every night up to Christmas Eve a different hut opens its doors to an art installation celebrating  - visitors can enjoy free mince pies and drinks and also collect stamps each night to win a hamper or box of chocolates. Tonight's hut is 227 and 3D advent calendars will be on sale.


Below is the first of the huts, put together by Year 7 pupils of King's School and focusing on the verse from Isaiah in the Old Testament:
  
'The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on this living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.' 


To see all the huts as they are opened day by day, go to Beyond Church's special blog.



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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

The delight of a new garden office

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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

The delight of a new garden office

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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, December 05, 2017

Heating your garden office in winter


It's that time of year when we start fielding questions about garden office and shed heating. A new option comes from Norwegian heating brand Mill which has just launched in the UK bringing (it says here) "its ‘Keep warm with style’ ethos and Scandi-inspired minimalistic designs to the electric heating sector".

It has four sleek, electric products (see above) for those in the UK which as it points out are "designed for a country with five consecutive months of sub-zero temperatures". Two are plug-ins (the Mill Convection Heater and the Mill Oil Heater) and two are wall-mounted and also come with wi-fi capability. For more information go to www.millheat.co.uk and you can also get them from various outlets including Selfridges, Costco and online via ao.com.
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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

Meet Father Christmas in a shed


There's a chance for your children to meet Father Christmas in Nottingham-based Cabin Master's Arctic Cabin (above) decorated for Christmas this Friday (4pm-7pm) and Saturday (2pm-5pm). Small groups of up to 8 children, with their parents, will be greeted on arrival by an elf who will help them get ready, writing a letter to Father Christmas or decorating a star for their Christmas (mulled wine and mince pies are available for adults). They then get an individual gift. Booking details here.

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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, December 04, 2017

Tim Dowling: Shedworker


Guardian columnist, author, and banjo player Tim Dowling is taking his first steps as a shedworker this week. He wrote in his usual self-deprecating mode about it in The Guardian. Here's a snippet:
On Thursday, the men arrive with the pieces of my new office shed. I spend the morning working in the kitchen, with a pad and a pen, so I can watch them put it together through the window. I am reliably mesmerised by the industry of others.
By sunset, the walls are up, the roof is on and there are already wires hanging from the light fittings inside.
“What have we done?” my wife asks, looking out at the box sitting in a shallow crater at the end of the garden.
“It looks big, doesn’t it?” I say.
There are plenty of comments below the line too...
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Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Friday, December 01, 2017

U2's Songs of Experience and beach huts


U2 have a new album out now, Songs of Experience, and as part of their promotional material they have wisely chosen to appeal to the shed world by posing outside a row of beach huts, above. Smart move.

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