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Shedman on tour

Shedman - the poet John Davies - will be in residence in his shed at Ledbury Poetry Festival from July 4- 13 at Ledbury Herefordshire (so he's there for National Shed Week). Join him to celebrate that great icon, the shed. For those of you who don't know his work yet (and if not, why not? You can buy his latest book of shedlike poems via the link below) John Davies is a writer who's inspired by all kinds of shed from garden sheds and aircraft hangars to shed antlers and skins, shedding tears or shedding light. Everyone, he says, has a shed story and Shedman invites anyone to come into his shed and bring poems, anecdotes, stories, drawings, memories, fantasies and photos to create a living installation and contribute to his book Round Britain by Shed. John's a nice chap and if you're in the area, please do drop in and say hello.

The business of shedworking - part 4

In his penultimate look at the business side of shedworking this week, Alan Young of 1st Addition Accountancy looks at Moving On:

"This is where shedworkers can afford a little smile. If we treat a room in our house as 100% business, and claim all of the costs involved with that room, then, when we sell our house, the profit attributable to that part of the home will not be eligible for Private Residence Relief, and may be subject to Capital Gains Tax, if it exceeds our annual exemption.

If, on the other hand, we claim 100% of the costs of our garden building, because it is not classified as part of the house, there is no liability to Capital Gains Tax. Another word of warning; a shed or other garden building will not be classified as a separate building for tax purposes, as long as it is within the ‘specified area’ of the garden (currently half a hectare, or a little over an acre). If your garden is larger than this, then you will need to be wary of the potential tax implications."

Alan also runs a useful blog which is well worth a browse

Small and The Joshua Tree

While Hangar Design's Holiday Homes models don't actually offer a specific garden office possibility, they do seem to have a strong shedworking aesthetic. Above is their Small design which they describe as "like a hotel room surrounded by nature", features a minimalist interior and has no kitchen which is apparently "for those who wish to experience complete relaxation on holiday".But Shedworking is also intrigued by their Joshua Tree fit out, below, which was featured recently by materialicious.

National Siesta Day

Just some advanced warning for the marvellous annual National Siesta Day which takes place next Wednesday, June 25. As regular readers will know, Shedworking is a fierce advocate of working smarter, not longer in your garden office (or similar shedlike atmosphere) and a siesta every day helps to do just that. For more on siestas and homeworking click here. More news on the big day.

Visiting New York - NYC Tours

While New York may not seem to be the centre of the shedworking world, Shedworking has recently featured a clutch of interesting Manhattan rooftop shedworking structures and of course there is also The Museum of Modern Art's summer exhibition Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling (20 July - 20 October 2008) to visit which features various prefab structures of interest.

And while you're there, you're bound to want to take a tour of the city. One way of doing so is on a hop-on, hop-off bus tour with NYC Tours who have numerous colourful double-deckers (featuring top deck-only seating and a state-of-the-art public address system with speakers located under every seat,) whizzing around the must-see sights of the city. There are also a number of special packages (harbour cruises, museum visits shopping tours, night tours, etc). Tours vary in length but are usually around two to three hours.

So for example, on the Downtown Tour you get to visit Times Square, Madison Square Garden, Macy's, Empire State Building, SoHo, Chinatown, Little Italy, Lower East Side, United Nations, Rockefeller Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Broadway Theatre District. And if the weather's rotten ponchos are provided and there is also a removable, see-through canopy to keep you warm but still let you see.

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Andrea Zittel

That most lower case of sites designboom reports on a new show featuring the work of Andrea Zittel and Monika Sosnowska
at Schaulager in Basel. Zittel is not only one of Treehugger Lloyd Alter's role models but among her eclectic work are some great shedlike structures which would make intriguing garden offices. Pictured above is her A-Z Homestead Unit and below is her Escape Vehicle.For more background details about Zittel, take a look at this excellent piece in the New York Times but her own site is very interesting too. Here's what she says about it:

"The A-Z enterprise encompasses all aspects of day to day living. Home furniture, clothing, food all become the sites of investigation in an ongoing endeavor to better understand human nature and the social construction of needs."