Garden Offices for stay at home mums - top 10 solutions of a garden office for stay at home mums

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Solutions to working form home, professionally and efficiently..

Garden offices present the ideal solution, lets see how each of the key problems are addressed;

1. Separating work and family life - Working at home requires one essential skill - organisation. Not only of your time, so that you can make the most of the times when your child will "let" you get on with your work, but also of the resources you need for you to do your job. For those with a partner who is out at work all day a schedule of who is "in charge" of the kids at which time can alleviate a lot of arguments but a better solution is for you to be completely out of the way - in your garden office. You will then be away from any arguments over the remote or winging about bed time and if a problem arises and your help is need, for example your child becomes ill or just wants mummy, you are only a few steps away. Put simply working in your garden office means you are at the beck and call of family if needed and at the same time it makes it clear that you are in fact working and so you are less likely to have friends and family disturb you.

2. Not enough space - Where families are involved you can never have enough space prams and pushchairs, playpens and toys there are not many, especially modern built homes that are big enough at the best of times. A garden office solves this problem 100%. In most homes there simply is no room for "extras" like a desk, and what little space there is fits no more than a PC on the desk itself. Being in amongst everyone does not help either. Allowing yourself dedicated office space is essential to the efficient working mindset. Your garden office space is dedicated, we have specially designed space saver desk systems that make the very best space of the garden office building. The various sized garden offices mean that there will also be one to suit your garden as well as your internal requirements - even if that mean fitting in a play pen or buggy too.

3. Being taken seriously - There is nothing worse than starting out on a new venture only to be ridiculed about it by family and friends - "oh look she's doing Avon" or " never mind dear you'll get a proper job when your child is at school" - well it may be hard for older generations to handle but working from home has come a long way since they were young and now there is a very large percentile of home workers in this country and they are seen to be the silent workforce behind many businesses through out the UK. Home workers can now hold their head high and say that it is them that keep prices competitive and many small companies from closing down. Having a garden office shows commitment to your chosen job and as well as being the practical solution will turn the majority of people's faces green with envy when you show them "your space" to work, create or base yourself in. Dedicated garden offices show any potential supplier or customer that your address may be residential but that your intent is strictly business. Garden offices are designed to sit 2 people comfortably in the space and larger garden office models also allow multiple desks, team working, or better still dedicated meeting rooms.

4. Cannot do any work - Distractions!! Well there are certainly plenty of these indoors, apart form getting your spouse to take the sky card to work with them, or to lock the bedroom door the temptations will still be close at hand. However once you enter your garden office you are magically transported to a more professional place and the temptation or even awareness of those distractions soon disappears. If you are stronger willed and its simply a matter of being able to close the deal while the children play then what better way than to be in the safety of your own garden with your children, with windows allowing full sight of them while you make those important calls. Double glazing in the garden office windows and doors will soundproof the call for you while appropriate positioning of your garden office gives you full view of your little ones.

As a stay-at-home mum you will understand the frustration of having to keep everything out of the way of little fingers and putting everything away when your child is around. In order to optimise your time you need to be able to simply get on with what your were doing last without having to reorganise everything when your child goes to school. A garden office solves all of the organisational problems you will have so that you can optimise your time by simply walking in sitting down and ploughing on with the job in hand. A simple walk down to your office acts as your commute enabling you to transfer your thoughts and prepare for a productive session of work.

5. Lack of privacy - The beauty of a garden office means that not only are you away from the buzz of life in the home but also those in the home, maybe a partner and child, are away from you. You can concentrate and get that order filled out correctly or you can hear yourself think in order to plan your next sales pitch. Your household pet isn't chewing on your samples and your children are not using your timesheet to play noughts and crosses on. In short you have a private, dedicated peaceful workspace only moments away form your home.

6. Strain on family relationships - it's not always essential and with small children not practical to be working all the hours of the day, and for those periods when you could spend more time at home what better way to relax than to lock the door to your garden office and "go home". The work documents and environment are safely left behind while you have those friends over for the evening, and better still they can use the spare room without disruption of your working life. Being able to switch off and lock the garden office door for a while and be with your family means that the misconception that your have been "at home all day" vanishes and the whole family gets to spend evening or weekends together as before, the difference is you are just feet away to resume work whenever you need to.

7. Working too much - when to stop! Well garden offices can help there too, being just moments away from the house means you can stop working moments before the school run and be back at your desk when the kids are in bed. Having the office in your garden means you aren't walking past your monitor every five minutes finding it hard to resist the temptation to just check one more time and get side tracked. Keeping the office away from your family life brings a sense of order and of still "going to work" without going very far at all.

8. Feeling isolated - garden offices are designed to be a practical work solution and a place of quiet to get work done. By the same token they are in fact in your garden and so you may feel that being isolated may be a problem. However when you are sat in your home all day the world can seem to close in and cars just go by minding their own business but with a garden office you feel like your are outside even though your not. With windows opening up on to the view of your garden be it busy with wild birds or the family pet always seems to give the feeling of being involved with the world. For most parents the solitude is quite welcome and the peace gives us respite from the daily grind and for those who need company to thrive perhaps a larger office and a joint venture are the answer.

9. Self-discipline or self-management - garden offices are designed to make you more productive in what otherwise would be a very relaxed home environment and with child monitors in place working while baby sleeps becomes easy. Your routine and working schedule can then fit nicely together and you can be as flexible as you need to be without wasting time.

10. home office legal constraints - Generally you do NOT need planning permission for a Smart Garden Office. Despite a 25-year design life, Smart offices are not considered to be permanent fixtures (i.e. they do not have their own foundations). Being sectional and below 3m in height, the Smart range is within the ODPM (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) guidelines. See our garden office planning permission page for more details

So, lets look at the figures - how do you fund a garden office as a stay-at-home mum?

What people are saying

Since 2001, Charles Dalton has been designing, specifying, and overseeing the manufacture & installation of over 200 dedicated garden offices across the UK. Here’s some of the press reviews he received.

An ideal solution to working from home. BBC 2 Working Lunch

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....the description dizzied me, I now crave one... Financial Times

Lavish, fully kitted out models from £6500. The Sunday Times

My HQ, my think place, my second home. Arena Magazine

The Rolls Royce of the genre. The Independent

Think about using your garden if you're short on space indoors. These are purpose-built and include powerpoints. Woman & Home Magazine.

…an off-the-shelf home office solution that's geared to suit the employer as much as the homeworker. PC World Magazine

Perhaps the most economical… costs less than many upmarket summerhouses and comes complete with internal fusebox, six electric sockets and lockable double-glazed windows and door...the standardised design and fittings keep the costs down. Self Build & Design Magazine