In January this year, my boy and I finally embarked on the project that I’ve been desperate to start since I began working for myself around a decade ago; Operation She Shed.
I’ve always wanted a dedicated work-space. Having a room in the house is OK but when you work from home — on a full time basis — you can begin to miss the separation between work and home.
Being able to close the door and walk away at the end of the day is something that I didn’t realise I’d miss so much initially. But once the boys were born — and my office became a nursery — it wasn’t long before working from a corner of the dining room began to lose it’s appeal and I began to yearn for a space of my own.
You can buy an 8ft square garden office from ‘just’ £9,999, according to one garden office company. That seems like quite a lot of money for quite a little space.
So to keep the costs down, we bought a garden building that came in flatpack form.
Then with a lot chutzpah — and some moderate DIY skills — my boy and I began the task of building a garden office ourselves, from the ground up.
Everything from creating the base for it to stand on, to boarding it out and insulating it.
We’re not building professionals; we’ve renovated our own homes over the years — and have fearlessly tackles all sorts of DIY projects — but, half the time, we’re learning on the job.
We’ve been hampered by the weather and a huge shortage of spare time, during the build, but — apart from the electrics — we’ve done it all ourselves.
I really wanted to see if it was possible to create a dream garden building, without having to sell your granny to do so. And also demonstrate that you don’t need to be a fully fledged builder either.
I’ve made a little film too, to show the first part of the project.
It wasn’t until I’d been filming for half a day that I realised my phone had a time-lapse function — doh — so I’ve managed to doctor the first part of the film and create a time-lapse effect in post production.
I’m SO pleased with how it turned out that I think I’m going to create a tutorial, later down the line, to show how I did it.
It’s such a cool thing to be able to do. Just speeding the film up didn’t give the same effect — and looked really odd next to the actual time-lapse footage.
Now, when I look at the film, I actually can’t tell the difference! Anyway. I digress.
That’s for another day!
Have a look at how we got on with building the she shed.
Caro Davies is a former art-director turned writer and content-creator, and editor behind UK lifestyle blog The Listed Home. She writes about home-related topics, from interiors and DIY to food and craft. The Listed Home has been featured in various publications, including Ideal Home, Grazia, and Homes & Antiques magazines.
Amazing idea and will really help with the work/home divide. Love the edit x
Thanks so much lovely — it’s made the world of difference!
Arghhh can’t wait to see it all finished, it must be incredible to have a dedicated work space and the fact that you have done it from scratch is amazing x
It sounds over the top but it really, really has transformed our lives!! We’ve got our home back again — and I have a little haven of creativity for all my work and mess!!!
So exciting! I love the film. It took me ages to realise I had a time lapse function on my phone. My 5y/o middle son figured it out!
Your she shed is going to be fab. The updates are brilliant.
Thanks lovely — am SO excited about my shed!! SO behind on the updates though — it’ll be Christmas by the time I get through all the posts I need to write!! ;)
This is just so exciting! I want a she-shed too! x
It sounds ridiculous but it’s totally transformed my life!!!! :)
I’m so so impressed with your skills!! I do know it’s possible to learn so many things yourself but unfortunately for me Pete is reluctant and with the best will in the world there’s only so much I can do myself. Very well done you guys!! X
Thanks Lins. In some respects it’s GOOD that he’s reluctant!!! It means that you *might* get a man in occasionally!!!! I would LOVE that!!!!! ;)
Wow, the boys did good!! Love the video and the feline helpers :)
Haha!!! The boys DID do good!!! Especially as they were hindered throughout by the cats!! ;)
Wow what a nice large space, I can not wait to see it finished. That snow though, what a pain xx
I know!! Best laid plans eh? We were so pleased to find a weekend when everyone was free to help — and then it snowed!!! *face-palm*
Looking forward to seeing the progress of this Caro! I hope those two fellas earned a large glass of something after working so hard on such a freezing day!!
It’s really come on since then Keira — and yep — the boys deserved a BIG drink after that!!! It was such a cold day!!
Oh I love this, the video is fab and the final pic of the shed makes me want it to be Christmas! It was made for some good fairy lights! Can’t wait to see how the rest of the build goes, I bet it’s going to look great! #HomeEtc xx
Hahaha!! I can’t actually believe I’m posting this in the middle of summer but hey!! Nice to see the snow now :)
Yay. Love the photos of the twins inspecting the works, and the she-shed in the snow. So impressed at you doing it all yourselves.
It’s really come on since then — can’t wait to show what we’ve been up to!! :)