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Operation She Shed
If you are a regular reader of my blog, you’ll know I work from home. You’ll also know that I’ve been dreaming of a garden office for the last three and a half years.
I used to have a dedicated workspace. A room that housed everything I needed, including a GIGANTIC printer, my desk and computer, guillotines, and folding machines. Plus reams and reams of card stock and envelopes, plus various other paraphernalia that I use in my day-to-day working life.
But when I was pregnant, we decided to turn the room into a nursery for the twins. So we dismantled my office, piece by piece.
A lot of the non-essentials were boxed up to take residence in my husband’s office (25 miles away). Then I began to work from a corner of our dining room. Once a lovely, tidy, homely space, it became the home for my big ugly printer.
My desk sat in the corner of the room. And the dining table, more often than not, was covered in paper and work detritus.
From that point, I thought endlessly about having a garden office or a she shed. I wrote about it, talked about it, and pinned inspiration on my dream garden office Pinterest board.
Garden Office Lowdown
Now, if you’ve ever looked into garden offices, you’ll know that they come with a hefty price tag. For a decent sized building (and I wanted one at least 10ft by 12ft) they can start at a minimum of £3.5K.
And spiral upwards dramatically in cost from there.
Good ones need insulating, lighting, and heating.
We just didn’t have that kind of money to burn either so — after a lot of thought — we decided to go down the DIY route.
Can You Build Your Own Garden Office?
That’s the question we were asking ourselves! Can you build your own garden office?
We put in a load of research and after much discussion, we decided to bite the bullet and bought a large shed, with the intention of turning it into a garden office.
My ‘garden office’ arrived in kit form in the first week of January.
A gazillion miles away from the lovely painted building I had in my mind. This was a vision of flat-pack and was going to be a bigger job than your average IKEA wardrobe.
We’d gone for a 10ft by 16ft, so —when it was actually built — it would be a similar sized room to the one I had before.
But that was exactly it.
‘When it was actually built.’
My husband and I had limited resources, limited time and limited skills. But, we made a decision — probably a ridiculous one — to do this ourselves.
Now, I just have to point out that my lovely boy is not a builder — or a carpenter. He wears a suit, Monday to Friday, and works in an office. But we have taken on 3 house renovations (almost single-handedly). And he is amazingly talented at anything — and everything — he turns his hand to.
And I can paint.
So this is how my garden office started life. A pile of wood in the back garden.
Follow our journey to see if we manage to turn this flatpack shed into a garden office: my she shed of dreams.
This article was originally published on June 14 2016.
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.
Crikey, I never knew garden offices were that expensive! The DIY option looks quite a job, so I can only admire you and your boy for taking it on – looking forward to following the journey!
They are SO blooming expensive!!! Quite a well known garden office manufacturers boasts ‘Stunning Garden Offices – All inclusive from £9,995 inc. VAT’
GULP. Even my car didn’t cost that much!!!!
Ah it’s so exciting but must be frustrating too when it’s so near but so far! Can’t wait to see how it looks when it’s done xx
It’s definitely coming along Becky — soooo very nearly there. And you’re right — it’s SO frustrating!!!!! Arrrgh. I can’t wait to move my stuff in!!! :)
This is such an exciting project! I can’t wait to see more of how it’s progressing. How fantastic would it be to have a garden room office!?!
Gemma x
The British Feather – A UK Lifestyle & Home Decor Blog
It’s SO exciting Gemma but it’s been a long old drawn out process!! It’s taken us a long, LONG time to get it done!!
I adore projects like this! I’m really excited about watching it take shape! I look forward to future updates. #homeetc
Aah thanks so much Jane!! There was so much to fit into just one post… I wanted to keep a proper record of everything we’ve done too. So looking forward to sharing it all! :)
It takes ages with some posts doesn’t it? I keep thinking my posts will be rattled off in an hour and the one I did today took me about 4-5 hours and that after I got all of my pictures lined up for it yesterday. Note to self: stop doing posts that have tonnes of pictures and links in them. PLease tell me I’m not the only one who takes ages writing their posts!!
NO!!! You are definitely NOT the only one!!!!! I spend absolutely AGES writing my posts. And even longer, taking, choosing and editing the pictures that I’m going to show IN the post!! Whoever says that blogging is ‘easy’ has obviously never done it!!!! ;) xx
I’m glad I’m not alone!!! I don’t seem to have had any straightforward, easy posts lately! They are all massive! And even when I don’t intend for them to be massive, they end up being massive!!!
HA!!!! Mine TOO!!!! I am now virtually high fiving you ;) SO glad I’m not the only one!! LOL!! :)
This is so fantastic – everyone should have one! Can’t wait to see how it progresses. I bet it is frustrating as these projects always take longer than you hope don’t they? But it will be worth it! x
I’m totally with you — everyone definitely should have one!! :) There was so much to do — any normal person would have got a man in but it’s just not our style to do that!! You’re right though, it will all be worth it!! :)
Oh you are such a tease with instalments. I hope that you get the she-shed you desire and hubby doesn’t take it over. #HomeEtc
Aah thanks so much Helena!! There was too much to fit into one post!! And NO CHANCE!! My boy will definitely not take it over!! He’s got a proper man-shed! ;)
Oh, looking forward to seeing this project unfold Caro! More please!! Keira x
Thanks lovely!! I’m so nearly there with it!! Can’t believe it’s taken the best part of 6 months to complete!!! Gah!!!
I’m so excited to see it when it’s finally ready! I know what you mean about having a dedicated work space – it will make all the difference!
It really, really will!! I can’t wait until I’m in there! :)
Oh I so can’t wait to see your updates on your she-shed! How exciting! #HomeEtc
Thanks JO!! I have SO many pictures and film clips — it’ll take me a year to sort them all out!!!!
I too dream of a garden office – although I think mine would have to also be a potting shed of some sort, I really want one of those too. Looking forward to seeing what you do with that big pile of pieces! #HomeEtc
Thanks lovely! xx
Oh wow you guys are so brave – I wouldn’t know where to start with those piles of wood! It will so be worth it, you definitely need your home office. Good luck, and can’t wait to see how it goes! xx
#HomeEtc
We’ve always been the same — I’m not sure if it’s brave or foolhardy to be honest!!! A lot of the time it’s down to cost — so we’ve always learnt to do things ourselves. It’s lovely to reach the end of a big project and know that we did it all ourselves though xx
I can’t wait to see how this turns out, you’ve been waiting this for so long so I’m sure it’s going to be really beautiful!
#HomeEtc
Aah thanks so much Nancy!! SO excited!!!! :)
I’m so in love with this post, what a good idea. I work from home on my days off and used to work from home full time and always felt uninspired, i love being outdoors too so this would be the perfect solution. I can’t wait to see updates! #homeetc
Thanks Cydney! I’ve been so desperate to share what we’ve been doing but it’s taken FOREVER to get it in a state where I’m ready to start posting about it!! My printer and desk’s going in this evening!! :)
I am so excited to see the end product Caro :-)
ME TOO!!!! It’s still not 100% finished — I can’t wait until I get all my stuff on the walls and start to make it look pretty inside :)
Can’t wait to see your she-shed when it’s finished! We actually have a large shed at the bottom of our garden, installed by the previous owner of our house. My husband has rigged it up with electricity, so there’s now a sofa and TV down there. It’s also the place my husband and daughter disappear off to…it’s their den. It would make a good workspace for me, but I hardly step foot in it because of the huge spiders that have made it their home *shudders* #HomeEtc
Oh bless you!!!! I used to suffer with crippling arachnophobia before I got it sorted at London Zoo’s Friendly Spider Programme, so I totally understand that!! You should get it all boarded out inside so it’s a spider free zone! :)
I am so excited for you to have your garden shed of dreams! I just know it is going to be absolutely gorgeous. A little haven…amongst the chaos xx
Thanks SO much lovely!! I’m sitting in it now — still very, very chaotic but not long now before it’s all sorted!! Hurrah!! :)