More dads turning towards shedworking

More and more dads are taking the opportunity to shedwork and work from home generally to help or solely look after the children, claims a new study by PeoplePerHour.com. According to their stats, there are now 4.3 million freelancers in the U.K, an increase of 28% since 2007 - an estimated 2.4 million (56%) began freelancing within the last two years. Their findings include:

* 36% of survey respondents cited wanting to be their own boss/doing what they loved as their main reason for turning to freelancing

* 67% cite technology/faster Internet access as the main factor enabling their transition

* 90% admit a better work/life balance from freelancing

* The average freelancer saves 8.6 hours per week on commuting: 60% of respondents spend these saved hours for both extra work and extra leisure.

Graham set-up 6 Hats Media as a freelance marketing and business development consultant back in July 2009 and said.

“I wanted to spend more time with my wife and three children, having been part of the senior management team at Ebay for 5 years, 4 years at Yahoo and Kelkoo and consulting for various media agencies on large and small scale projects for blue-chip clients such as Kodak and Epson.

“I got tired of working from 6am to 11pm most nights when I was travelling backwards and forwards to London on the train and tube every day and working most weekends on something that had to be done or was always urgent. I felt like I was missing out on a lot of my children’s school activities (school plays, sports days) and so wanted to spend more time with them before it was too late."

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The shed with the chandelier

Artist Tracy McAlister Mackay works from her garden office in Cyprus which she calls 'The shed with the chandelier' for fairly obvious reasons and describes as "an international hub of inspiration and creativity" (it was also one of the International Sheds of the Year 2011). At the moment Tracy is concentrating on commissions for corporate and domestic interiors as well as exhibitions.

You can find more details about her shed build here and Tracy also tweets regularly about working from her garden office at @shedwithchand.

when your heart is heavy wheres the best place to be? the shed with the chandelier...keeping creative best thing to doWed Oct 19 08:13:09 via webTracyMcAlisterMackay
shedwithchand

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The Stockroom/La réserve

A lovely little shedlike atmosphere by artist/landscape architect Francoise Maire and designer Véronique Maire called 'The Stockroom'. It's an artwork built largely out of salvaged glass bottles and wood with the intriguing concept that it can be built by those watching it. More details at 'Petites Machines à Habiter' a marvellous competition where il s’agissait pour les concepteurs intéressés (architectes, paysagistes, designers...) de concevoir un prototype de cabane de jardin réalisable par le plus grand nombre en auto-construction.

Via medesignmag

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How to visualise a garden office in your garden

A nice little, free, added extra from the folk at 3rdspace: if you're not sure how your garden office would fit into your garden, just email them a photo of your garden and what size, features, etc, you'd like in your shed, and they'll put together a visualisation of what it will look like for you.

New shed twinning project

A marvellous new scheme plans to link Men's Sheds projects in Ireland (where they're just getting off the ground) and Australia (where they've been around for a while). Acccording to the Irish Men’s Sheds Association, they have recently been contacted by various Australian Men’s Sheds looking to find partner sheds in Ireland and to support the development of Men’s Sheds over here. Here's what they say: "So this is a call out to the Men’s Shed in Ireland to answer their call. If your shed or your group who are planning to set up a shed in your community would like to become partners with a well established Australian Shed please contact us here at IMSA at info@menssheds.ie and we will put you in contact with a partner shed."
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Bloot tuinpaviljoen

A lovely garden office in the Netherlands from Bloot (click for more images) which can also be used as guest accommodation. Interestingly, the wooden exterior is left untreated to encourage it to merge with the garden greenery.

Via designboom
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inShedulous: UPDATED

A step-by-step photo diary by Andrew Holmes of his garden office build which he's called 'inShedulous'. See the rest here and follow Andrew on Twitter where he's also tweeting the build. Here's what he says:

"I've been working from home for a number of years, moving from a cupboard in the bedroom (no elbow room), to the conservatory (too hot, too cold, too bright, too noisy, and I'm too messy), finally to the garage (no longer welcome - it's my wife's escape room).  Following the current trajectory seems to send me outside, and with my old friend Tom's (Fred the shed) encouragement, and with the blessing of Mrs H, the plan is to construct a shed which I can clutter up, without her having to look at it (the clutter, not the shed).

"Looked at a couple of different shed suppliers, and then ran the idea past my carpenter brother.  The original plan was to put an 8'x6' shed into the corner of the garden, and move the old tin shed around to make some space. But, after visiting an 8'x6' shed and imagining the junk I had to fill it with, the total outlay seemed huge compared to the gain. So, we looked again. In the end we decided that it would be better to fill the space on that side of the garden, so the shed is to be 16' along the back, with a depth of 8', and the front will be 12' long. The odd shaped left hand side will be used for storage, and the right hand side will be my space.

"Design and construction were handled by PlaygroundToys (part of Sawtry Cabinets) where my brother works. There are a few more days' worth of work to go before it's finished.  Recently we've added insulation to the office side in the roof, floor and walls. Electricity has been brought in via armoured cable (pig to work with), and network via outdoor grade cat5e.  Next up; plasterboard for walls, wiring in sockets, painting, fitting glass to the door (I smashed the first unit), and finding something warm for the floor.  Hopefully by the end of half term I'll no longer be cluttering up the house."

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