IKEA'S new RUMTID range: designs for small spaces

Of interest to shedworkers will be IKEA's new collection (named RUMTID) which will be launching in 2020 and aims to "explore the future needs of urban, small space living". The first products feature an all new lightweight material, and air purifiers (as well as a mini-garden, pictured top) and have a space theme.

“We want to learn from extreme scenarios and connect them back to Earth, focusing on urbanization and small space living”, said Siri Skillgate, one of five designers involved in the range who have examined capsule hotels and urban small space living for their inspiration, especially in terms of storage.

The new lightweight material is made of veneer rolled into hollow tubes (pictured above, and as a shelf). By cutting the tubes into different lengths and clamping them together, the designers say that they can build just about anything, from sofas and wardrobes to beds (and perhaps garden offices?).

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My Shire Houses

My Shire Houses run by James Heathford offers a slightly different look to many garden offices, partly because they design is aimed more at the glamping market (but still with an eye on the shedworking one too). They come in a range of sizes from 4.8m x 2.6m to 7m x 3.2m (which includes kitchen and ensuite) and with a choice of roofing including grass and wildflower. The buildings are craned into place, usually on blocks, but also with a ramp or steps.

The story behind how My Shire Houses is also worth reading, here at Disability Horizons.

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Shire Pods

Shire Pods come from Bedfordshire-based The Little Hut Company (which also makes shepherds' huts). They're built on oak skids using locally-sourced materials with sheep's wool insulation for the walls and recycled plastic bottle insulation in the floors and ceilings. Roofing optins include plastic coated steel corrugatedsheets, timber cladding, and green sedum.

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Furniture for shedworkers

New York-based designers Good Thing have released a collection of furniture aimed at homeworkers and shedworkers called Work From Home. Pictured above are the Lily Table (a cantilevered aluminium side table) by Ben Kicic and Jamie Wolfond, Shutter Lamp (with directional LEDs) by Ferréol Babin, and Clover Pendant by Earnest Studio. Here's what they say about the collection:

"With internal communication now efficient at distances near and far, proximity is not a necessary part of working on a team. With this change in office culture, more and more people are working from home. Good Thing's new collection of products addresses this shift, offering solutions that are equally suitable to the home and office, and the many home offices and office lounges that now exist between them."

Photo by Robin Stein and more at Dezeen. ------------------------------------

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Shepherds' huts, Chelsea Flower Show, and the future of sheds

An interesting piece by Alison Rowat in The Herald in which she looks at the rising popularity of sheds at Chelsea Flower Show and ponders on shedlike space in the future. Here's a snippet:

Isn’t it strange, though, that running alongside the fashion for sheds is the trend towards more open plan houses. Indoors, people want walls knocked down to make big family kitchens and “spaces” to hang out together. It’s all about the “flow”, as they say on the property programmes. People can rest, socialise, dine where they like.

Yet outdoors, everyone desires their own shed. They want to get the heck away from other people. Other people are noisy, messy. They don’t want to watch the programme you like. They talk when you want to read. All perfectly understandable feelings, but where will this desire to be alone eventually lead? In 20 years’ time every garden could look like a trailer park with a shed for mum, one for dad, one each for the children and two for granny and grandpa who like to spread out with their jigsaws.

 And here's Anne Ashworth in The Times on hipster sheds...

Images courtesy Plankbridge -------------------------------------------------------

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HUTi - if IKEA made garden offices

Surely it can't be long until IKEA bring out a garden office or garden room? While we wait, designer James Langdon has come up with his own thoughts on the matter. Here's what he says:

Ideally the product should be flat pack and have a simple assembly, the above design encompasses both these traits. Being made of a lightweight plastic dip-coated MDF assembled around a square frame. A perfectly flexible outdoor furnishing, that can be enjoyed both in the summer and the winter.

In the meantime, maybe you could hack one of IKEA's bed tents.

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eDEN Garden Rooms launch new website and shop

The fine folk at eDEN Garden Rooms have been hard at work and this week have launched a new website (with revamped branding), a shop, and a new garden office model. New features on the site include a handy process timeline and special new sections for reviews and case studies.

"The aim of this redesign was to better communicate eDEN’s unique selling-point," says eDEN Director, Rachel Wichall, "our commitment to exceptional-quality, high-specification garden rooms that provide their customers with a bespoke product, which can be tailor-made to suit their personal requirements.

A major addition is the new e-store so people can buy beautiful high-end garden furnishings (as well as a garden room) including striking aluminium and steel planters, chic fire bowls, water bowls and modern seating designs.

You can also get a sneaky peak at the new garden studio range, eDEN eDGE (pictured above), which comes with enhanced insulation, increased wall thickness, triple glazing, infra-red heating panels and lighting upgrades. It is due to launch later this summer.

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