Monday, May 31, 2021

Roofless garden offices

Is this going to be the garden office trend for 2021, the rise of the roofless garden office? We're not calling it yet, but we have seen a few designs featuring them recently, including this marvellous one above clad in charred timber from Mata Architects based in London. Below, the winners of a garden office design competition run by the Darnu Group in Vilnius and Nida in Lithuania which emphasised the importance of getting back to nature, Andrius Tautvaišas's 'Closer to the Natrue' (admittedly wallless rather than roofless):

and here, Gintarė Stonkutė's 'Powerbloc':

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Sunday, May 30, 2021

The garden offices of famous fictional characters

A little bit of shedworking fun from the folks at HouseholdQuotes.co.uk who have had a think about what garden offices famous fictional characters might have made use of during the pandemic. Above is Michael Scott's from the US version of the office and below is Don Draper's from Mad Men.

Above is the inside of Dumbledore's shoffice from the Harry Potter series. Take a look at the link above for more details of these and Mr Burns's office from The Simpsons, the Duke of Hastings, Simon Basset's from Bridgerton, and Leslie Knope's office from Parks and Recreation. 

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Sunday posts are sponsored by Henshalls Insurance, specialists in insuring garden offices and other garden buildings. Click here for more information.

 

Saturday, May 29, 2021

Garden annexe bathroom

An increasingly popular add-on to garden offices and buildings is some kind of bathroom facility. Here's a video of Alex Booth from Booths Garden Studios showing us around their newly-updated bathroom option.

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Friday, May 28, 2021

Drop garden office


The Drop office from Barcelona-based InTenta is somewhere between garden office and tiny house territory. It's shipping container-size 2.4m wide and can be fitted out as either a rather nice shedworking space, on stilts if that's how you want it, or as somewhere to live small - essentially, the whole thing is built and then 'dropped' into place, outdoor deck and all, including options such as kitchenette and lavatory. There's one of those 360 degree tour things here.

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

Thursday, May 27, 2021

Men's Sheds UK looking for new Partnerships and Community Development Manager

An interesting vacancy is now being advertised by the Men's Sheds Association for the above post. It's full time, 35 hours a week, and funded for three years, with a closing date of June 4. Here's a brief rundown of the job with all the details at the link above:

"The development and growth of Men’s Sheds is made possible through a network of volunteers and partnerships across the UK. This role will develop, coordinate and manage partnerships with other organisations and charities to support the growth and development of the movement. This role has the focus to support the growth of new and development of new Men’s Sheds, enhancing our reach and the reach of Sheds. Our partnerships underpin the development programmes for the charity."

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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 26, 2021

Garden office art


It's always a pleasure to come across new garden office art and particularly pleasing in this case since artist and musician Darren Hayman's atmospheric work is of the garden office of friend of Shedworking, author and musician Mark Brend. You can see more of Darren's art at his Etsy shop.

I'd also recommend Darren's music. Below is the lovely Music to Watch News By.

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Wednesday’s posts are sponsored by Norwegian Log Buildings  - Log cabins and garden buildings for a better quality of life. Click here for more details.

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Women and sheds on Woman's Hour


As the BBC Woman's Hour programme website puts it: "Since the beginning of the pandemic, shed sellers have seen a surge in demand - especially those that can be used as home offices. And existing summerhouses and garages have been commandeered, particularly by women, as a growing number expect to be working from home. Instagram is awash with images of so-called "She Sheds"."

In this episode, presenter Emma Barnett talks about the growing popularity of garden offices with shedworking novelist Joanne Harris (whose exclusive interview with Shedworking you can read here) and Gill Heriz, author of A Woman's Shed. It all starts around the 38:40 mark and is well worth a listen.

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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 24, 2021

Floating garden offices



An interesting idea from Polish architectural designer Agnieszka Białek, a shedworkingesque co-working space on water. Inspired by water bubbles on her local river in Cracow, and floating water lilies with their connected root system, the individual pod workspaces floating on their own platforms are connected to form a single 'cell' which in turn is anchored to the riverbed. Here's what she says about it: 

"The design provides protection of personal space and privacy for potential users. In times of social distancing, it creates a unique comfort zone and sense of security. It is easier to focus on performing specific tasks when working in the designed space. The interiors of the enclaves, with integrated furnishings, allow one to achieve any individual positions during work."

She calls it 'Enclaves' and proposes a booking system to pay by the hour, 24 hours a day. To make things even more interesting, the pods can only be reached by kayak. 

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

 

 

Friday, May 21, 2021

Garden office hair & beauty salon: case study

 


It's always nice to report on shedworkers in action and here's a fine example of an increasingly popular way of using a garden office in a contemporary log garden office from Norwegian Log. It's owned by Diane Cox, a Reading-based hairdresser who wanted to change the way she ran her business and indeed way of life. After years of renting premises on a busy main road with a lack of parking for her customers she decided to opt for a stylish hair salon in her back garden and add an asset which will be more cost effective than being tied into a long-term rental agreement.

Diane’s garden room office salon includes three cutting chairs plus mirrored workstations, a washing basin, a lavatory for customers, manicure table and a small waiting area with lots of storage, all just yards from her back door. This enabled Diane to cut costs on a salon premises and still have plenty of storage space for her stock and customers. 

“Our customers walk around the corner and say ‘wow’," says Diane. "They like the quietness of its location and how calm it is. We also have so much natural light which is perfect for colouring hair. My salon was on the main road before, so there was a lot of noise and cars."

The interior walls of the contemporary garden office have been treated with a pale tinted natural oil to ensure Diane was able to see the natural wood to achieve a shabby chic look and feel. Log’s natural insulation also means that outdoor log offices are airtight, avoiding leaks and condensation which can increase the costs associated with heating up and cooling down brick and mortar buildings. An air conditioning unit has been installed in Diane’s log cabin garden office to ensure customers are cool and comfortable due to the constant heat from hairdryers in hair salons. Measuring 30m2 and measuring under 2.5m high, the garden office needed no planning permission. 

“It’s so relaxing here and the ladies love it," says Diane. "It’s a completely different, calming environment.”
 
Norwegian Log have a Garden Room calculator that you can use for free to experiment with which garden building might be good for you. 

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

 

Thursday, May 20, 2021

Eden Arc



Reigate-based Eden Arc designs offer an interesting appearance and quality structure. On the outside there is attractive and sustainably-sourced cedar or larch cladding, plus Nordlux up/down external canopy lights, and up top is a green sedum roof. there's also concealed guttering and a clever rain water drainage system. Inside is Novabell ceramic flooring with underfloor heating. Our old friend sheeps wool insulation keeps it all cosy.

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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 19, 2021

Fill in short garden office survey, get £15

Here's what the folk at Paskett PR say:

Have you joined the garden office revolution? We're asking people that worked from their shed, garden office or outbuilding during lockdown to complete a short survey in return for £15 National Garden Gift Vouchers - it's bloomin' marvellous! Email hello@paskett.co.uk for details.

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Wednesday’s posts are sponsored by Norwegian Log Buildings  - Log cabins and garden buildings for a better quality of life. Click here for more details.

 

Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Garden offices at virtual Chelsea Flower Show 2021

Chelsea Flower Show has been moved because of the pandemic to next September, but today the Royal Horticulural Society has launched a kind of digital version to tide us all over. There is precious little shedworking action in the show gardens which they're previewing for the autumn show, but here are a couple of highlights. Above is the Finnish Soul Garden designed by Taina Suonio with an attractive contemporary Finnish sauna with a green roof. Below is the Calm of Bangkok, Designed by Tawatchai Sakdikul and Ploytabtim Suksang, and features a shelter with hammock.


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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 17, 2021

Shepherd's hut wheels

An interesting post by Richard Lee from Plankbridge about shepherd's hut wheels who feels very strongly about them. "The cast iron wheel is so intrinsically linked to the shepherd’s hut," he writes, "that I believe you can’t have one without the other, if the structure is to be referred to as a shepherd’s hut at all." Here's a snippet:

"The wheels that Plankbridge use are made from molten pig iron and cast in a foundry not far from here, to our own patterns. We have the Plankbridge name cast into one of the spokes, and it’s so satisfying to think how long those wheels will last. There are a few foundries throughout the UK who can still supply genuine cast iron wheels. I have a photo of Isambard Kingdom Brunel on my desk next to me, and I’m thinking of all the cast iron structures that would have been specified to his designs, and how much of that is still around today."

You can read the whole post here.

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

Sunday, May 16, 2021

Jon Richardson's pub shed

Comedian Jon Richardson is among the growing number of the country's proud owners of pub sheds. He repurposed the garage at his home in Hebden Bridge into what is now The Dog & Bastard, pictured above. Here's a clip of him from his television show Meet The Richardsons in which he shows us around inside.

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Sunday posts are sponsored by Henshalls Insurance, specialists in insuring garden offices and other garden buildings. Click here for more information.

Friday, May 14, 2021

Spring comes to Alastair Humphreys' garden office

We profiled adventurer, author and motivational speaker Alastair Humphreys back in 2014 when he first became a shedworker so it was really nice to see how his garden office has progressed since then (pictured above). "My writing shed is being swallowed by the mad May undergrowth explosion," he says. "And I'm quite happy with that. I like editing a book under the gaze of a herd of cow parsley."

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

 

Thursday, May 13, 2021

The garden office pod boom (video)

A short video from Bloomberg emphasising how the garden office business is booming and concentrating on the My Room in the Garden office from Boano Prišmontas that we featured back in September last year.

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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 12, 2021

New competition to find the UK's best 'shoffice'

As we recently predicted, we're seeing an uptick in the number of shed-based competitions and the latest angle is the search for the best 'shoffice'.

Aviva has launched a national competition to find the UK’s best “shoffices”, what they describe as "sheds or outbuildings converted or built for use as workspaces". Owners are invited to upload pictures of their shoffice to the Aviva Facebook page and will be in with a chance of winning one of three prizes of retail vouchers, each worth £250. Each winner will be able to choose from vouchers for Amazon, John Lewis Partners, Ikea, B&Q or Currys PC World. 

Entries will be judged by property expert, podcast host and author, Louisa Fletcher who will be looking for original, innovative designs, with bonus points awarded for brilliant use of budget. 

To be eligible for the competition, each shoffice must be a DIY project, such as a converted shed or garage, or a self-built development created by the owner. Professionally constructed or manufactured buildings will not be considered. There are no date restrictions regarding when the shoffice was developed, but entries must be received by 5pm on 1 June, 2021.

Last month, data from the insurer’s How We Live report discovered the number of UK homeworkers using converted sheds and outbuildings is expected to grow from 10% to 13%. Nicki Charles, Retail MD, General Insurance, Aviva said: “The number of people using outdoor spaces is steadily creeping upwards. For many, working from home started out as a ‘needs must’ situation, but hybrid working looks set to stay and there’s every chance we’ll see even more outdoor offices in the future. We want to see the creative, inventive solutions that people have come up with to embrace this new way of working."

Pictured above is probably the most famous shoffice, the work of Platform 5 as featured previously on Shedworking

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Wednesday’s posts are sponsored by Norwegian Log Buildings  - Log cabins and garden buildings for a better quality of life. Click here for more details.

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

The Workaway Plectrum



Not only does The Workaway Plectrum revel in a unique name, it also boasts a unique shape, a kind of (mathematic experts look away now) rounded triangular cylinder. Using corrugated cladding on a timber structure and with an oak glazed door, it's designed for small corners in gardens and has all the essentials (lighting, power, ) plus fitted desk and shelving.

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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