A 7.2m x 3.5m Garden Room With Integrated Storage by Sanctum Garden Studios
Published: 9 September 2026
Reading Time: 2 minutes 40 seconds
Sanctum Garden Studios' Contemporary Overhang range is normally clad in Western Red Cedar tongue & groove (TGV) across the whole of the front. On this 7.2m x 3.5m building the client worked with the team on something different: the cedar fitted vertically in panels, each one framed by anthracite grey trims, with grey weatherboard on the elevations facing the boundaries.
The building does two jobs. The main room is an extra living space with a bar, opening onto the garden through a wide set of bifold doors. At the right-hand end, behind its own door, is a storage room for the garden equipment.
Cedar Set in Panels
Rather than cladding the full width in continuous cedar, the Sanctum Garden Studios team grouped the boards into vertical panels with grey trims framing each one. Above the door lintel, where the range would usually carry cedar, there is a section of grey instead. That is the change that makes the building read as modern: the cedar sits as three deliberate blocks against the grey rather than as a timber wall, and the natural richness of the Western Red Cedar against the anthracite grey is a smart contrast.
Within each panel the boards are set with a shadow gap between them, so the front elevation carries a run of fine vertical shadow lines, deeper than the V-joint of tongue and groove leaves.
An Extra Living Room That Opens to the Garden
Most of the front is given over to the bifold doors, which fold back to one side to open virtually the full width of the main room onto the patio. Inside there is a sofa facing a wall-mounted television, and a bar with an oak worktop and four stools where the family can entertain. On warm days the doors fold back and the room and the garden work as one space.
The interior is plaster skimmed rather than the melamine finish Sanctum Garden Studios fit as standard, then painted, with white skirting and a light oak laminate floor. The bar and the cabinets are a grey-green with oak tops, and the room has the feel of a room in the house. Walls and roof are insulated throughout, so it stays comfortable to use through the winter as well as the summer.
A Useful Storage Room
Sanctum Garden Studios built the storage into the right-hand end of the footprint, closed off from the living space and reached through a solid anthracite grey, multi-point locking uPVC door. It takes the garden equipment, the bikes and the outdoor kit, so none of that has to live in the main room and there is no need for a separate shed elsewhere in the garden.
Inside it is finished in white, with a laminate floor and a strip light overhead. The owners have fitted their own racking, making a light, clean storage room that is easy to get into and easy to find things in. From the garden the store door sits in a grey section beside a cedar panel, so it reads as part of the same elevation rather than as a shed door.
Learn More
Sanctum Garden Studios manufacture their buildings at their Chorley workshop and install them with their own team, working across the UK. To learn more about the Contemporary Overhang range, and how size, layout and finishes can be tailored to a project like this one, visit the Sanctum Garden Studios website at www.sanctumgardenstudios.com. You can also chat with the team on 01257 279 161 or email info@sanctumgardenstudios.com.
