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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East Austin sheds

Robert M. Carnochan saw our post on Lance Armstrong's shedlike space in East Austin and wrote in to share his own East Austin shed. It was designed by Robert himself and built by Shawn Somerville who owns a company in Austin called Craftsman Shed (do check out his site for plenty of other fine examples of potential garden office designs).
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MorHaus

North Carolina-based MorHaus sell building kits largely aimed at those interested in small prefab houses but also offer the MicroMor in either a 4' x 8' or an 8' x 8' model which they say can easily be assembled in one afternoon by two people. Apparently one of their customers is using the larger version to house feral cats until they are adopted but it would also be ideal for shedworking. The spec includes metal roof, concrete siding and hardwood veneer plywood, as well as a small attached arbor.
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MicroStructures (screencast)

You can visit MicroStructures here.
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The Modern Studio

The Modern Studio by Lindal Cedar Homes is a backyard shedworking atmosphere: Lindal are a major manufacturer of cedar homes and have built more than 50,000 around the globe.
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Sustainisia: curvaceous shedworking

There's not a lot of detail on the web site of Oakland-based Sustainisia about what they call the 'work pod' but the design is really something special, the work of architect Tom Biggs and furniture maker Tony Carr which is aimed squarely at the garden office market in the USA. Here's what the East Bay Express says about it:

Biggs first started playing around with the concept as his client base dwindled due to the recession, leaving him with an excess of unexpected free time. He found inspiration when he considered the many people he knew who were working from home in pretty dismal conditions, including one attorney friend who worked in a backyard Tuff Shed.

It features French doors, solar panels in the roof, tip top insulation, hidden cabinets, folddown tables, benches and beds, even a way of turning it into a home theatre/cinema space with surround sound.

And of course that lovely guitar-like curve...


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Yurtworking: Laurel Nest Yurts

There's a section in the Shedworking book about working in a yurt because there's something very appealing about this kind of garden office. Laurel Nest Yurts are particularly attractive, come in various sizes (above are the 18', 12' and 'yurtle' on wheels) and the (eco)friendly owners even offer DIY help as well as classes. The 18' - which they call the 'studio' model - is a two-person shedworking space which also works as a small classroom while the 12' (actually it's 11’9”) is their most popular yurt in urban areas.
Via Tiny House Blog


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Studio Shed (screencast)

You can visit Studio Shed here.
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Tuesday posts are sponsored by The Home Office Company, manufacturers of unique garden rooms since 1998. Now in 10 exciting new colours. Click here for more details.

Flexa Studio

The rather attractive Flexa Studio comes from Houseplans.com and if it looks slightly familiar then that's maybe because Modern Cabana's creative director Casper Mork-Ulnes developed the design. It's a 10ft x 12ft shedworking atmosphere and comes as a pre-fab or kit, uses FSC wood and has recycled denim insulation, sliding glass doors: they call it "the little building that can". There's a really nice blog to go alongside it too with lots more photos.
Via materialicious
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Modpod

The Modpod from Dencity has 150 square feet of space (including a loft) with bespoke sizes also available and installation within Greater Atlanta.
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Greenbox

Greenbox is a Portland-based supplier with four main models/sizes of garden office building which comes in a kit for you to assemble. The standard spec is:
# Grade A exterior plywood siding
# Exposed wood rafters and oriented strand board sheathing
# Two operable insulated aluminum rear windows
# Insulated aluminum sliding door
# Birch plywood interior finish
plus optional extras such as a green roof. The site showcases a variety of window styles, low VOC paint colours, and most impressively of all, proceeds from each Greenbox purchase go to relief housing or housing for those who live in impoverished areas: one unit is donated for every ten Greenboxes sold.
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Choosing a shed (US) - Backyard Buildings

Backyard Buildings sell a variety of garden buildings including traditional sheds and the rather snazzy Solar Shed, above, which they describe as ideal for a sun-filled project room. The model above comes on a 10x8 ase with glass roof, optional gable window and workbench. In terms of shading the specs include moisture resistant PVC coated figerglass fabric which they claim blocks 75% of sunlight and 50% of heat. If you like looking at the sky while you're shedworking, this could be the one for you.

Choosing a shed (US) - Historic Shed

Historic Shed come at shedworking from a slightly different angle. Yes, they design and build bespoke garden offices and other outbuildings. And yes, at the risk of starting another firestorm about green shedworking, they are particularly keen to emphasise their green credentials (details here). But they are also particularly keen, as you would expect given their name, on the historic and preservation angles. Their goal is "to meet the needs of historic-home owners for affordable and attractive additional space that complements and enhances their historic property". So each build is tailored to historic order after consultation with their knowledgeable design team in their manufacturing facility before it is delivered and installed on site. It's well worth having a browse around the site. The company is also on twitter and Facebook if you want to follow/friend them.

Choosing a shed (US) - McKie Roth Design

McKie Roth Design provides building plans for early New England style homes built during the 18th and early 19th centuries with practical floor plans and contemporary building methods. As owner McKie Wing Roth, Jr says: "I strive for lasting appeal through order, pleasing proportions, the use of natural materials, and the avoidance of excess and opulence." Pictured is their garden office model Barbara's Garden Studio with clapboard siding, a cedar shingle roof, and small-paned windows. The garden office has space for tools, storage and general shedworking or as the company delicately says, "enough room for afternoon tea with a guest". The building measures 6'-8" by 12' and is built with a plywood floor over joists anchored to 6 x 6 skids hidden by flat granite stones, laid up to simulate a foundation after the building is positioned and leveled.

Choosing a shed (US) - Pacific Domes

Pacific Domes have a wide range of domeshaped shedworking structures. Although some are large enough to qualify for Tiny House Tuesday, of most interest to shedworkers will be the 16ft model which comes with galvanized steel tube frame with hardware, canvas cover with bay window and removable roof. Add-on options include Thermoshield insulative paint, solar fan, composting toilet, air chair and, my favourite, a floating bed. The site has an excellent gallery of models and full details of the spec plus some additional blogs including one devoted to shelter models. As they point out on the site too, since the domes are portable, easy and quick to put up, and can withstand hurricane force winds, they are ideal for relief work in disaster-hit areas.Suggested by Bill Kratz.

Tiny House Tuesday/Choosing a shed (US) - Smallworks

Smallworks is a design/build company specialising in lovely tiny houses and garden offices/backyard studios. As they say:

"Smallworks takes the typical garage footprint and builds tailored to our customer's needs. Smallworks is committed to green building practices and reducing urban sprawl. Our homes are partially prefabricated in our Southlands shop to provide cost efficient manufacturing and expedient installation."

Above are the matching his and hers Skooker Studios with koa ponds and glass vestibule. Below is the Durbach Studio, an outdoor living space in a Japanese garden with open shoji screen and used as an outdoor kitchen in the summer.Here's the Bakan Studio, a 200 square foot open plan garden office with a loft, Arts and Crafts style, reclaimed pine floor and antique stained glass window.And finally the DV Studio with wind felled cedar siding and an opening wall of Douglas fir doors.Via materialicious and Cabin Fever

Choosing a shed (US) - GoYurt Shelters

Howie from GoYurt Shelters has been in touch to spread the word about his rather attractive shedworking atmospheres. "We make truly portable yurts designed to be lightweight and easy to set up," he says. "We are the first and only yurt builder to be FSC certified, we are 100% PVC-free, and we only use natural finishes." They currently offer a 13 foot diameter yurt with 11 foot and 16 foot versions in development. They also have some nice accessories including a portable wood stove. The site is a pleasure to look at and well worth a browse.

Choosing a shed (US) - Four Season Spaces

Minnesota-based Four Season Spaces is one of the new breed of garden office manufacturers building with structural insulated panels (SIPs). Above is their garden office model with cement board siding, art profile metal roofing, rolled cork walls and fused bamboo flooring. I rather like their home cinema idea too, pictured below.

Choosing a shed (US) - Beech-Built

Beech-Built (motto: 'they're so nice you just might want to move in') was founded by former race car driver Donnie Beechler because, he says he wanted "to make a real, measurable difference by reclaiming landfill bound mobile homes and turning them into something useful for everyone" i.e. nice bespoke sheds and garden offices. They certainly look intriguing and come with all the must-haves (insulation, full electrics, portability) as well as using up to 90% recycled material. The model above includes wood laminate flooring and is on a reinforced steel base foundation for strength and stability. There's a nice piece about Beechler and the company in the Springfield Journal Register by Amanda Reavy which details the eco-friendly elements of the company. Here's a taster:

“This (was) the kitchen of a mobile home,” Beechler said as he showed off a shed at the show Saturday afternoon at the Prairie Capital Convention Center. “This paneling is the original paneling that was in the trailer. I turned (the paneling) around, I patched the holes and then we painted it. We reused all the paneling, the ceiling, the insulation, the (light) switches, even the outlets...It’s cheaper than building your own shed from scratch and it’s helping the environment."

Apparently it costs $1,000 to get rid of a mobile home and Beechler claims more than 200,000 go to landfill every year with almost no recycling of them.

Magic Box

Not all prefab garden offices are made of wood of course, but very few allow such a public viewing of your shedworking atmosphere as the Magic Box. Here's what the Magic Box folk say about it:

"The Magic Box also creates innovative life styles and business environment; You are free to drive your imagination into transforming this box into your own working space or space for your hobbies. Magic Box's basic form is a cube structure which can be used in various ways, such as detached living quarters, cottages, stores, offices, cafes, etc. Magic Box provides very modern, cute, and charming space."

Offices in California and Tokyo.
Via MoCo Loco