When you’re looking at the best outdoor building for your needs, bear in mind the impact on your garden. A large outbuilding that has taken up half your lawn or throws the patio into shadow will put off future buyers. There’s no hard and fast rule on the optimum size but it should never look overbearing or take up more than a quarter of your overall plot.
A location away from the house is ideal for daytime use, ie, a home office, but for a child’s playroom or studio, close to the house may be better. At the planning stage, think about creating a hard pathway so you don’t churn up the grass, and plant tree or shrub screening to make it less conspicuous.
On the plus side, there’s a growing demand for well appointed outbuildings from house buyers sick of cramped live/work spaces. Even in today’s market, they can add some value and often make your home more saleable, but only if well-built rather than a glorified shed.
Some activities are better suited to a room away from the rest of the house, and a summerhouse offers a great space to escape, whether for work or leisure.
The home office is a good example. Even if you only have to walk out the back door and across the lawn to work it makes a physical division between work life and home, making it easier to work to set hours in a quiet undisturbed space. You don’t sacrifice a spare bedroom, you save travel time and possibly some of the building or leasing costs against your tax bill.
Although it may seem more convenient to design a home gym into your loft space or spare room, there are usually too many distractions to make a serious work-out possible. It’s also difficult to make a guest bedroom filled with weights and machinery look welcoming. However, check that your new building’s floor is strong enough for weights and fitness machinery.
Art studios need lots of natural light. If you have a large enough garden you can choose the location of your new building to face south or even add roof windows, as well as adding a sink, toilet or work surfaces. If your hobby uses noisy tools or requires storage space, it’s also ideal. Make sure the room is well insulated against noise, and, if you need to store bulky items, it might be worth adding a mezzanine floor inside a pitched roof building.
A garden building is also an excellent idea for a music room or home cinema, but make sure the walls are filled with mineral/glass wool insulation rather than expanded foam as this is much more sound-deadening. For a music room or home cinema, triple glazing is the best solution, as it will deaden the noise much more effectively than standard double glazed units.
Many of us crave a private den (either for ourselves or for our noisy teenagers) and again a space away from the house is often the best solution. If it’s going to be used all year round, make sure it is well insulated.
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