Sheds & National Work from Home Day (UK)

Just accidentally deleted most of the images and links for this post! Here's what is left...


Ukrainian architecture found via microscopic

What an amazing building, I'd like that as a home office. Here in the UK it's National Work from Home Day today which I discovered this when browsing the great blog Shedworking. I've been wanting to use waste pallets in the rebuild of my mobile home as well as for fencing and I've spent months trying to find examples. I was very pleased when I strayed upon Shedworking (I'm a true shed lover) and lo and behold, they had this post about a pallet built temporary shelter for refugees but it can be adapted for permanent use.

If I lived anywhere else I would have been testing all my house plans by building sheds (goodness knows I can never have enough storage space) but wooden sheds are now forbidden where I live, we are only allowed to put up metal ones, though luckily a wood one was already in place when I bought the house (and a metal one, I love having 2 sheds) and the rules only apply to new additions.

On the subject of sheds (and work), I was watching The Apprentice last night. What has the Apprentice got to do with sheds you ask? Well, according to this post on Shedblog (yes, another shed blog) contestants Michael and Lindi were carrying on in a shed in the garden of the house this year before Lindi was fired. UK readers probably already knew, but that is quite literally the only piece of gossip I have heard in months. If I got a man into my shed there'd be no nooky, I'd have him fixing a cross-brace to the back wall because the shed is slowly but surely tipping sideways on the sloped ground!

My current plan, for when I'm well enough to tackle things again, is to build a dog house for Lucy to stay cool in on hot days, a hedgehog house (he/she currently has a little leafy corner but it's not weatherproof) and some birdhouses... all with different types of green roof. Here is a link to another black lab called Lucy sitting outside her green roof dog house.


Sustainable Pet: Heart cat house (found via groovygreen)


Sustainable Pet: Birdhouse, bluebird

This will be my way of experimenting what will grow well because I really hope, one day, to have a green roof on my house extension. That is a very long way off, but it seems a good idea to start getting some practice with the plants now to see what survives best where I live.

I'm planning 3 tests. One with grasses, one with succulents and one with mosses. I suspect a combination of mosses and succulents will best suit the final roof, given that parts are in the shade (mosses) and the rest is nearly full sun. I like grass roofs, but I think it would cause too much trouble with the neighbours if it got straggly and I wouldn't be up there cutting it, though perhaps a loan of a rabbit would work.


Gallie Craig Coffee Shop, Drummore, Scotland.
Architect: IB McFadzean

I started the experiment a few years ago by putting broken bits of succulents on the nearly flat garage roof that backs onto my garden. The rain washed a lot of them away (it's not my garage so I can't build a retaining lip on it) but there was moss up there already and it held some in place. They are now doing quite well, though a lot is lost due to birds always pulling out the moss. On a proper green roof the succulents would have something to root into so I could pre-grow areas before putting them on the roof. Blimey, I didn't expect to witter on so much, but I never get to talk about my building passions these days with everything on hold.