Advantages of a Garden Office

Published: 20/10/2020

One of the most important aspects of successfully working from home is having the ideal spot to work. It should offer solitude, peace and quiet, and ideally a separation from normal home life. A garden office can provide that perfect home working environment, giving you a dedicated work space that’s very much separate from your living space. A garden office is also a very customisable and flexible option, allowing you to create your ideal working environment, whatever your profession demands. You can pick the perfect garden building that will fit your needs in terms of space for office furniture, windows for natural light, and a style that sits beautifully within your garden.

Why an garden office building is good for working from home

While working from home can present a big change to your normal routine, it has its advantages: no more commuting to the office, so no more extra fuel or travel costs or very early mornings, and no more expensive lunches or unsatisfying supermarket sandwiches. Working from home can potentially bring disadvantages, too, such as not having a proper desk space to work, or having constant distraction from family members. This is where an office shed can provide the perfect working from home solution, giving you a dedicated and secluded space to focus, and still maintain some much-needed separation from home and family life. It also gives you more space for storing work papers, books, files, or anything else that’s cluttering your house that would naturally live in an office space. Vice versa, it can save your family from the sounds of you on the telephone or video meetings all day, especially if they have their own work to be getting on with. It might seem like a simple solution to set yourself up on the kitchen table each morning, but that inevitably leads to being in the way at least at mealtimes if not throughout the rest of the day. Having a separate working space can do wonders for a happy home.

The garden office building – the advantages

Peace and quiet

This depends on your garden, of course, but hopefully it’s a place of natural calm and seclusion that can provide a quiet environment for work.

A view of nature

Being outdoors amongst the beauty of nature can help promote a sense of wellbeing, especially when compared with looking out at a busy city road from an office window.

More space to work

Getting enough desk space can be tricky, even if you have a spare bedroom you can use as an office. A garden study can provide ample room to have your work spread out and easily accessible when you need it.

A space for all seasons

A well-built shed is just as usable throughout the summer and winter, so you can enjoy the warm breeze and fresh air one month, and feel cosy and warm another (so long as you install a safe form of heating in winter, of course).

Cheaper than an extension

Been thinking about adding a home office for a while? A home office can offer a much more cost-effective option for creating a working space, as well as being much quicker to build, than a full bricks and mortar extension

The Log Cabin

Presenting the ideal selection of garden office building: the Tiger Log Cabin. This style of building offers large doors and windows for plenty of natural light as well as plenty of flexible space within for different working set ups. We’ve picked a few of our favourite examples that could work for different home office needs:

The Gamma – Light and airy This log cabin is perfect if you want a spacious and light environment, with its full-plane glass doors and windows. There are windows on three sides of the building to capture light at any time of the day, but still with ample wall space for placing shelving or other furniture.

The Panthera– Cosy and compact  Ideal for smaller gardens where space is at a premium, the Olympia offers a cosy working environment with light from the classic style window and door. There’s plenty of space for a desk as well as some storage for books and files.

The Sigma – Spacious and unique When you really want to give yourself the ultimate home office (and maybe pretend you’re a tough but fair sheriff in the Old West), the Sigma offers plenty of space for any working from home setup. It also incorporates a spacious veranda for getting some fresh air and taking a well-earned break away from your desk.

Take a look at our full Log Cabin range for more inspiration.

Important things to remember

Before the fun of building your garden office can begin, you need to check off a few legal and technical aspects. You should firstly decide exactly where the building is going to go in your garden, with easy access and a clear run from your house for installing an underground electricity cable. Naturally this should always be done by a qualified electrician, so it might be a good idea to seek their advice before settling on a location. Internet access is also going to be essential for any home office, so you should check if your Wi-Fi signal reaches where you’re going to be working. If it’s a bit weak, you can always get a Wi-Fi range extender that plugs into any power socket, boosting the signal range. Another important thing you should check is whether your garden building would need planning permission. Most garden offices stay below the legal dimensions that would require planning permission for a new structure, but it’s always worth checking as local rules may be different. If required Tiger can provide reduced-height versions of log cabins and many other buildings, to ensure that the height is underneath the threshold of 2.5m, in accordance with maximum height of common outbuilding planning regulations. You can find out more on the government’s Planning Portal. Creating a private space is an ideal way to improve your productivity, providing you with the peace and quiet needed to concentrate on your work. Crafting this work space is also creatively fulfilling, adding decoration and making the office comfortable are ideal ways to make that building your own. Stay tuned for future guides on making the most of your garden space.