A space with no walls...

Of course the best place to be in any weather is outside in the garden, but when your work requires 17 inches of high def screen and a keyboard it is a bit tricky in the sunshine to get a clear view of the finer details of your work, and of course in rain its a tad dangerous trying to retain composure on your blog whilst the non-waterproof extension lead fizzes with every rain drop that passes within a metre of its solder points.  So to this end and inspired many months ago when wine tasting in Totnes of all places we began sketching out our ideas for a shelter on the back of our London semi to provide just such a space.  We had a number of priorities, 1. this was definitely not to be a conservatory of any type. 2. it must provide shelter from rain, snow and some of the heat of the midday sun, although the house provides some shade at this end of the garden. 3. It must meet our ethos of supporting local traders. 4. It was be constructed from sustainable or recycled materials, and I am sure our wish list extended way beyond this but they were the key design drivers.
I love being inspired when out visiting and then coming home and developing the ideas to work for us and our space, then researching the how to of projects
that we have no prior experience of and finally actually getting our hands dirty and our every muscle achy from the graft of turning it into a reality.
We sourced the timber locally in Welling from sustainable resources and the roofing sheets are recycled water bottles turned into 80% UV efficient polycarbonate sheets and I am sure the nails and other fixings began life as a Cortina estate.
With lots of support from Pops who brings tools, brute strength, an enviable degree of energy for a  70 something chap and just a fair amount of construction know how we set about the measuring, drilling, cutting, bolting and nailing at 10am yesterday. Despite my juvenile cries of enough lets finish it tomorrow at about 5pm we soldiered on and had supper under our shiny new garden room canopy.  Whatever the weather this will be a space with no walls where we can be found creating new features and products for our business. But for now I think a reclined garden chair and a well deserved beer will allow it to have a long slow coat of looking at whilst we ponder the plants and grasses we would like to turn it into a covered garden...see creating again already...