A micro garden office and hobby room by Cabin Master
A 2.8m × 2.3m garden office in Nottingham that works as a professional home office by day and a model-making room for the owner and his son out of hours.
A small garden office doesn’t have to do just one job. If you think about how you’ll use the space at the design stage, even a micro office can work hard in more than one way, and that plan becomes the basis for where the doors and windows go.
This Nottingham project by Cabin Master is a good example. At 2.8m x 2.3m it is a professional home office during the working day, and out of hours it is where the owner builds scale models with his son, a way for them both to wind down. Small enough to tuck into the corner of the garden, it sits comfortably without feeling imposing or taking space from the lawn and borders around it.
At a glance
- Size: 2.8m × 2.3m, a micro garden office of around 6.4sqm tucked into the corner of the garden.
- Built for: working from home by day, and building scale models with the owner’s son out of hours.
- Construction: insulated, fully wired and double glazed for year-round use, installed in two days.
- Finishes: Redwood cladding and anthracite grey uPVC outside; grooved wall panels in Potting Shed and a Light Chestnut laminate floor inside.
- Company: Cabin Master, who made the building at their Derbyshire factory and installed it with their own team.
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Planned around how it would be used
Cabin Master design every building to order, sized in 100mm increments, and offer a great deal of flexibility in where the doors and windows go and which styles are used. That is most useful when you already know the furniture you’ll be putting in and the view you’d like as you work, because both can be designed in. This owner knew both: a computer desk on one side, a modelling bench on the other, and the garden in view from the desk.
A glazed corner beside the desk
On the front elevation, a uPVC sliding door sits alongside a fixed full-height window that turns the corner onto the side wall, so the corner of the building is glass. The frames are anthracite grey outside and white inside.
The computer workstation sits right beside that glazed corner. When the owner is at the desk, the garden is in view beside him and the desk gets good natural light to work by.
A twin workstation for model making
The opposite wall has been fitted out for the hobby. A long desk runs the length of the wall with room for two to work side by side, a set of drawers beneath it, and three long shelves above for books and model kits. In a room this size, taking the storage up the wall keeps the floor clear and still gives the pair several metres of shelf space.
Inside, the grooved wall panels are painted in Potting Shed, a soft green, over a Light Chestnut laminate floor. Four dimmable spotlights are set into the ceiling, so the light can be bright for close work at the modelling desk and lower for an evening session.
Insulated for year-round use
The building is fully insulated and wired, with double-glazed doors and windows, so the owner can work in there comfortably in January as well as July. Cabin Master manufacture their buildings at their Derbyshire factory and install them with their own team, and this one took just two days on site.
Redwood cladding
Outside, the building is clad in vertical Redwood. The name can mislead: this isn’t the Californian redwood tree but European redwood, the timber trade’s name for Scots pine grown in Scandinavia and northern Europe. Slow growth in a cold climate gives it a tight, even grain and good stability. It has warm brown and honey tones, with a visible grain pattern and the occasional knot, and it sits naturally against the red brick of the surrounding walls. Left untreated it will mellow towards silver over time; a UV oil holds the warmer colour for longer.
A canopy with a sunshade
The roof overhangs the front elevation to form a canopy over the doors, a familiar Cabin Master detail. Two LED downlights are set into its underside to light the entrance after dark.
The owner has also added a detail we haven’t seen before on a garden office. A collapsible sunshade is fitted beneath the overhang, so on a hot summer’s day it can be drawn down to shade the glazed corner and keep the sun off the desk, then folded away again when it isn’t needed.
Learn more about Cabin Master
Cabin Master designs and installs garden rooms across mainland UK, with manufacture at their Derbyshire factory and installation by their in-house team. To see their buildings in person, visit their show sites in Nottingham (Stapleford) or Studley (Warwickshire), open seven days a week with over 50 buildings on display. To explore their range or discuss your own project, visit cabinmaster.co.uk, call 0115 932 8888, or email info@cabinmaster.co.uk.
