If you're a frustrated lighthousekeeper, how about a lighthouse garden office? The Lewisberg-based Lighthouse Man site has a vast range of lighthouse-related items, including sheds (and playhouses) such as the 25' Lighthouse Tower in Cape Hatteras Stripe pictured left or the 18' Lighthouse Tower with playhouse and front porch pictured below. It comes in a wide variety of sizes and with various lighting options (you can have a conventional 60 watt bulb, a large revolving beacon or a 12V solar powered revolving beacon). The business has been up and running since 1997.
Also take a look at Lighthouse Sheds. These have a domed roof with a copper finial cap, around 19ft high. The exterior is primarily curved but includes a few dodecagon elements as contrasting accents. There is a marvellous section on the site about how an early model withstood a tornado. Also take a look at this article at The Herald about a homebuilt lighthouse shed produced by David Addicott designed to withstand a hurricane and is powered by a 100-watt bulb that makes four revolutions a minute. It comes on at 7pm and lights the back yard until 1am each night.
"Colours for walls and the bases of built-in benches and other surfaces can also be linked with the interior. When using white, or shades of white, however, go for a slightly darker shade outside, as it will always appear brighter in natural light. The colours of key plants can also be chosen to tie in with the indoor décor. Though green as a backdrop goes with anything, it would be fun to have a rose such as 'Empereur du Maroc', whose ravishing deep red blooms could be echoed by a cushion or chair cover inside, or to pick out the colours of a favourite painting in your planting."
Clarence Hamilton Creasey - gardener, writer, friend of HG Wells and shedliver for several years - is to be celebrated in an exhibition at the Sir Henry Jones Museum in Llangernyw, Conwy, which runs from August 4 until the end of September. More details at the BBC site here and here. According to the BBC:"As his retirement approached he seems to have had some sort of mid-life crisis and decided to turn his family's life upside-down. In 1929 he moved to Llangernyw to create the garden of his dreams on the side of an abandoned slate quarry. Its major asset was a magnificent waterfall reminiscent of one he must have seen in Bodnant. The river and waterfall were the focal point of what was to become a wonderful garden planted with rare and newly introduced plants. But this move came at some cost to his family as the land was rented and had no house. He solved this problem by building a shed (known as "the hut") in which he lived for a number of years while his wife Nell and youngest son Ron moved to St Asaph."The wooden house still stands today, though is in need of renovation.
"The 52-year-old countess, appointed by the Queen in June as her official representative in the county, wants to convert the building to residential use. St Albans District Council has refused the scheme, which would involve an extension, planning permission as "an unacceptable intensification of the use of the Green Belt. The countess' appeal states: "The proposed use will not cause any greater harm to the countryside than the former use." Her lawyers argue that people living in the building would deter vandals who have damaged property on the estate including the remains of the original Gorhambury House. The dispute will be resolved by a government inspector after written representations."
"An ideal shed studio would be a place where the space itself is an inspiring as well as private area. In order to hide the secret space, I designed the space to appeal to growing vines by having extrusions of ribbons for the foliage to grab onto. Over time this space will change and eventually vanish into its surroundings."
