Operation She Shed | #1 My Flatpack Garden Office

she shed garden office
Pipe dream or soon-to-be reality? | Image Source

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 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 — a GIGANTIC printer, my desk and computer, guillotines, folding machines, 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) and 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 an office in a garden building. I wrote about it, talked about it, and pinned inspiration on my dream garden office Pinterest board.

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 10 ft by 12 ft — they can start at a minimum of £3.5K and spiral upwards in cost from there.

Good ones need insulating, lighting, 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.

So in December of last year — after much discussion — my boy and I decided to bite the bullet and buy a large shed, with the intention of turning it into a garden office.

My garden building arrived in kit form in the first week of January.

My Flatpack Garden Office
My Flatpack Garden Office
My Flatpack Garden Office
My Flatpack Garden Office
My Flatpack Garden Office
My Flatpack Garden Office

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 10 ft by 16 ft, 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 boy and I had limited resources, limited time and limited skills. But, we had made a decision — probably a ridiculous one — that we were going to do this ourselves.

Now, 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.

PS — I’m going to be sharing updates on my garden office build over the coming months. Please join me on my journey — I can’t wait to share what I’ve been doing, here on my blog! xx

Website | + posts

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.

Home | The Listed Home Blog | Operation She Shed | #1 My Flatpack Garden Office

36 thoughts on “Operation She Shed | #1 My Flatpack Garden Office”

  1. 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

    Reply
    • 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! :)

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

The Listed Home featured publications