Kennedy Garden Retreats have caught our eye with their range of modular garden rooms that can be personalised around each customer. Their Windsor design particularly stands out amidst contemporary garden room options, thanks to its unique exterior finishes and meticulous detailing.
Composite Cladding
More and more of the garden room projects we feature are being finished with composite exterior cladding. It's a great choice, particularly if you are looking for a low-maintenance outdoor building.
Composite cladding materials have come a long way over the last few years. Today they are available in subtle colour palettes and realistic wood shades.
Some products have smooth finishes, others tactile wood grains - some options are formed in moulds of real wood, impressing the natural wood grain into the surface.
Some of the composite cladding materials used in garden room design mix real wood fibres with polymers. Other products mix synthetic fibres with cement. With both approaches, the boards are coloured during the manufacturing process, so they don't need painting to maintain their appearance.
Composite claddings such as Cedral have an A2-s1,d0 fire-resistance rating. This makes it a great choice for Building Regulation compliant garden rooms and annexes. It is a popular finish for garden rooms sited within 1m of a boundary.
Some garden room designers mix composite claddings with timber ones. This can be very effective, as some of the projects below show.
Having requested a lot of composite cladding samples over the years, we have found that the quality can differ between ranges, and some options are much more expensive than others. Bear this in mind when comparing your composite garden room options. We also suggest asking to see samples of the finish and colour rather than just picking from images.
These garden room projects all feature composite exterior cladding:
Garden art studio with kitchen
For creatives, having a dedicated space to work on projects without the need to clean up at day’s end is invaluable. The luxury of a space tailored to your unique needs, allowing for custom glazing arrangements that provide perfect lighting and frame garden views, and offering storage for materials is truly a dream. With Executive Garden Rooms, this dream is attainable.
Maintenance-free garden office & workshop
This 7m x 3m garden room by Garden2Oiice is split into a home office and a workshop. Built on a steep slope, the room uses two different types of exterior cladding that require little to no maintenance and look great. It’s a perfect blend of practicality and style.
Creative ways to clad your garden room
A garden room can be a great focal point for your outdoor space, but central to its success is the style of cladding you choose and how you want it to look now and in the future.
Old garage to multifunction garden room with shower
Executive Garden Rooms designed and built this multifunctional garden room on the site of an old garage. Their client’s vision was a versatile space serving as a home office, family room, and guest accommodation.
Composite and Cedar claddings work well together
A recent Instagram post by Modern Garden Rooms caught our eye, showcasing their Concave range garden room with a stylish combination of composite wood cladding and Western Red Cedar cladding. This project is an excellent example of how combining different cladding finishes can create a unique and striking look for a garden room. While many people choose one finish or the other, this project demonstrates the potential for mixing materials to create a more visually interesting and personalised aesthetic.
Urban by Sanctum Garden Studios
The Urban is a new low-maintenance option from Sanctum Garden Studios. The composite wood exterior cladding comes in five colours and is resistant to rot and fungal attack.
Forge – zero maintenance garden rooms
FORGE is a new range of zero-maintenance garden rooms by one of the longest-established names in the industry SMART Garden Rooms, Offices & Studios.
The FORGE comes in three sizes and includes several features as standard, such as heating and exterior lighting, that other companies only offer as extras. Prices start at £13,745, including VAT.
Urban Escape Studios
If you live within a 40-mile radius of Brighton and are looking for a contemporary garden room, you will want to look at Urban Escape Studios’ work.
Urban Escape Studios feature a low-maintenance engineered wood cladding ToughWood™, which is available in 6 finishes. You can also choose Cedar, or Shou Sugi Ban finishes.
Little Green Rooms
If you live in the South West of England and are looking for a well-specified contemporary garden room design, you should explore the work of Bristol-based Little Green Rooms.
For us, Little Green Rooms stands out in the market since the sustainability of their buildings is a top priority. Each material in the multi-layer build-up has been chosen for its low-impact eco credentials.