Summer is the time for making the most of your garden and many people are keen to develop their gardens at this time of year to make it more inviting and hospitable, creating a true oasis you can relax in and spend time with your family.

Increasingly there are a number of ways in which you can maximise the use of your garden with some great new products available on the market. A garden lodge can be a great way to extend your living space into the garden and create the perfect place from which to relax.

With a garden lodge, it is possible to add some facilities that can make summer a big hit. For example, why not set up a bar from which to serve cold drinks, or create a shady and relaxing place to sit and enjoy the garden. A garden lodge can be used in a great variety of ways that are bound to make your garden an even more pleasant space to spend time.

A garden lodge can also have optional extras added in order to make it even more useful during the summer months. A decked area can really help to make a garden studio space extend out into the garden, meaning you can have a great place from which to bbq, or a nice raised area to set up a deck chair to read from.

Decking also helps to create a flow between the garden lodge and the outdoor area, maintaining the same level of flooring throughout, rather than there being steps between the lodge and the garden which could be difficult for the elderly or young children.

Where to position your garden studio?

The positioning of your garden studio is an important consideration and one that can definitely help you to make the most of your garden space. Positioning a studio in the middle of a garden could make it look smaller, but it could also help to create different zones and divide your garden which could be useful, especially if your garden is very large.

On the other hand, the end of the garden is often the most popular position chosen by our customers. This obviously makes the most of a smaller garden and provides a tranquil retreat. It’s also a good idea to consider what direction your studio is facing. A south facing garden lodge will catch a lot of sun, but could be too warm in the summer, whereas north facing studios might be a bit too dark for some people.

What can be a good idea is to install some blinds that can help reduce heat in the summer or to build a canopy that can offer extra shade.

External Style

The style you choose for the outside of your garden studio can have an impact on how well it sits in your garden and how it works visually within its surroundings. We offer our customers a great range of styles to suit a variety of gardens spaces that will allow you to design your perfect lodge to suit its surroundings.

Red cedar cladding is very popular and great for creating a more natural timber look. Cedar is very hard wearing and requires little maintenance, but could benefit from being painted with some timber protection each year.

Render does not require any maintenance and can come in a great range of colours. This can be great for creating a more sleek minimal design that might suit more urban environments.

Landscaping

Any garden studio building can benefit from landscaping that will help enhance how it works with the surrounding area. Creating a patio or pathway that connects the garden with the studio is great for creating a visually stunning garden but also adds to the practicality of the lodge in its surroundings.

While it’s fresh in your mind why not book a free site survey today and start your own spring ‘grand design’!

CLICK HERE

These days we see our gardens as an extension of our house, they are increasingly the focal point of family activities and as such people are increasingly looking at ways to improve how their gardens work and make them into usable ‘year-round’ spaces.

A perfect way to develop and improve your garden is through the construction of a garden studio. These bespoke buildings offer a great range of options and allow you to create your own ‘grand designs’ project in the garden. Often people are looking at ways of increasing the usable space of their property. With the cost of upsizing being substantial in some areas and an extra bedroom often costing an extra £100,000, then it makes sense to consider how the garden can be used to expand into and utilised in order to create an extra office, spare room, art space or any other number of uses you can think of.

A garden studio can come in many shapes and forms, designed to fit in with your garden’s surroundings and to meet the requirements of each individual customer perfectly. There are however some things to consider when building in your garden, especially if you want to build without the stress of gaining planning permission. In order to build a garden building within permitted development, you will need to make sure the following regulations are adhered to

• The building must only be used for domestic use.
• The footprint of the garden building must not exceed 50% of the total area of the property.
• No part of the garden building is in front of the existing house that faces the road.
• Height of the garden building is no more than 4 metres.
• The overall height of the garden building does not exceed 2.5 metres if it is within 2 metres of the boundary of the property.
• The overall height of the garden building does not exceed 4 metres and the eaves 2.5 metres if it more than 2 metres of the boundary of the property.
• If your property is in a world heritage site or in an area of outstanding natural beauty then any buildings positioned more than 20 metres from the wall of the house must not exceed 10 square metres.
• The building is not used for the keeping of pigeons!

As long as the building meets these requirements then there should be no problem to start construction without having to contact the planning authorities beforehand.

How can a garden studio be used?

A garden studio is a very versatile building that can be adapted to a great variety of uses. Our garden studios are commonly used to create a home office, art studio, home gym, children’s play area, pool room, or music room. The possibilities are endless. We are able to discuss with you the best design and options that would meet your needs.

The office

The most common reason people choose to build a garden studio is for use as an office. With more and more people working from home, a garden office makes a lot of sense. An office in the garden is appealing for a number of reasons. A key factor is improving work-life balance and reducing the number of hours people spent travelling to work and commuting. With a garden studio office, your commute is reduced to simply walking down the garden in the morning. Having an office in the garden gives you this extremely convenient option, while also providing a certain degree of separation from your home, allowing you to disengage at the end of the day and have a clear physical distinction between home and work.

The chill-out room

Garden studios are not all about work. Obviously many people build a studio in which to relax and chill out. Having a quiet, light-filled building at the bottom of the garden can be utilised for a great number of functions, which are able to change and adapt with you as your interests or needs evolve. We have built garden studios that have been used for a great number of functions, including a yoga studio, art studio, music room, reading room. A garden studio makes a great place to relax because they are very well engineered buildings, complete with insulation, double glazing and fully decorated inside with laminate flooring, fully plastered and painted. All of these touches means you have a building you can truly relax in.

Design and functionality

Some designs lend themselves more to certain uses. For example, a pitched roof building can be better suited to use as a gym, as the extra roof height allows for tall equipment to be installed such as a multi-gym. Some local areas might have a typical traditional look for outbuildings, one such example is black timber cladding in Kent. If this is the case you might consider designing your garden studio sympathetically to fit in with the local architecture, this is something we are very happy to discuss with you and explore in further detail, getting the look of your garden studio just right is an important part of the process and one that we take great pride in.

Garden studios for special needs

Most of the studios we build are for particular functions as mentioned above. However, sometimes we do get asked to construct a building that will perform in particular special circumstances. This might include providing disabled access, such as ramps, handrails, wider doors for wheelchairs. We are even able to install reinforced ceilings if installing a mobile hoist is necessary. Reinforcements can also be necessary to the floors if particularly heavy equipment is going to be installed in your garden studio, such as gym equipment, hot tubs, pool tables etc.

Exterior finishes to your garden studio

The choice of finish you select for your studio can alter how your building works in its surroundings. Render creates a sleek and clean look that can work well in a more urban area and might reflect the style of other buildings in the surrounding location. Cladding can be chosen in a number of styles. Red cedar cladding is a popular option for wood and this natural hardwearing material fits in well in a garden setting. Other options can include Cedral cladding, stained timber, or larch.

While it’s fresh in your mind why not book a free site survey today and start your own spring ‘grand design’!

CLICK HERE

Garden lodges are an increasingly popular option for those people wanting to increase the usability of their garden and add increased value to their property. Choosing the design of your lodge exterior can have a huge impact on your garden and help to create an attractive building that will suit your garden and the surrounding area.

Getting the look and design of your garden lodge is important, especially as in most cases you will be looking at it from your home, in fact, you will most likely spend more time looking at your garden lodge than you do at your own house.

What are the important considerations to make with your garden lodge design?

The main factors that will dictate the look and aesthetics of your garden lodge are the use of different cladding or render, the choice of windows and doors and the style and shape of the building.

Our cladding is available in hard wearing cedar or painted pine, both offer a long-lasting, attractive and weatherproof option.

Cedar cladding is our most popular option. With its combination of modern contemporary looks, excellent weatherproofing and relatively low cost, it is easy to see why it has become a widely used material. We utilise Canadian cedar cladding in all of our garden lodges, which is a harder wearing product that it’s UK counterpart.

Canadian cedar cladding is grown slower than UK cedar due to the colder climate. As such it is extremely durable and stable. It has an attractive natural appearance and responds well to treatment.

Most Western Red Cedar used in the U.K. is imported from North America and Western Canada and is a PEFC Certified, sustainably sourced Timber.

Cedar cladding works especially well with dark grey windows and oak effect windows to create a modern and contemporary design. The look and feel of the building can be further enhanced through the use of decking that can extend the usability and make the building more connected to the garden.

Painted pine is another option for cladding, this could be the best option if you still want the tactile softness of wood, but would prefer to add more dramatic impact with a particular colour scheme. Maintenance is quick and easy but like all timber products, cedar and painted pine will need some ongoing maintenance in order to keep in good order and looking at its best. Cedar benefits from being fed regularly with suitable oil and painted pine will need to repainted annually to make sure it is totally protected from rain, the same way you would look after a timber fence.

Render is an optional extra on all of our lodges and can create a sharp clean look to any building, allowing you flexibility with the colour scheme. Render would normally require less maintenance than a timber finish, providing long-lasting protection for years to come. Because of the additional skills required render is not always an option from many garden room companies. We like to think that we are able to offer more choice and allow our customers to design a building that is perfectly suited to their requirements. Whilst cladding can provide a modern look and feel, rendering can be used to create something very clean and sophisticated. White render accented with grey aluminium window frames is a popular choice for those wanting to create a ‘grand designs’ modern garden building.

Windows and doors

Windows and doors are an important consideration for how your garden building will look. Coloured frames can create a variety of looks, depending on the colour of the frames and the render or cladding you choose. Our garden lodges come with a choice of either UPVC or aluminium frames, which are available as an optional upgrade. Both provide excellent thermal performance and come with double glazed units.

Bi-fold doors are a great way to add a striking element to the front of your garden lodge. Large glazed areas create a modern and striking looking building, while also letting in plenty of light. Bi-fold doors are the perfect way to enjoy your garden, as they open up to the full width of the door frame, meaning in summer you can really bring the garden into your garden lodge and feel connected to the outdoors, while in winter you can enjoy brilliant views while being behind well-insulated glazing.

Shape and design

Our buildings are usually rectangular, with the variable of having a pitched roof or flat roof. Pitched roofs can be positioned either lengthways or longways, with the latter allowing for a glazed gable end.

We are very happy to design more unusual shaped buildings if that would suit your requirements more and have built some wonderful, interesting buildings for our customers over the years. L-Shaped buildings are something we specialise in and we have built many L-Shaped buildings over the years.

L-shaped buildings have the advantage of providing a bit more extra space and create a more interesting layout that can be adapted to a number of functions. Again, this is something that not many of our competitors offer, due to the complexity of the roof structure and is one way that we offer a more bespoke, individual product.

Often the buildings we design are created for a specific reason in mind, for example, we have built lodges for use as a church hall, education centre, home gym, pool house, to name a few. Bespoke design is sometimes necessary for the way the building will be used and this is something that we are happy to collaborate with you on.

While its fresh in your mind why not book a free site survey today. CLICK HERE

Garden Lodges is well known for its wide choice of designs and bespoke buildings we have built for our customers.

We offer 3 core garden studio designs, from which hundreds of options are possible to customise and modify your design. No two Garden Studios we have built are the same, but one thing they do have in common is the level of craftsmanship and quality that we ensure for every build.

Our first Garden Studio design option is the Garden Office range. This product range is very popular for those who are building a garden studio in order to work from home. The Garden Office range is affordable, low maintenance and secure. Key features include a contemporary flat roof and UPCVu doors and windows. A small overhang and non-recessed windows maximise the space available inside the office.

Red cedar timber cladding provides a waterproof hard wearing and stylish exterior that ages extremely well and looks great in a garden setting. Starting from just £17,322, our Garden Office range represents excellent value.

Our second Garden Studio Design option is the Garden Studio range. This product range builds on the design of our offices but incorporates high spec aluminium door and window frames and premium quality glazing. The contemporary look and feel of our garden studios are enhanced through the use of slate grey frames and red cedar timber cladding, creating a modern, stylish and long-lasting building. Other external options are available including coloured render or painted timber. The shape of our Garden Studios is also customisable, meaning you can choose a square, rectangular or L-Shaped layout. Garden Studios are perfect for a great range of uses. We have built Garden Studios that function as gyms, music rooms, yoga studios, pool rooms, outdoor bars, workshops and much more. Prices for our aluminium framed studios, start from just £18,518, great value for this level of spec and quality of build.

The third Garden Studio Design option is our Garden Lodge range. With a pitched roof and fantastic floor to ceiling UPVC glazing, there is a great feeling of light and space. Our Garden Lodges are very popular for a range of uses. The extra internal height afforded by the pitched roof means that they are perfect for gyms, that might have large equipment such as treadmills, multigyms, running machines etc. Also, the huge amount of light that floods into these buildings through the floor to ceiling glazing make it a popular option for use as an artist’s studio. Or maybe you just have a fantastic view that you would like to take advantage of as much as possible.

All of our Garden Lodges are built from SIPs (Structurally Insulated Panels), these are built offsite in our production facilities in Bedfordshire. Your ‘flat-pack’ building is then transported to your site and constructed by us in a matter of weeks. Meaning minimum disruption and allowing you to enjoy your garden studio very quickly. Another advantage of using SIPs is that they are extremely well insulated, being constructed with 100mm Expanded Polystyrene Insulation, meaning your studio will be cool in summer and warm in winter.

We offer our customers a free, no obligation, site survey so that we can discuss with you your Garden Studio Design and advise you on the best options to meet your design brief. After a site survey, we get to work producing detailed floor plans, a 3D rendering of your design so you can better visualise the final design and an itemised quotation. You can also make up to 3 sets of changes from receipt of your initial design and quotation, free of charge.

While its fresh in your mind why not book a free site survey today. CLICK HERE