This is the year that Gavin and I embark upon upgrading a few things about our house. And if you’re interested, I would like to bring you lot along with me. Our house is a 1970’s three bedroom, semi detached in a fab little housing estate out in the Scottish countryside. A perfect, but very average UK house. We entertained the thought of moving recently but actually decided to stay put and make our little house work better for us. Obviously these things don’t often go as smooth as planned, but I’m happy to share what we’re shooting for as well as hiccups, budgets, before and after photos etc as we go. 
 

First up, a garden office. One of the reasons we thought of moving to a bigger house recently was to gain space. I work from home most of the time, but my work stations are either a desk in the dining room, or a desk in our bedroom. I switch between both depending on how I feel, who’s in the house, what time of day I’m working. Both small spaces function perfectly fine for my day job (here and Rock My Wedding). But I also own an online shop that requires space for stock, printing, packaging of orders etc. The location of this is not so flexible and sucks up major storage space in the house. I also can sometimes hear the screaming toddler when Gavin’s at home with Finn while I’m working. Often headphones do the trick and Gav’s great at taking him out for the day most of the time, but a separate space would alleviate all of the above issues and give Gav more freedom to stay home too.
 
Enter, the idea of a garden office. Our garden is relatively small, but we do have a patch of (what’s currently) waste ground up the back. It’s not very deep (about 2.5m) but it’s wide. The previous owners had a bog standard garden shed there. On a recent date day, Gavin and I went to see a man about our own shed (oh the romance!). The aim is to build a 2.4m x 5m building that will be 2/3 insulated garden office and 1/3 garden shed. We figured if we keep both in the same building with a partition wall between the two, it would be more cost-effective and just look tidier. Turns out, this is a pretty common construction for the shed company. 
 
Important things we need are a really good rubber roof, to ensure against leaks. We also need sturdy locks and toughened glass because the office will hold stock and computer equipment. We’re currently negotiating the price, but the first quote back has been £5k. Gavin’s keen to reduce this considering the other renovations we plan on doing, but I also have a friend who recently installed an off the shelf garden office for £14k. So five looks pretty good. There is also the option of buying online, which would be closer to £3k, but you need to build it yourself so… Sack. That. 
 
I’m wary that I’m waffling on about what is effectively just a fancy shed, so I’ll not keep you all too much longer. I’m just very excited at the prospect of having a space to call my own. A little room a few steps from the house that I can disappear into to work, decorate how I like and create a little work sanctuary out of. That may sound dull to some of you, but I am already shopping for office supplies. Probably should buy the shed first. 
 
Over to you lot. Have any of you installed a garden office? Dreamt of having one?
Any advice you’d care to share if you’ve been down this road before?
 
Also, I’d be keen to know if you want me to share all on our modest little renovation plans? Our budget is not huge, but I don’t intend to let that compromise our style. Can it be done? We’ll see. Once the garden office is dealt with, next stop is knocking through the kitchen into the dining room followed by a garage conversion to a guest room with ensuite. I’m daunted but excited by it all so soothing words of encouragement would be most welcomed. 

 

P.S. The above image is from Architectures Ideas and is not at all what my garden office will look like! The above is well bigger and fancier, but you get the idea of the split space. And I can dream!