Friday, May 26, 2017

Shed Box of Delights: Epic Retreats


Shedworkers who want somewhere remarkable to work in or a busman's holiday in the loveliest parts of Wales can now enjoy a vacation at one of eight specially-designed cabins as part of the Epic Retreats project. It's a partnership between Best of Wales, Cambria Tours and George + Tomos Architects, with funding from the Welsh Government’s Tourism Product Innovation Fund.

There's only around 200 bookings available as part of this Wales’s Year of Legends 2017 so you will need to get your skates on. Pictured are Shedworking's three favourite designs, from the top, Dragon's Eye by Carwyn Lloyd Jones (features including a rotating round bed), Arthur's Cave by Miller Kendrick (lots more details at their site), and the Slate Cabin by Trias.
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Friday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information.

Thursday, May 25, 2017

How to improve the Wi-Fi signal in your garden office

Another look at one of the most-asked questions by new shedworkers, this time answered by the fine folk at IT Box computer service specialists. In essence they say:
"The most reliable and stable solution would be to run the Ethernet Cat5 or Cat6 external cable hidden under ground. This operation is simple and for this purpose you need just a few things: 100 yards or longer external Ethernet cable, plastic tides to attach a cable to the fence and maybe a drilling machine to make a few holes in the fence and a wall."
Worth a quick look. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master: garden offices and studios to fit any size garden. Top quality contemporary or traditional buildings.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Blue Forest: Treehouse at Chelsea Flower Show


Continuing our look at some of our favourite shedlike builds at Chelsea Flower Show this year, here is Blue Forest's luxury treehouse on Main Avenue. It's clad in cedar with a copper turret/finials, a glass floor, and a natural woodland planting scheme by Architectural Plants, but it's made from Kebony timber which, it says here, "is a revolutionary technology, an environmentally friendly process which modifies sustainably sourced softwoods by heating the wood with furfuryl alcohol - an agricultural by-product".

It's been much admired by the great and the good at the show including Hugh Bonneville, Dame Judi Dench and Prince Philip who joked that he hoped he didn't fall through the glass floor. It's on sale for £80,000.




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Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Plankbridge: Shepherd's hut at Chelsea Flower Show


Shepherds' huts specialist Plankbridge are at Chelsea Flower Show again this year with another lovely example of their work. Among the various celebrities who enjoyed a tour of the hut was Joanne Lumley (pictured above). Pictured below is one of the bug hotels on its plot at Stand AR586 put together by a Forest School run by Dorest Wildlife Trust, a shot of the hut in all its glory, Richard and Jane from Plankbridge, and the interior.



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Monday, May 22, 2017

Tom Raffield 's steam-bent garden office at Chelsea Flower Show


Followers of Grand Designs may remember furniture and lighting designer Tom Raffield's splendid house in Cornwall being featured at the end of last year. He is also exhibiting his work this week at the Chelsea Flower Show as well as his marvllous Gwenver Garden Room which shows off all his skills in the art of steam bending.

It's made out of steam bent oak and white-washed ash cladding on the interior and exterior - naturally, one of the selling points is the lovely curvey feel. The Gwenver is 6m x 4m x 2.5m and comes in a range of bespoke sizes and specs (so you can choose which way the curve faces) including  bi-fold double glazed aluminium dark grey doors, ammonite grey corrugated metal wall to the back, and a white-washed exposed wooden ceiling.

You can find them at 539 and also look out for their marvelous hanging seats, armchairs and mirrors.
 
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Friday, May 19, 2017

Pubworking: Shedworking on the move

Readers with long memories will know that back in 2010 I started banging on about 'pubworking', the idea of encouraging homeworkers to relocate to pubs during underused daylight hours to work in pleasant surroundings (I even started a website to that end, which is now defunct, and started spreading the word, for example on Work Snug and among beer writers).

So the Shedworking staff were intrigued to read on Treehugger that 'Startups are now turning upscale restaurants & bars into coworking spaces during the day'. Here's a snippet by its writer Kimberley Mok:
"Remote professionals in a growing number of cities can now choose another kind of membership, one that allows them to work out of a bar or restaurant during those slower business hours during the day, before they revert back to serving diners and bar patrons during the evening...It's an interesting idea that brings extra income to owners of these establishments, and provides a cheaper option to coworkers... in popular coworking cities like New York City, there are over 2,000 empty restaurants during the day. Local startups like Spacious are tapping into these under-utilized spaces, which might be a boon to remote workers who might not reliably find a spot to work in a popular café."
Well worth a read. --------------------------------------------------------
Friday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information.

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Shed of the Year 2017 finalists announced


The first stage of this year's Shed of the Year competition, sponsored by Cuprinol, is now complete with the announcement of the category finalists, including a Tardis, a fire station, and a musueum of knots and sailors' ropework. There is also for the first time a #NotAShed category which as organiser Uncle Wilco explains: "Follows requests from shed fans across the nation to celebrate those extraordinary creations that go beyond the traditional definition of a ‘shed’." You can get full details of each finalist at Shed Blog and vote at readersheds.co.uk - closing date for votes is June 2.

Particular shedworkingesque favourites include magician Oliver Tabor's 'Magic Studio' (pictured above), a converted farm outhouse which is now Oliver's creative space/workshop/rehearsal studio/meeting place and performance venue. And also writer Philip Pullman's former writing hut in the workshop/studio category (below).


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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, May 17, 2017

Cover: Garden offices in the USA


While the tiny house movement is big in the USA, so is shedworing. Cover is one of the newer entrants to the garden office market ("currently delivering in Los Angeles City
and taking reservations worldwide" according to their website).

They are a one-stop shop bespoke provider, offering design, permit, manufacture and installation services for each backyard studio which is an insulated steel structure. According to co-founder Alexis Rivas: "We leverage sun path and geospatial data to computationally optimize wall and window placements for superior interior light conditions and optimal energy performance."

Cover also has a nice feature on their site which works out how quickly the build pays for itself (hint: it's quite fast).

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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, May 16, 2017

How to decorate your garden office

Other superhero types are available. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, suppliers of contemporary garden buildings, offices, gyms and studios, many of which do not require planning

Monday, May 15, 2017

Blue Forest treehouse at Chelsea Flower Show 2017

Blue Forest will be exhibiting one of their fantastic treehouses at the RHS Chelsea Flower 2017 (May 22-27) on Main Avenue, Stand MA329. This year’s treehouse will be the largest Blue Forest have ever exhibited at the Chelsea Flower Show. --------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Friday, May 12, 2017

Shed Box of Delights: Folly Noorderzon


A folly for the Noorderzonfestval Groningen in The Netherlands by Huting and De Hoop made out of steel and multiplex. Only for shedworking on sunny days.

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

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Innovation pod: Solar-powered garden office


This intriguing structure was built and designed by Ottawa's prototypeD and is a 'mobile digital media lab' for MadeMill. It is called 'The Innovation Pod' and is a modular building built out of corrugated steel with a curved roof aimed at the tiny house and shedworking market. Most interestingly, it is powered by solar power and heated via propane. Here's what the owners say about it:
The digital media lab is a space where the public can come explore new digital technologies, like virtual reality. The prototypeD team can import blueprints for a new building into VR so that a person can experience the space as though they are walking through it in real life. The lab is also a space for workshops on solar power, and different artistic projects, for example the mural in this tiny house is a collaborative project by multiple artists, including Komi Olaf, Asma Inam, and Allan André.
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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, May 10, 2017

The Hinterland: Cabins, Love Shacks and Other Hide-Outs


Another attractive coffee table tome to add to the Shedworker's Bookshelf, this time from Gestalten (see here for our reviews of their previous shedlike offerings). The publishers quite rightly say that "The cabin has become our third place, our hideaway where we can recharge our spirits and reconnect with ourselves, away from the restraints of society and the stress of the everyday" and to that end present a well-illustrated collection of microarchitectural delights, many of which would be perfect as garden offices. Here's their blurb:
Escaping from the city and the everyday. Making a home within the forest’s foliage. Using architectural remains as a foundation for a new retreat. These are the makings of many daydreams and the realities present in The Hinterland. For, even if it only lasts a moment, we all need a change of scenery. Cabins provide that coveted change. Located on mountain tops, nestled in villages, or ensconced in lush forests, The Hinterland showcases homey hide-outs and charming cabins from shelter to domicile. These getaways free us from the distracting and unessential, and offer to put us back in touch with nature and reclaim our own inner peace.

Thoughtfully crafted and built, the stories behind these structures are just as curious as the walls themselves. Through portraits of the inhabitants and their invitingly inventive homes, The Hinterland explores architecture and design approaches to creating works that refresh and revitalize amidst the beauty of nature. With the right materials and mindset, this stirring collection reveals that we can all create our own radiant refuge and follow the call of The Hinterland


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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, May 09, 2017

Popcorn Shed


Gourmet popcorn producers Popcorn Shed not only have marvellous packaging, but the company was also started in a shed. The made to order, gluten-free, preservative/additive free popcorn was started by cousins Laura Jackson and Sam Feller who started production in a family kitchen but quickly outgrew it and moved operations to the garden shed.

The excellent packaging was designed by branding agency White Bear Studio who explain their shed design journey:
For the packaging, to us, the answer was in the name. Let's make Sheds! Why not? And so we set about creating theatrical stories for each of our three key flavours. Pecan Pie, due to its flavour was inspired by an American barn, Salted Caramel by the bright lights of the Brighton seafront and Chocolate by a rich winter log cabin.
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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, May 08, 2017

The Writing Room

A marvellous London garden office/extra leisure space designed by architecture and interior specialists neighbourhood for an actor and keen surfer. Replacing a rather less exotic shed on the same location, it features areas for writing, and storing surf boards and garden tools, wrapped around an external terrace. According to neighbourhood: "The external timber cladding was designed and chosen for its warmth and its form helps create a “cabin-in-the-woods”, which was something of an inspiration for the client." It was shortlisted for the Architects Journal Small Projects Award

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Friday, May 05, 2017

Shed Box of Delights: The Grand Designs Shed Project


Waltons and Grand Designs Live have been running a transformative shed competition at Grand Designs Live this year to test five designers' skills at furnishing a 10ft x 8ft Tradesman Storage Shed. The winner was Rebecca Jones’ reading snug pictured above. Here's what Kevin said to Waltons:
Storage is important, but I think what The Grand Shed Project shows is that you can use even the humblest of spaces. I think it’s important not to be too plugged in and a shed is a place to unplug. All the contents of the sheds are so different, it’s like looking into different worlds, expressing both the imagination and desires of the designers. But it also teaches you that the shed should be a place for the imagination, not for storing tins of paint, but for retreating to or from the world in order to pursue a hobby, or mix a cocktail or have a sleep.
Shedworking's favourite was the 'Bringing the outdoors in' shed by Liam Sapsford, pictured below.



You can see the other sheds - a South Miami Beach inspired cocktail shed, boutique guest bedroom shed, and a crafter's haven - at Walton's blog.
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Friday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information.

Thursday, May 04, 2017

Garden office and wisteria

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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, May 03, 2017

Boat Pod




Those looking for a truly one-off garden office should take a look at the Boat Pod, a 4m-high shedlike atmosphere constructed by Barney Dearsly who runs Weathered by Water - it is the former bow section of Cornish fishing trawler the Anthony Stevenson built in 1945, with its original curved larch planks and oak ribs, now covered in fibreglass to make it watertight.

It comes with a large circular doorway with sail canvas 'door', electrics, oak floor, wood burning stove (which was made using an old mast step), and Penzance port name and number, and all together, in Barney's words "offers the comforts of 21st century living within a cosy, atmospheric and beautifully crafted structure that was built to withstand the waves of the Atlantic Ocean". ----------------------------------------------------
Wednesday posts are sponsored by The Stable Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here

Tuesday, May 02, 2017

The Anderson: Retro wartime garden office


The Anderson is part of what The Posh Shed Company calls its 'Tin Hat' range which, as they put it, "is a throwback to war-time Britain when practicality usurped all else. It is designed to appeal to those seeking a traditional shed, solid yet understated in appearance and built to a standard to guarantee years of service."

With genuine Anderson Shelters very hard to come by nowadays, this may be worth a look, though it's bijou shedworking at its most snug with the two models coming in at 2m x 1m and 2m x 2m.  It comes with a galvanised steel roof, guttering, and a half-glazed black door. Extra features include the decking and vegetable trugs. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, suppliers of contemporary garden buildings, offices, gyms and studios, many of which do not require planning