The idea of adding a bar to your garden building really took off during lockdown and if you're thinking of going down the same path, Smart has put together a nice brief look at half a dozen ideas to help you along the way, from conventional bar and cocktail lounge (pictured above), to bar spa and glass bar. Well worth a browse, though take it easy if you're considering adding one to your garden office.
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An intriguing report from the Office of National Statistics about its 2022 'inflation basket of goods' - the 700+ items that it uses to measure the changing cost of living in the UK - suggests the rise of shedworking and general uptake of 'non-traditional offices' has been responsible for some major societal changes.
Perhaps most attention grabbing is this statement. "The increase in homeworking has seen sales of individual cakes decline in favour of multipacks, so our representative sweet treat, the single doughnut, is leaving the basket this year."
ONS head of economic statistics Sam Beckett added: “The 2022 basket of goods sees some really interesting changes, with the impact of the pandemic still evident in our shopping habits. With many people still working from home, demand for more formal clothing has continued to decrease. So, men’s suits disappear from the basket and are replaced with a formal jacket or blazer."
If you are wearing more blazers and eating fewer doughnuts, we'd be interested to hear from you.
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Salford-based abstract artist Rachel Camilleri known for her bold colours and textures is also the proud owner of a Swift Garden Rooms garden studio, "where creativity flows and the magic happens!" as she puts it. Studio appointments are available on request to take a look at her artwork more closely if you are interested in buying.
I’ve got a new commission and it’s my biggest yet 🙌🏻👊🏻 Can’t wait to get started on it. Thank you @lovetoframeuk for creating this canvas for me 💜 #ihavethebestjob pic.twitter.com/OZaexvIyjb
— Rachel Camilleri Art (@rcamilleriart) March 15, 2022
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Although external garden office colours go through their fashions, Shedworking HQ staff always enjoy a really good green one. Here's an example from Garden Spaces in Swiss Cottage, London, coming in at 3.7m x 4m x 2.5m.
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Tuesday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, suppliers of contemporary garden buildings, offices, gyms and studios, many of 
Dinah Johnson who runs the marvellous Handwritten Letter Appreciation Society from her writing shed garden office has organised a postcard fundraiser for the Disasters Emergency Committee Ukraine Appeal.
It's a simple idea. You donate £5 and Dinah sends you - wherever you live in the world - a lovely postcard of her Letter Writing Shed written by her, the founder. All proceeds (after postage) go to the appeal to help the people of Ukraine. You can pay at her site by PayPal by clicking here or if you live in the UK you can also send a cheque made payable to “The Handwritten Letter Appreciation Society” to PO Box 9347, Swanage, Dorset, BH19 9BG.
"Thank you so much for considering sponsoring a postcard," says Dinah. "Writing postcards is one thing I know I can do."
We've done it here at Shedworking HQ and we hope you will consider doing so too.
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While by no means all artists are shedworkers, the artist's studio is still a staple category in the garden office world. There's a particularly interesting exhibition on at the Whitechapel Gallery in London which looks back at a century of artists' studios (with accompanying catalogue, pictured above). Here's what they say:
Whether it be an abandoned factory, an attic or a kitchen table, it is the artist’s studio where the great art of our time is conceived and created. In this multi-media exhibition, the wide-ranging possibilities and significance of these crucibles of creativity take centre stage and new art histories around the modern studio emerge through striking juxtapositions of under-recognised artists with celebrated figures in Western art history.
Plenty of the usual suspects including Francis Bacon, Pablo Picasso, Egon Schiele and Andy Warhol, as well as more modern folk such as Walead Beshty, Lisa Brice and Kerry James Marshall. There are paintings, sculptures, installations and films focusing on the studio as workplace and worthy of note is a series of ‘studio corners’ that recreate the actual environments where these fine artists worked.
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