Architects' garden studio

Architects' Studio is a fabulous build by O'Donnell + Tuomey in Dublin which has been shortlisted for the RIBA International Awards for Excellence 2026.

They quite rightly describe the 10m x 6m studio as a "shed-like structure", a freestanding extension to a late-Georgian terraced house in the long back garden which has managed to retain two birch trees and also offer views of the local Rathmines church. Features include a monopitch roof, double-height interior space, kitchen, mezzanine, a Douglas fir structure, locally sourced structural timber, a black zinc roof, and an air-to-water heat pump. 

Smashing photos by Aisling McCoy and more at the top link.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Wednesday posts are sponsored by Booths Garden Studios, the UK's No.1 supplier of zero maintenance and portable garden studios

Coppice Sauna

Shepherd's hut specialist Plankbridge still produce a marvellously elegant shepherd's hut, but in recent years as regular Shedworking readers know the Dorset-based hutters have expanded their offering into other hut-shaped builds such as tack rooms and garden privvies.

This new offering, the Coppice Sauna, comes in at at 2m x 2m, and is clad in black-painted timber (inside it's Scandinavian aspen lining), coming with a large window and glazed door. As you'd expect there is a two-tiered timber seating inside with an 8kw electric stove, a spruce ceiling, and fully insulated 70mm wall cavity to ensure a smashing sauna experiece.

It also comes in an off-grid version, fitted with a wood-fired sauna unit and solar panels. Decking is an optional extra.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Wednesday posts are sponsored by Booths Garden Studios, the UK's No.1 supplier of zero maintenance and portable garden studios

 

Aldi brings back its Work From Home Essentials range

 

Items from Aldi's Work From Home Essentials range starting from 95p will be in stores from February 8. 
 
Highlights of the range which targets shedworkers and other homeworkers include:

• keyboard and mouse (£24.99) available in beige, black and grey
• bamboo desk storage (£4.99) including desk caddy, in tray, magazine holder, and storage box, each £4.99
• whiteboard, chalkboard, or corkboard (£3.99 each) with appropriate pens 99p each
• glasses cleaning wipes (95p)
• home office pillow (£9.99)
• design socket cube (£9.99) or living wall charger (£8.99), plus two-way cable free socket (£5.99) 
• wireless headphones (£12.99)
• 3-in-1 wireless charger (£12.99)

***********************************************

Monday's posts are sponsored by Smart Modular Buildings, the UK's best garden room company

 

The end of the black shed?

Interesting thoughts on this question from Christopher Hodge who runs Shackadelic in an interview with The Times ('How posh is your shed?'). Here's the snippet:

So what next in the evolution of the super hut? Hodge predicts the end of the black shack. Most current clients tend to opt for a black painted exterior, a look that Hodge says will soon look outdated. “For me, peak painting of the shed black was probably a couple of years ago. I’m trying to convince people to be a bit more colourful. I’ve been experimenting with old lime rendering techniques and tiles and Japanese carpentry, weaving bamboo, things like that. Currently I’m really into folk art and I’m working on folk stencils.” 

Picture courtesy Shackadelic of a 7.7m x 3.4m guest house project with painted larch exterior cladding, corrugated onduline roof, with French doors and two skylights.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Wednesday posts are sponsored by Booths Garden Studios, the UK's No.1 supplier of zero maintenance and portable garden studios

The Tiny Workshop wins Shed of the Year 2025

Mike Robinson, an engineer from Plumstead, South-East London, has won the 2025 Cuprinol Shed of the Year with his The Tiny Workshop which claimed top spot in the Workshop/Studio category.

The Tiny Workshop is designed to slot neatly into a garden with limited room. Mike built the shed using two sets of heavy duty steel shelving, bolted together and clad with wood painted in Cuprinol Garden Shades (Black Ash). Splashes of colour have also been added throughout, with the inside doors and pallet seating decorated with Wild Thyme, and saw horses and a ladder finished with Emerald Stone. Two doors flap open at the bottom and top to provide flooring and handy rain protection, with an overhanging green roof to store garden tools.
 
Built over the course of a few weekends, it is a toolshed, workshop, and storage space.

“We needed a good bit of storage for the garden necessities," said Mike. "Off-the-shelf options would have taken up too much room so we went with a DIY design and build. I think it has worked a treat. It’s a creative space where I can tinker and mend, as well as have the storage space for garden stuff, kids’ games and tools.


“I designed brackets for the old spanner handles with a 3D printer. The green roof will come into its own in the next year or so too, and I’m looking forward to seeing it come to life. I’m so happy the judges loved it too, and can’t believe I actually won.”
 
As part of his prize, Mike wins an overnight’s nature getaway, £1,000 in cash and £250 worth of Cuprinol product. 

“In a difficult time of paying more and getting less, The Tiny Workshop is a shining example of what can be achieved even in the most compact of spaces," said competition founder and head judge Andrew Wilcox.
 
“This year’s winner takes the competition back to its roots of championing the simple yet effective. Traditionally, sheds have just been seen as somewhere to store your tools, or perhaps somewhere to potter and play. The Tiny Workshop takes this seemingly basic concept and turns into something so inspired but also still very practical, and truly nothing like we’ve seen before in this competition’s history.  I hope Mike can inspire sheddies for years to come, and to enter the 20th Cuprinol Shed of the Year competition in 2026.”
 
Marianne Shillingford, Creative and Colour Expert at Cuprinol, added: "The Tiny Workshop is a testament to Mike’s ingenious solutions-focused creativity. From impactful use of storage, to striking balance of colour, Mike’s shed is a first-in-class example of industrial chic."

*************************************

Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master, bespoke garden rooms and offices designed, manufactured and installed throughout the UK

 
 

Tiger launches two new show sites in Gloucestershire

Woodlands Home & Garden Group has launched two new show sites in Gloucestershire for its specialist garden building retailer brand, Tiger, in Gloucester and Whitminster.

Operated in partnership with Thermal Rooms Limited, the new Whitminster location is the third retail outlet opened by Tiger this year, taking the total nationwide to 12.

The newly-built display site in Gloucester will have more than 40 garden buildings on show, making it one of the largest garden showsites in the region. These buildings represent the full range of the Tiger collection, from the compact Tiger Tool Tower to the new Obsidian 70mm Insulated Log Cabin and a Tiger Modular custom-built insulated corner garden room.

The Gloucester site also features an extensive selection of the most popular Tiger buildings, including the Tiger Contemporary Retreat Summerhouse, modular TigerFlex® Shiplap Apex Shed, and Aura 44mm Log Cabin, available with quick Pick A Day delivery.

The Whitminster site is at Highfields Garden World, with two dozen buildings on show including a purpose-built insulated garden room from the Tiger Modular collection, and the Galena, a 70mm Insulated Log Cabin from the new Black Tiger range. The Whitminster site also features an extensive selection of the most popular Tiger buildings, including the Tiger Vista Corner Summerhouse, bestselling Tiger Shiplap Pent Shed, and Procas 44mm Log Cabin.

This latest Tiger show site and comes a few months after Tiger’s deal with British Garden Centres to place show sites in more than 30 garden centres across the UK. 

“The Whitminster show site is the perfect location for our new store," said Sam Jenkinson, Head of Marketing at Tiger, "based in the popular, thriving garden centre at Highfield Garden World. With two sites now in the Gloucester area, the Tiger brand has a great profile in the region, which will only get stronger as word of mouth spreads.” 

The Gloucester show site is at Gloucester Garden Centre, Bath Rd, Gloucester GL10 3DP and the Whitminster show site is at Highfield Garden World, Bristol Rd, Whitminster GL2 7PB.
Both are open 10.30am - 5.30pm Monday to Saturday and 11am - 3pm on Sunday. 

***********************************************

Monday posts are sponsored by Cosy Garden Rooms, the UK's No. 1 bespoke garden room designer and builder. 

The Art of Hutting by Peter MacQueen

One for your shedworker's bookshelf, The Art of Hutting by Peter MacQueen (recently published by Black and White Publishing) who presents his own BBC Alba TV show Gàrradh Phàdruig from his hut in Scotland. Here's what the publishers say about it

'Is farsainn beul a' bhothain'
There is always a welcome at the hut

Are you ready for the good life? Huts, whether in the country, by the sea or near to home, are a glimpse into nature, letting us slow down and enjoy the details of life's little things and create time for self-care, health and a sustainable way of living.

Whether you will design alone, build as a group, or just want to find the perfect spot for a restful interlude, Peter MacQueen shares his knowledge and insight on all things hutting - from foraging and places to stay, to fire making and solar panels - alongside some seasoned hutters who share their tales of the joys and challenges.

Full of tips, stories and recipes, The Art of Hutting will teach you how to create the ultimate sense of wellbeing and community, take the sting out of nettle soup and even bake the Hebridean way!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Malvern Garden Buildings offer a premium collection of garden buildings, displayed at 11 UK showsites.

UK Men’s Sheds host ‘The Parliament Shed’ in Westminster

UK Men’s Sheds Association (UKMSA) have erected a Men’s Shed at Portcullis House in the Palace of Westminster estate and will man it until March 22 in a drive to raise awareness of men’s wellbeing and the Men’s Shed movement.

‘The Parliament Shed’ has been custom-built and is designed to highlight the health, wellbeing and social benefits of community-run Men’s Sheds and the key areas where Sheds make an impact. Expert partners from partners and shedders such as the Zero Suicide Alliance and the Centre for Ageing Better are joining UKMSA and shedders from around the UK to explain the causes and promote the benefits of their work. Topics include: Suicide Prevention, Mental Health, Men’s Health and Loneliness. 

With more than 1,100 Men’s Sheds across the UK and over 33,000 ‘Shedders’, the UKMSA aims to use this platform to engage with people working in the parliamentary estate and government to raise the profile of the Men’s Sheds movement, and highlight the causes and partners engaged at the event.

Charlie Bethel, chief executive officer said: “Men’s Sheds work because they are a simple concept people can relate to. Whether it is a Shed building bird boxes or mending football boots and bikes to give to disadvantaged children in their communities, you can see a real pride and sense of achievement in everyone who comes through the door of a Shed."

In addition, UKMSA will be announcing a formal partnership with Royal British Legion at The Parliament Shed. "Many Sheds in the UK have veterans in. With the Royal British Legion we hope to increase that number by helping Sheds become more accessible, particularly for people with conditions such as PTSD. We believe this agreement will also see more Sheds opened and we can have more of an impact on communities across the UK. We are particularly proud to be working on establishing Dementia Sheds across the six RBL Care Homes," explained Bethel.

The Parliament Shed was donated by Wickes, Onduline and Power Sheds and has been adapted by Black Park Shed in Buckinghamshire for the week-long event in Parliament. Tools, equipment and supplies have been provided by Axminster Tools Ltd, TiteFix and Ronseal.

Garden studio designer Astrid Arnold wins Screwfix Top Tradesperson 2023

Devon-based Astrid Arnold, managing director and lead carpenter of TouchWood South West, has won the Screwfix Top Tradesperson 2023 competition, taking home £10,000 worth of tools, £5,000 worth of technology and £5,000 towards future training which she will use to further existing training programmes that her company currently runs for disadvantaged women in her local community.

According to Screwfix: "Astrid was a stand-out winner, with her incredibly technical and stunning carpentry work, her focus on sustainability within her business, as well as her passion for supporting women with trade skills."

Among her highlighted projects was the studio cabin pictured above. Here's what she says about it:

"The aim of this project was to build a cabin that could provide an extra outside room, feel spacious inside, used environmentally friendly materials and was well insulated. We also dismantled the old cabin that was already there, reused as much timber from it as possible in the new cabin and built a 3-bay garden compost bin with the rest. We used eco-friendly internal and external wood fibre insulation, which minimises cold-bridging, making the cabin very well insulated. The doors and windows are aluminium framed, which is the most durable option for the Devon weather! Externally the cabin has larch shiplap cladding, painted charcoal black with external Osmo wax-oil. The internal floor is made from reclaimed pine timber boards, oiled with interior Osmo white."

 

https://www.touchwoodsouthwest.com

Garden gym

A nice little garden gym recently completed by Garden Spaces which comes in at 3m x 2.95m x 2.5m, built in a small garden close to bounaries. Features include:

• aluminium French doors with full length fixed window 
• flat roof skylight
• aminate flooring 
• external finish in RHS Western Red Cedar oiled with Liberon Superior Danish oil to help arrest the silvering process due to UV degradation
• small area of composite decking in Charcoal Black with low maintenance and non-slip

  -------------------------------------------------------

  

  Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master: garden offices and studios to fit any size garden. Top quality contemporary or traditional buildings.

Garden office + Garden gym

An interesting recent build from Garden Spaces, a garden gym built in an L shape squeezed alongside an existing garden office. It comes in at 4.75m x 2.9m and to support the weight of gym equipment a small concrete pad was created. Extra plywood was attached to the walls to accommodate other gym equipment as per the client's spec. 

 

Other features include:

- screw pile foundation

- French aluminium door

- small composite decking area at the front in Charcoal Black colour

- a rubber gym floor roll, black with blue specks

------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Monday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, contemporary living spaces offering premium quality, bespoke buildings without the hefty price tag

Glasshouses at Chelsea Flower Show

Among the stands to drop by and have a browse at this year's Chelsea Flower Show is Hartley Botanic's. Although more towards the greenhouse end of the market, these are versatile spaces and can also make decent garden offices. Pictured above is their tradestand this year which displays four of the manufacturer’s handmade greenhouses including:
 
* The Opus Botanic Glasshouse in Country Stone - The largest glasshouse on this year’s tradestand with wider glass panes to give a modern look and feel 

* The Victorian Villa Glasshouse in Verona Stone - A Victorian aesthetic, with an extra door in the left and right gable ends  

* The Victorian Chelsea Glasshouse in Olive Leaf - A glass to ground design, the show model features roof blinds to both front and rear 

* The Wisley 8 Grow & Store Greenhouse in Black Olive - Includes a useful, partitioned two-pane storage area. 
 
Tom Barry, CEO of Hartley Botanic said: “Our choice of structures for this year’s tradestand, and choice of lighter colours, is a reflection of current customer tastes. We are noticing that customers are increasingly opting for light, fresh colours such as stone, pale olive and white. The structures are also more restrained in size this year which is in keeping with current pressures for all consumers."

*************************************************

SMART designs and manufactures industry leading garden rooms from our very own Suffolk factory and installed all over mainland UK

Jetson Mute: interior garden offices

We've had a few inquiries recently about interior shedworking and what's new on the market. Here's the latest from workplace furniture specialist Mute - meet their office pod for inside use called Jetson. It's made out of hardwearing but light aluminium and apparently can be put together by two people in less than an hour (and without tools) - Mute call it the "the first truly DIY acoustic pod". 

There are plenty of accessories to go with it including magnetic whiteboards and moveable bookshelves which you can install either inside the pod or on the outside walls. Comes in black and white versions, and in individual or double-benched models. 

*************************************************

SMART designs and manufactures industry leading garden rooms from our very own Suffolk factory and installed all over mainland UK

Garden office music room

 

The latest build from Garden Spaces, a music room/recording studio with acoustic porch which measures 4.5m x 3.45m x 2.5m.

Special features include:

- UPVC single doors leading to the acoustic porch

- acoustic solid door with acoustic drop down seal, threshold seal and acoustic perimeter seal -  UPVC acoustic double skinned and double glazed fixed window

- external finish in our old friend Western red cedar treated with danish oil to stop the silvering process due to UV degradation

- composite decking with step in Charcoal Black

- flat EPDM roof with aluminium roof trims

- condenserless aircon 

- acoustic vent

No planning or building consent was required.

*************************************************

SMART designs and manufactures industry leading garden rooms from our very own Suffolk factory and installed all over mainland UK

Garden music room

A recent build from Garden Spaces, a garden music room with acoustic porch in Hampshire, measuring 4.5m x 4.4m x 2.5m. Special features include:

* aluminium single doors with acoustic glazing colour leading to the acoustic porch

* acoustic solid door with acoustic drop down seal, threshold seal and acoustic perimeter seal 

* acoustic double skinned and double glazed fixed window

* thermowood cladding (kiln dried & secret fix) painted with wood stain ebony oil

* composite decking with step in Charcoal Black

* Flat EPDM roof with aluminium roof trims

* wall heater with smart control

* acoustic vent

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

 

Dark Matter garden studio

 

 

This stunning garden office (called Dark Matter) in Tring, Hertfordshire, for a design recruitment consultant comes from architects Hyperspace who describe its exterior as "a scaly biodiverse façade". Like yesterday's post, it's actually a reworking of a former garage into a 40m2 studio, rectangular with one corner chopped off. Indeed, Hyperspace has commendably managed to hang on to and reuse 95% of the structure.

The 850 larch scales on the exterior are arranged in a grid pattern and chamfered at 15 degrees to provide homing opportunities for insects and spiders. And while inside there are white oiled timber rafters and light poplar plywood panels, its charred black appearance only confirms that black is very much back in the garden office world. Also worth a mention are the centrally pivoting door, and the two light chimneys. Lots more photos at the link above and at their instagram page.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Malvern Garden Buildings offer a premium collection of garden buildings, displayed at 11 UK showsites.

Brosh Architects Studio new garden office

 

 

While we naturally report on many garden offices which are designed by architects, we rarely see ones designed by them for themselves. So it's intriguing to take a look at what Brosh Architects came up with when they needed additional office space as they expanded the company rather than spending money on renting office space in central London (as well as cutting the commute).

 

"The shape of the space was born from the odd shape of the rear garden and internal spaces were designed to fit a working office and guest room with ensuite for guests and family to come to visit as well as space for garden storage," said owner Lior Brosh. 

 

Initially the cantilever roof was not part of the design, but was added after a visit to up-state New York, USA where many homes featured front porches with hanging benches. The structure was built with blockwork walls and timber structure roof with black colour fibre-cement cladding. Internally, there's a concrete floor with birch plywood walls and ceilings so that, according to Brosh, "it can be aesthetically minimal as a working environment whilst still feeling warm and cosy on dark winter days."

--------------------------------------

Monday posts are sponsored by Tiny House Cabins. Beautiful cabins for all year round... oozing character!