Monday, July 31, 2017

What colour should you paint your garden office?


A nice piece by Alexandra Campbell at The Middle-Sized Garden about choosing exterior paint colours for your shedlike atmosphere. As well as lots of advice, there are lots of images to help guide you. Here's a snippet:
If you’re thinking of a pale colour, then test it carefully to see how it behaves out of doors. If you’re using a specialist outdoor paint such as Ronseal or Cuprinol, the colours seem to come out fairly close to what you might expect. However if you use exterior or interior versions of paint ranges designed mainly for indoors, I have discovered that the shades look much paler outside under the sky. For example, we previously painted our back gate in Farrow & Ball Hardwick White. This appears to be a mid grey inside but properly white outside.
Pictured is a Garden2Office garden office in Forest Hill, London, with rough sawn black barn cladding --------------------------------------------------------------------
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Friday, July 28, 2017

Lazerian mobile studio workshop

A remarkable build by Liam Hopkins from creative studio Lazerian. Lots more construction photos on its Facebook page. We're looking forward to seeing this one in action. --------------------------------------------------------
Friday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information.

Thursday, July 27, 2017

DROP Pod cylindrical garden office





DROP pod comes from Barcelona-based creative studio In-tenta and is part of itsmicroarchitecture collection which is aimed at the ecofriendly modular hotel market but would also make marvellous garden offices.  It's made of wood and designed to have little/no impact on the environment.

 
cabin DROP XL from In-tenta 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, July 26, 2017

Shed butt

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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

Shepherd's hut with Celtic knot hand carving




A lovely 15ft x 7ft one-off shepherd's hut from Bob the Yurt which is up for sale now. Features include a mini kitchen, woodburning stove, mineral wool insulation, and a removable top bunk with Celtic knot hand carving, cut-work doors and windows. It's not road legal, but can easily be towed. It's built from timber cut from the woodland in which it sits and it's very wood-rich inside. More details at its former ebay listing.
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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 25, 2017

The Brid from Gillies & Mackay


You've got just under a week to get your hands on The Brid, the latest model from Perthshire-based  Gillies & Mackay which is only available until July 31. According to the company - whose positive motto is 'the best sheds in the world' (it's certainly the jolliest garden office website out there - look out for their useful videos on YouTube presented by their effervescent MD Cara Mackay). The Brid is "a prototype for a new business and is brought to you as a one off production. The price of The Brid is an introductory price and will not be on the market at this cost at re-release". 

At this stage it comes in two sizes, an 8' x 8' called The Wee ("perfect for one human and maybe one small sized obnoxious cat") and The Bonny ("perfect for one human and a medium sized dosey Lab, or two humans"). Features include a verandah with canopy, weatherboard profile Larch cladding and Ecotherm insulation, with options such as underfloor heating. Especially good for those in Scotland considering going down the shedworking path, though the company has plans to expand into England and further afield.

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    Monday, July 24, 2017

    George Bernard Shaw's writing shed




    The Shedworking staff made its annual summer pilgrimage to Shaw's Corner at the weekend and especially to George Bernard Shaw's writing hut. We're pleased to say it still looks in decent condition - maybe a little mossier on the roof - although we're once again wondering why visitors are not allowed inside... --------------------------------------------------------------------
    Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

    Friday, July 21, 2017

    Garden offices add value to your property


    The new Strutt & Parker Housing Futures survey of around 2,000 people shows that the most desired garden feature is a walled garden. But just behind it is a garden office and similar shedlike structures.

    With moving house becoming more expensive and people spending longer in homes between moves, there’s a feeling that homeowners want to create something in their house that’s for them, not just to increase its value," said Stephanie McMahon, Head of Research at Strutt & Parker. "For people looking to make use of their garden all year round, extending the interior space into the garden is highly desirable -whether in the form of new weather-proof buildings or taking key items from inside and adapting them for your garden.

    "While swimming pools and hot tubs don’t represent good value or a sound investment, outside buildings like summer houses, pergolas and garden offices do. These can actually add value to your home, by boosting the floor space of a property and providing useful and versatile spaces that are huge selling features when done properly. These spaces aren’t like the conservatories of old, which basically just extended the inside living space. Summer houses and pergolas help people to create own little enclaves. These separate spaces allow people to go a bit crazy with their design as well as they’re not being used all the time.”

    And she also pointed out that as people move to more flexible working, they’re spending more time in the home office.

    "Now, a laptop at the dining table just doesn’t cut it for many," said Stephanie. "What they want is their own personal office space, mixing wifi with wildlife. Around a third of workers in rural areas do so from home, compared to just 12% in urban areas."

    Photo: The Stable Company --------------------------------------------------------
    Friday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information.

    Thursday, July 20, 2017

    Living Hut by Plankbridge

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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, July 19, 2017

    Business & Pleasure at RHS Tatton

    Continuing from today's earlier post, here is Jake Curley's Business & Pleasure garden which is not only a Gold winner but also:
    inspired by New York's rooftops and the High Line. Designed as a functional office space in a natural setting, the garden aims to enhance creativity and happiness throughout the working day. A long meeting table looks out over spectacular views, illustrating the juxtaposition of the space and its use.
    Wednesday posts are sponsored by The Stable Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here

    Studio Unwired at RHS Tatton

    We did a preview last week of the garden offices at RHS Tatton and the first images of them in place are now coming through. Here is Ula Maria Bujauskaite's Studio Unwired which has deservedly won a Gold and the Best Young Designer. More winners later today. A reminder of what the RHS Young Designer of the Year competition is all about
    Our three young designer finalists will create their very first RHS Show Garden. Each will be judged for an RHS medal but only one will be crowned the RHS Young Designer 2017. This year the finalists have been asked to create a garden office – inspired by the idea of using gardens as a workspace, whether as a practical or quiet space, a place to hold meetings or a space within an urban setting.


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

    Tuesday, July 18, 2017

    How to turn a shed into a studio

    Piano Raft - Workshop/Studio from Liverpool Leeds Canal #shedoftheyear
    For those looking to create or transform a garden shed, interior designers Nicole Salveson and Mary Graham of Salveson Graham have some advice: treat the space like a room in the house. By embracing the particulars of her garden's environment, Nicole's bespoke garden studio at her London home is both practical and beautiful.
     More tips at House & Garden
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    Monday, July 17, 2017

    Pyramid Pod garden office



    A marvellous garden office design from Echo Living run by designer Sam Booth with a very unusual triple pyramid roofing scheme. Built for shedworkers on the Isle of Wight, it also includes a kitchenette, woodburning stove, skylights, large double-glazed doors, and lavatory. The office was craned into the sloping site complete with all fixtures and fittings - it's insulated with sheep wool in walls, floor and ceiling but there is also underfloor heating for added comfort. The whole thing is clade in larch with oak floors and spruce panels inside. --------------------------------------------------------------------
    Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

    Can you deliver a garden office through the house?


    Warwick Buildings answer just this question with the video above with a 2.4m x 3.8m music studio installation with a mono pitched roof. --------------------------------------------------------------------
    Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

    Friday, July 14, 2017

    Minilogue's woodland cabin music studio

    Scandinavian techno music group Minilogue was a collaboration between Sebastian Mullaert and Marcus Henriksson who have since gone their separate musical ways. But here's a marvellous video of them at work in their shedlike cabin near Malmö. --------------------------------------------------------
    Friday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information.

    The Prospectors wagon for sale



    Reuben Hayward runs Drifters Conversions, a bespoke campervan and panel van conversion service, based in west Wales, has just put up his build The Prospectors wagon up for sale on ebay. Here's what he says about it:
    I built this caravan for my family 2 years ago while my converted classic coach was off the road. We used it for 1 summer and then put it away as the coach is now in good health. Last year I bought the caravan out of the barn, I striped it right back and started a full rebuild and refit, keeping the original trailer, end walls, windows,roof frame and the roof supports. It's built on an Ifor williams 16' twin axle trailer, all sides are removable to expose the wooden side panels. The structure is externally wrapped with breathable membrane, the side and end walls are clad with timber and it has just had a brand new canvas fitted, I’ve used top grade canvas for this which is fire and rot resistant.
    Features include a kitchen with two-ring cooker/grill, solid oak worktops, an oak dining table which converts into a large bed, insulated floor with reclaimed floorboards, woodburning stove, all with 16 amp mains power hook up plus battery and inverter if you want to live off grid.

    "At the front by the towing hitch there is a storage box, which houses the gas bottle," says Rueben. "I tow this with my Mitsubishi shogun. Being built on an Ifor Williams trailer it tows fantastically and is very stable. I would recommend a 4x4 or a large van for towing." --------------------------------------------------------
    Friday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information.

    Thursday, July 13, 2017

    Garden office unfolds in 10 minutes


    A remarkable construction from Oxfordshire-based Ten Fold Engineering who have come up with what they call a self-deploying technique to 'build' anything from beach huts to houses using a hand-held battery-powered drill. The buildings can also tuck themselves up again when you want to move house. Here's a couple of examples below:


    Loads more videos at their site which is well worth a look. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master: garden offices and studios to fit any size garden. Top quality contemporary or traditional buildings.

    Wednesday, July 12, 2017

    Garden offices at RHS Tatton Park Flower Show


    There are two particularly intriguing garden offices at this year's RHS Tatton Park show which opens next Wednesday. Above is Studio Unwired, designed by Ula Maria and built by Ground Control which is described as a: "contemporary outdoor hot-desk office for an urban setting" which aims to "transport office workers out of crowded and conventional facilities into a serene and earthy environment". Desks are interspersed with gnarled pine trees and there's a pergola with varying degrees of shade and roofing to offer varying working conditions. When it all gets too much, there are some stylised maritime dunes to relax in.

    Below is the Business & Pleasure garden. Designed by Jake Curley and built by Evergreen Cheshire Ltd which features a home office under a covered area, a meeting space with a long table to seat up to eight, and finally a relaxing area for discussing ideas. The whole thing is inspired by the Highline in New York as well as the city's rooftop gardens.


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

    Punch and Judy shedworking

    Professor Queen Bees Shed - Pub/Entertainment from Garden Centre #shedoftheyear Reading-based Professor Queen Bee aka Teresa Verney-Brookes has a particularly unusual garden office in that it doubles as a touring Punch and Judy booth and Flea Circus (the puppets and fleas are stored in it during the non-touring winter months). She believes it to be unique in the UK. It is a category finalist - Pub and entertainment - in this year's Shed of the Year competition, sponsored by Cuprinol and will appear in the final programmes on Channel 4 later this summer. ---------------------------------------------------
    Wednesday posts are sponsored by The Stable Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here

    Tuesday, July 11, 2017

    Standing desk by HumbleWorks


    Standing desks are not only natty, they are beneficial to the often chair-ridden shedworker and homeworker (scientific proof here). Here's one to consider, the adjustable Stan 1 from UK-based HumbleWorks (other Stans are available) made out of plywood and comes as a flatpack kit. Here's the info:
    Ideal for any modern go-getter looking to set up shop at a multitude of destinations. Stan1 is lightweight, easy to set up and put down, transportable, and built to provide a working experience that is both, comfortable and boosts your productivity. Stan1 portable, environmentally friendly, and will turn heads wherever you go. It is suitabe for any type of laptop.

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    Philip Pullman's writing shed



    Owned by artist Ted Dewan, this shed originally belonging to Phillip Pullman who wrote ‘His Dark Trilogy’ inside it, theb handed it on to Ted. There is a covenant associated with this shed - when he no longer needs it, the shed must be passed on freely to the next steward for "the purposes of creative work - be it mathematics, masonry, painting, writing, sculpture, knitting" who must do the same.


    Dewan describes the shed as "fairly humble, with twee Laura Ashley wallpaper on some of the walls" and is fitted with a Crittel factory metal window salvaged from a nearby factory. Measuring 8ft by 12ft it also contains most of the former contents of a vintage optician's office and an antique dentist chair for meditation.



    The shed is a finalist in the Workshop and Studio category in this year's Shed of the Year competition, sponsored by Cuprinol.

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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