As some of you may recall I have been doing a lot of home improvement over the last year or so. It started when we moved our fence and reduced our driveway a little to rearrange our garden layout, which then allowed us to move the shed, a new one from www.gardenbuildingsdirect.co.uk and then create a new patio area where the old shed once stood, which still needs the slabs laying properly.

Our conservatory is finished and erected over the area of our old patio so we haven’t lost any space really and in fact gained some much needed sitting space in the sun as the afternoon gives way to evening. Before this shift around you’d have had to be sitting with the spiders in the shed with the door open to get the last few glimmers of sun.

The decking has had a clean and the mould and garden muck has been scrapped away, although I cannot for the life of me find the decking stain I was going to use on it to give it an extra couple of years life. I bought it, I know that much, but I have either left it at the hardware store or it’s been pinched or tossed away, although I find the last two accounts of where it would be a bit hard to believe as firstly our garden is now like Fort Knox and secondly you wouldn’t throw a brand new tub of stain away. The shed needs to be organised properly and you never know it might just turn up under the old tarpaulin behind the boxes, next to the lawn mower. A bigger shed seems to mean more junk, but that’s my fault not the sheds.

The sprinkler system is in.  The system consisting of one pop up rotating sprinkler which has a reach of up to twenty feet that happily soaks the conservatory windows, much to my wife’s annoyance, all the way to the pergola at the bottom of the garden, the boundary fences and the new patio (to be finished) where the old wooden shed used to be.  The bushes and shrubs around our garden are thriving from the twenty minute consistent watering they get on a daily basis now. Before we left it to the rain Gods to do most of the work, but I put the sprinkler in to the lawn to try and regenerate the scrub land that we had created from all of the construction materials we had left on it during the two or three months of building.

We decided to re-seed the lawn instead of re-turfing it due to the expense, but it is a slow process as we are doing it in sections to allow us and our highly active child to be able to use the lawn whilst we do it. So we have large areas of browned lawn that should have grass sprouting through it anytime now, before we move on to the next dead patch. Once this has been done the back garden will be nearing completion, which is a relief. It’s amazing how much hard work and time you need to put in, but it is worth it. Then next year we move on to the front garden and drive way and the veranda that clings to the front of our property, which needs stripping and staining.

And it all started by my wife saying, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if the shed was at the other end of the garden so we could actually sit in the sun in the evening?’ Thanks Sweetheart.      

My son had a birthday just the other day, he is now three.  He’s now at the perfect age to bring a playhouse in to his life and therefore a new garden building in to our outdoor living space. Since all of the work we have done on and around the house in the last couple of years is now close to completion we have found the perfect spot to erect the playhouse where his imagination can develop new worlds for him to explore and he can invent new games to play within it. It also has a slide which is over twice as long and twice as fast as his previous plastic based tower, which has been given to a friend’s child who will be able to use it for at least another couple of years, so we are saving the planet in our own little recycling way.

When the plastic tower was dismantled and lay in an unrecognisable mess on the floor the first thing my son did was walk all over it and laugh at how it wobbled under his feet. After three calls, in ever ascending tone and volume, from me for him to get off it, he finally did. I was amazed at how he took the news of the towers demise so well, although we had told him that he was getting a shed for himself (he likes visiting Daddy’s shed a lot although tools, nails and the like do not mix with three year olds ). His shed would be on legs and have a much better slide. So from just that short description he was sold on the idea of the ugly grey tower being extracted from our garden never to be seen again. It always amazes me what a three year old can understand. 

Without so much as being shown a picture of what my son’s shed (playhouse) would look like he was still very excited when the building arrived in our back garden. Although in pieces and without being told what it was he instantly said, ‘Is that my shed, Daddy?’ ‘Yes, mate. Daddy has to put it together first though.’ He smiled at me and then said, ‘Okay, put it together for me.’ There’s nothing like being told what to do to annoy you, even a three year old as cute as he is has his demands.  So for the next couple of nights after work I desperately tried and succeeded in getting it built and painted (preservative) for him for the weekend. Of course he was always saying, ‘Play with me?’ and I’d responded, ‘Daddy’s putting your playhouse together, darling.’ Our time together is precious to us both and working long hours can sometimes get in the way of the quality time (God I hate that sort of term) that we both desire from one another. But for the greater good I pressed on until completion.

By the weekend the playhouse was up and running and my son was up the ladder and down the slide ten or fifteen time in about two minutes flat and in and out of the door over and over again almost like he was testing it in some kind of European car testing facility, all that was missing were the crash test dummies and the black and yellow stickers.  The playhouse passed all of his tests and he hugged me, not because his Mummy told him to but because his world was that much more exciting and even bigger than before. He now has that place of his own to play and develop that was lacking in our home before. He has a new perspective on the garden, or is it the ocean or maybe the moon that he is looking out on to. Whether it is his castle, pirate ship or space rocket the playhouse has become in his mind for that particular time all I know is that I was sceptical that he would use it, but not now, I now understand the pleasure that a playhouse has given to my son and would give to any child.

Check out the range of playhouse available from www.gardenbuildingsdirect.co.uk   

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Some of you may have been following my attempts to make my garden a bit more user friendly. First off I moved my garden fence to expand our garden and reduce the amount of unused driveway we have. We only have one car and did have a driveway that could fit three cars, it made sense.

Then my gate blew off in the high winds a few weeks ago. The gate then swelled in the damp conditions and didn’t fit properly and my wife kept complaining about it being stuck and she couldn’t get her bike out.

I’ve finally put the post tops on and put on the anti swing through wood strip on the outside of the post, so hopefully the posts look finished and the gate won’t blow through any more.  I’ve also fitted a few cover strips to disguise the butchery job that I had to do to trim it down to fit once it had swelled.  These all still need painting though.

I’ve also been working on a sliding flap to close the hand hole that we needed to be able to reach the combination lock on the gate so it can be unlocked from both inside and outside, by those that know the magic number that is.

Next spring we intend to lawn the extra land we have acquired by moving the gate and fence and finally getting the new 8 x 6 shed and put it on the area of slabs that I have already laid. Once the shed is in place the old decrepit wooden shed will be removed and burnt or made in to shelves for the new shed and in it’s place a we will install a nice little raised seating and barbecue area next to the grape vine that has taken full hold of the pergola.

The snow has halted most garden activity and the lawn is now white and fluffy. The garden is really pretty in the coverings of winter and even the unfinished dirt space that has been left after all my hard(ish) work has a uniformed look with the rest of it.

If I had any sense I would have taken a lot of pictures this year as we made the transformation happen. Unfortunately I did not. So there is nothing to document that I-none-D.I.Y.-man has done all of this on my own with only my wife and son watching me muddle through the whole process.

For all new projects I must remember to take pictures.  Well, that’s next years plan.

For all of your garden building needs.

Winter has a way of dragging you down. The weather is bad which means you need to wash your car more often (a pet hate of mine) and the days don’t seem to have any light in them. So there is no time to get in to the shed to snatch up my bucket and sponge.  The summer holiday you had (don’t mention caravans) seems so long ago that it never happened. The only thing to look forward to is Christmas, but you know that there will be an awkward moment with the relatives that couldn’t be bothered to see you all year long, but with the whiff of a turkey dinner and the knowledge of a gift that they know you can’t afford with their name tag on it waiting for them they still all flock to your door.

And now there is the snow warning (At the time of writing this article the UK has been warned of a nationwide blanket of the white stuff landing all over the place causing chaos and much disruption).  I love the snow and love watching my son try and wade through it, which is hard work as he is only 2.3 years old. Last time we had a decent sprinkling of the frozen water kind we were on holiday (log cabin this time not caravan) and it came up to his middle.  It was fun for about one minute before he got too cold and began crying.

Times are hard and money is tight, everyone knows this, and when the calendar ticks round to January the powers-that-be have made the decision to put up VAT by 2.5%. Yippy! How this will save the economy I, a simple man in his shed, has no idea.  Surely this will put prices up and therefore people will become more selective with what they buy or rather can afford to buy.

Garden centres and DIY stores will feel the hit next year, of that we are sure.  Given the short length of time we all have left before the belt is tightened another notch, we should consider what we might be thinking of buying in 2011. I, for one, will be getting the new garden shed I’ve been threatening for the past year, pre the Janruary madness .  We may even dig deep to get our son his birthday present a wooden playhouse. His birthday isn’t until July, but we think that we will be priced out of most things next year and should either commit to these considered purchases now or forget about it completely.

Whatever happens this winter has brought with it a darker presence than before with the malevolent and impending price hikes to come.  You can, however, beat the VAT rise and grab a bargain at: www.gardenbuildingsdirect.co.uk. Luckily garden buildings and wooden sheds are exactly what I am looking for.

August.  All I can think of at the moment is, August and how poor the weather has been so far.

Given the time of year I was expecting to be spending my weekends and evenings, during the week, having barbeques and sipping chilled wine in the sun and evening sun, but no, rain, more rain and the occasional thunderstorm and no barbeques.

We don’t have a conservatory at the moment, although my wife intends to slap one on the side of the house before we move, which will probably be a year after we have enough money to have such an extravagance. We have a hexagonal gazebo that is about twelve feet across, which fills a fair amount of room at the house end of our garden, serving as our conservatory.  It normally stays erected from June until September, giving us much needed shade from the British summer sun, of course I joke. 

I normally put it up on my own and it only takes half an hour or so.  It was a nice blue colour when we were given it and it has done really well over the last four years, although the blue has gone and been left by a shade of beige that puzzles me, blue to beige – how’d that happen?

I had noticed that that the wind had been driving it a bit hard just recently.  The gazebo rests on our patio and a couple of the legs are on the lawn giving that area a good cover from the elements and therefore the grass always starts to die underneath it.  The gazebo, because of it’s position, is tied to the fence and house and only a couple of the legs are staked into the ground and tethered down as the instructions would have us do, hence the concern about the wind.

The weather has been so bad over the last few weeks and the rain has tried it’s hardest to drag the whole structure down to the ground.  The pockets of water that fill on the top of the canopy have now been given a health and safety warning notice for the pet cat to adhere to, ‘Do Not Sit Under Here Moggy!’ She can’t read of course especially as she’s blind, but although the sign doesn’t really exist, it might have been a good idea for one day last week as one of the pockets of water was blown up and off the canopy top and landed, full force, down on the cat.  If you’ve ever seen a cat jump with fear and marvelled at how high these animals can spring from a laying position you would have been mightily impressed by my cat’s ability to do this feline trick.

I did laugh at the sight of our soaked cat, but then realised quickly that muddy paws and wet hair was about to ransack the lounge.  I didn’t laugh, however, when I got home last night to find the gazebo gone.  It had been raining hard and the cyclonic wind that whips around our house now that I have moved the fence has been lifting it quite high off the ground.  I’ve been lazy and hadn’t retied it or re-staked it into the ground and because of this I feared the worst.

Through my mind ran the scenarios of where the metal framed wonder had disappeared to.  Like a scene out of the Wizard of Oz I thought in horror that it had gone over the fence, maybe even down the road – a bit, and landed on someone wearing stripy socks (we have just seen Wicked in London so the imagery was still fresh) and following on from that a visit from the police and definitely a letter from someone’s solicitor who now had a white rod embedded in their arm, leg or head.              

My wife then had the audacity to say, ‘I wondered if you’d notice.’ She had taken it down, all on her own, with our two year old wrapped around her legs trying to stop her from doing anything that didn’t involve him. ‘I’ve just tossed it in the shed for now.  You can put it away properly later.’  Thanks.

So August has been miserable. I have once again failed to make the most of my summer in the garden.  The gazebo has probably seen it’s last summer outing and my wife’s need for a conservatory has been increased.  My cat is now scared of even more things she doesn’t understand and our new garden furniture that has been nicely covered by the aforementioned garden structure is now fully open to the elements. On the plus side I haven’t inadvertently killed the Wicked Witch of the East.  

Over the last couple of weeks I have been erecting a fence to extend my garden in to my over large driveway.  Before I had room for three cars and now I have room for two and because I only have one car, although an estate or station wagon as our American cousins might call it, this loss of driveway is not going to affect my parking space. My parking ability will still not improve, however.

This is my first fence erection. I am proud at the fact that I have begun to become my Dad.  By that I mean that he is a builder by trade.  He built his own house and can pretty much do anything, plastering, plumbing, building, carpentry you name it he can do it. Recently he put our new bathroom in.  It only took us a year and a half to save up for it and it took him three weeks to put it in.  Three weeks, you might exclaim, but he did a top notch job. He put real effort into it and for that my wife and I are extremely grateful.

This brings me back to my fence of which I am proud of saying ‘I am building myself.’  After three weeks the first four panels are still standing and the posts are all up right and true, which is amazing for me. It has taken me this long to get this far due to the weather, my Son’s birthday weekend, my anniversary trip away and a pulled tendon in my arm, oh and digging the post holes in the wrong place, hence the bad appendage.

By putting up this fence and turfing the once unused driveway our house will have more garden space for me to mow and my son to play in.  He is now two and his garden toy collection is getting bigger.  By bigger I mean climbing frames, slides and goal posts.  We have a poor lawn now, which will soon become much worse, a wasteland of dying foliage I predict.    
We intend to replace our twenty year old shed, which was falling apart back when we moved in, three years ago.  We are going to get a bigger one and utilise the new garden area for the purpose of repositioning this much needed improved garden storage building. Where the old one stood we are going to, according to my wife, use that space for a patio, seating and barbeque area, by we she means me. ‘You’ve built a fence, you can do anything, Honey’ my reply was ‘Hmmmm’ (spoken in a sarcastic under my breath kind of tone).

Okay, enough, my point is this; when you look at your garden you see the layout set in stone, or soil and flowers if you will. It may be hard work to change things around, my arm is testament to that, but the effort can be very rewarding, not only in accomplishing something for yourself, building a simple fence has made me feel better about myself although my arm is still complaining and I fear I may be over egging the blood part of the ‘blood sweat and tears’ saying at this point, but also you can gain much more from a little shift around.

By utilising wasted space in my our garden, driveway as it was, I can now make use of a larger shed, which no one will really see as it is hidden away by the side of my house and through the laws of perspective I will have a much larger garden and therefore feel like my modest semi-detached house has rather expansive grounds for such a dwelling.  We will acquire a new seating area, yes I gave in to the missus, and a whole new dimension to our outdoor living will open up.  

So next time you are struggling for space, your shed is starting to crumble under the weight of it’s possessions or you feel fenced in (see what I did there?) take a look at how you can move things around and see if repositioning your garden structures could make better use of your outdoor space.

www.gardenbuildingsdirect.co.uk 

Recently a television advert promoted the idea of using your garage as a home cinema or maybe your very own pitch side seat for the world cup; albeit through a high definition television screen with surround sound system, comfy lazy boy and beer fridge. The question that popped into my head when I saw this advert was, ‘But where would you put the car?’

Okay I know that most garages these days do not actually house a car and are instead used as the owner’s very own dumping ground full of boxed debit collected and stored during a lifetime of hording. But, what if you could designate a place, a sanctuary you could say, that fulfilled the requirements of our growing stay at home culture as our wallets are tightened and our pound stretched?

I have always wanted a home cinema, I mean a real cinematic environment akin to the local multiplex, but without the high ticket prices -anyone seen a 3-D film recently? – the obnoxious younger generation and their inconsiderate behaviour and all the other annoying points that make cinema going an irritation and not the delightful experience that I recall from my childhood.

So how can we accomplish this? How can we bring the luxury back to our lives? How can we build this dream of going out without leaving the home, to visit that place and it’s comfortable surroundings that give us pleasure through the sporting world or cinematic arts?

All we need is space and an appropriate building to house our little dream. A log cabin would be amazing, but a larger purpose built shed would do just as well. The right size would have to be purchased, but a 10’ x 8’ building would do the job well.  A bigger building would allow for additional uses and a larger range of faux leather furniture to recline in your very own brand new, home entertainment centre.

Decorate the building right, put up some blackout blinds, run some power, hang that wide screen HD LCD Television, place the surround sound speakers in their optimum position, line up your comfy chair and plug in the beer fridge for your foray in to self indulgence as you sip your own choice of proverbial poison and flick on the latest block buster from Hollywood or watch your national football team carve their way in to the sporting history books.       

But first you need a building... http://www.gardenbuildingsdirect.co.uk/Log-Cabins

The news is full of doom and gloom about the terrible winter we are having, although we are only in the second week of bad weather.  Swine flu has gone, the Iraq war is over and Afghanistan is now a peaceful place once more, or so it seems.  Instead of the news that has dominated the airwaves for the last couple of years we are being bombarded by reports of a small bit of white stuff falling from the heavens which has, once again, ground Britain to a halt in a matter of hours.

The first wave of bad weather has come and gone for most, but the weather people who failed to predict it in the first place are saying more is to come.   One thing comes to mind, other than the fact we all can’t cope with snow in this country, is that there is a stronger need to be able to work from home for quite a large proportion of the snow bound workforce of the U.K. 

Technology has come a long way when it comes to networking and PC based office work.  Computers are smaller, much cheaper and more powerful.  The ability to connect to the office is only a click away and with file sharing and networking more widespread than ever we could easily continue to do our jobs from the comfort of our own home.  I for one could be writing this anywhere and could post it to the internet from on a plane for all anyone knows.

With the snow falling and blocking us all in and industry losing millions daily isn’t it about time we figured out that we don’t all have to lose a day’s pay because we can’t get to the office, especially if we had thought ahead and invested in a home office.  If we had a designated and ‘hooked-up’ area of our home that can easily allow you to work without going to the office then business would continue to run even in the whitest of winters.

But what are the best solutions for home office working? Working from a room in your house may not be the answer, especially when the kids are home from their closed school. A more convenient and more productive place to work is undoubtedly the garden office.  You will still need to be able to separate your home and working environments to be able to keep productivity high.

By utilising a log cabin or converting your garden shed you will be giving yourself that distance from your home without having to leave your property.  Snow wouldn’t be an issue, loss of pay wouldn’t be a worry and we might not be too bothered about the wet white stuff falling so annoyingly during winter.

To view a range of excellent Log Cabins fit for use as a home office visit: http://www.gardenbuildingsdirect.co.uk/Log-Cabins

If you want to go down the shed convertion route visit read our popst insulation: http://www.gardenbuildingsdirect.co.uk/blog/post/2009/12/02/A-Brief-Introduction-To-Shed-Insulation.aspx

BillyOh Tongue & Groove Apex Shed  BillyOh Classic Overlap Pent BillyOh-Country-Plant-House-Potting-Shed

This problem always comes up every year.  You buy a shed, nothing special, wooden framed panel building felt covered roof, but you want to be able to use it all year round and not just for chilling your Christmas beer during December. 

Sheds are much more than just a storage place in the modern garden.  They have become a special part of the home, or rather an extension of the home, where hobbies and activities have taken over from the usual resting place of the lawn mower.

The autumn and winter months are long and cold in Britain, probably not as wet as most people believe, but the cold is the real reason that the shed then becomes a neglected place and therefore a lot of creative time is lost to our dismal weather.  Imagine what all of you artisans could achieve if the shed was a much more inviting place to potter, construct and escape to - if only it was warmer.

Insulating your shed to improve it’s ‘comfiness’ during the cold periods of the year couldn’t be easier.  Using a roll of bubble wrap stapled to the inside of the shed is a nice, easy and inexpensive way to boost the cold prevention qualities of your garden retreat. The stress relief potential is also high, pop, pop, but remember each pop takes a little away from it’s insulating properties.

You can go further though and use products such as mineral wool to line the walls and then plaster board over. But be aware that you’ll probably knock a hole through it in no time so a hard board, OSB or MDF would be more appropriate.  Also the smallest amount of moisture will make the plaster board swell and deteriorate.

Polystyrene sheeting, at about two inches, between the framing will work well too to block the chill. Cover it with polythene, then a 12mm plywood board finished off with paint will protect the inside of the shed and keep it much warmer than if left uncovered. You will also get a handy winter snow scene from cutting the polystyrene sheets to fit the panels, which will impress the kids.

The greatest loss of heat from your shed will come from the floor, ceiling and windows.  Shed roofs can be covered in the same methods as the walls, but make sure you secure those boards above your head really well.  Silver insulation foil could also be included in your packing of the roof to reflect your own body heat back down from above.

For the windows you could go to the expense of fitting double glazed glass, but using UPVC will knock a lot of the heat loss away.  The floor is where most of the cold will enter your shed, also water can make it’s way through the boards if they are resting on the ground or if water is allowed to pool under them.  Raising your shed higher up above ground level, and the lying water, will counter this, but you will also need to consider insulating between the bearers with strips of polystyrene or using carpet underlay with boards over the top on the inside of the shed.  If you really want warm feet you’ll need to invest in under floor heating.   

You can spend as little, and do nothing, or as much as you want to make your little hideaway, or hobby room, or workshop warm for the winter. Consider the costs and the work involved in fitting the shed out and whether you really are going to make the most of the winter months before forking out for insulating your shed.

Britain has produced some of the world’smost famous pioneers from engineers to scientists, and adventurers to artists and to celebrate achievements made through these industrious and brave souls Garden Buildings Direct has given the name of Pioneer to the new range of BillyOh log cabins.

BillyOh Pioneer Raleigh Log Cabin

Garden Buildings Direct has developed it’s catalogue of leisure buildings with the introduction of two new products in the 28mm interlocking board range.  Firstly we have the BillyOh Pioneer Raleigh Log Cabin, which is a new design reminiscent of a Swiss chalet, but with the trademark BillyOh doors and windows finishing off the styling.

BillyOh Pioneer Darwin Log Cabin

Secondly we have the BillyOh Pioneer Darwin Log Cabin, another 28mm board log cabin, which is one of our big ones at 16' 4" x 17' 11" and it has eight windows as well as the usual double doors.  This building allows for more natural light to flood in to it than any other log cabin and truly is evolutionary.  The verandah adds an extra dimension to the building to give it even more versatility and class and which also contributes, along with the roof design, to giving this building an Australian homestead look.

The Pioneer range has been developed from the BillyOh Frontier and BillyOh Pathfinder log cabin ranges that Garden Buildings Direct has become famous for and the quality and craftsmanship continues in to this new line of luxury, but affordable, garden leisure buildings.

Why not take a closer look by visiting the log cabin’s individual product pages for a detailed look at these two new pioneer inspired log cabins.

Click here for product details on the BillyOh Pioneer Raleigh Log Cabin: http://www.gardenbuildingsdirect.co.uk/Log-Cabins/BillyOh-Pioneer-Raleigh-Log-Cabin   

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product details on the BillyOh Pioneer Darwin Log Cabin: http://www.gardenbuildingsdirect.co.uk/Log-Cabins/BillyOh-Pioneer-Darwin-Log-Cabin