Save 25% on the new Haynes Shed Manual

You can currently save 25% off the rrp of the Haynes' Practical Lifestyle Manuals which includes my Haynes Shed Manual (as well as fitness, space, etc) co-written with John Coupe. Let me remind you that it was described as "A thing of beauty" (and by implication, a joy forever) by none other than The Sunday Sport. For details, click here.  -------------------------------------------------
Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Black Urban Grow Pod

I wrote in the most recent issue of the Idler magazine about how black has become a popular colour for garden offices. Here's the Urban Grow Pod from Obe & Co, a design practise with its own industrial workshop facility which produces many non-garden office products too. An interesting part of its design is the curved aluminium roof, plus there is eco-friendly sheep wool insulation.

Below is what a non-black pod looks like.

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Sunday posts are sponsored by eDEN Garden Rooms. Stunning, bespoke high quality garden rooms, to suit your unique space and style

Garden room with a loom

There's a first time for everything and so here is something we've never seen before, a garden office with a loom inside it, designed and built by eDEN Garden Rooms for a client in Canterbury who runs a successful weaving business. Here's what they say about it:

Starting out as a hobby, this client’s passion for weaving had slowly began to take over the family home, with piles of wool, cushion covers and equipment cluttering up communal spaces. As the small business began to grow, so did the piles of wool, and supported by her parents, our client made the decision to take this hobby into a dedicated outdoor workspace. Not only would this give the family more space within their home, but it would give the growing business a space for focus and development; taking it from strength to strength.

It's 4m x 3m, with a large sliding door, floor-to-ceiling side window, and an adjoining storage area. Other features include underfloor heating, brushed still electrical fittings, and fully plastered and painted interior walls. -----------------------------------

Saturday posts are sponsored by iHUS Projects, specialists in the design and build of granny annexes for elderly and disabled care.

Writer's studio

An intriguing facade to this writer's studio in London by Beasley Dickson Architects which replaced a disintegrating summer house at the end of an overgrown back garden. Here's what they say about it:

"The client’s brief was for contemporary space with a cabin-like quality. The brief evolved to embody a series of elemental additions: a plinth, roof, screens and hearth alongside existing structural steels and joists that were exposed."

So the more unusual features include a stone plinth with sunken plunge pool and reflecting pond, a large triangular sliding rooflight, and various slatted timber screens which can rotate 90 degrees to stop it getting too sunny. Additionally there is a kitchen and lavatory which are cunningly hidden using timber cladding, plus an outside shower, and oak floorboards, plus hot rolled stell cabinetry.

Photos: Agnese Sanvito

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Friday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information.

Stitch Studio

Stitch Studio is a garden office for a fashion design lecturer and professor of urban design, designed by Chung Tyson and an entry in this year's AJ Small Projects Awards. It has a 15m2 footprint representing the full width of the back garden of a 1960s mid-terrace, and the exterior hand-printed Danish cement panels are inspired by stitch patterns and finished in lichen-coloured mineral paint . According to the architects, "these cloak the studio in a protective shell whilst registering changing light and weather patterns...The semi-porous material absorbs and releases the temporary pattern of rainfall, highlights the stitch pattern when wet and serves as a protective backdrop activated by dappled light and shade." The interior is lined with birch playwood and also features a clerestorey window, an eco-friendly green sedum roof, as well as a secret door...

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Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master: garden offices and studios to fit any size garden. Top quality contemporary or traditional buildings.

Deborah Levy reading aloud in her writing shed (video)

A short video made by Ana Godinho de Matos of Chameleoneye Films which features Booker-shortlisted writer Deborah Levy in her garden office writing shed reading from her book An Amorous Discourse into the Suburbs of Hell. The book is available from And Other Stories here. --------------------------------------

Wednesday’s posts are sponsored by Norwegian Log Buildings  - Log cabins and garden buildings for a better quality of life. Click here for more details.

EscapeSpace

Those of you interested in the tiny home movement may know of Wisconsin-based Escape because of their attractive tiny houses. Now, they've branched out into the garden office and studio market with their EscapeSpace range. There are three models, all of which come in a tongue and groove cedar design, LowE thermopane windows, clerestory windows, and and EPDM roof (see my recent Haynes Shed Manual for why we're fans of this approach) with additional options such as decking and solar panels. The whole thing is delivered fully built on site.

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Tuesday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, suppliers of contemporary garden buildings, offices, gyms and studios, many of which do not require planning