Gardens are living spaces and even if they are sometimes neglected in the hustle and bustle of times or even perceived by some as a burden, the Covid times did have one good thing, namely that gardens were rediscovered by many as private retreats that were never closed even during the strictest “lockdowns”. Garden lovers and passionate gardeners know that gardens are a gift for nature and people, that gardening makes and keeps you healthy and that people blossom, heal and are “grounded” in the truest sense of the word when they are in contact with the surrounding nature. In the following, we will explore the question of how garden development happens and what role a garden house can play in this.

Developing the garden as an alternative living space

Gardens have always been very different from the interior of houses, terraces form a transition zone, but are usually perceived as belonging to the house. It is good that it is like this, because if you want to “get away” from your everyday life, the garden offers a small and quick way to do so. A further development of the garden as a living space could consist of various measures:

• Make the garden (at least in certain places) more “homely”, for example by setting up seating, roofs where you can find shelter from rain or sun, or even a garden house , which you could buy for many reasons, including as a simple shelter, lounge or retreat in the garden.
• Integrate the garden more into the economic dimension of the household, for example by using it to produce healthy, perhaps even organic food, by planting fruit trees or bushes, creating an herb or vegetable garden, or by using the space to try out career development, perhaps ways to become self-employed, for which a garden house could be purchased. Many garden house models are suitable for many types of self-employed activities, be it as a practice, a studio, a sales or exhibition room, or as an office space, and many also look so representative that you can easily receive customers or business partners there.
• Setting up a workshop also falls under this economic aspect, because as a hobbyist you can do a lot of things yourself much more cheaply than the professionals, and if you are good enough to even manage to repair objects that are sold with predetermined breaking points that limit their lifespan, as has unfortunately become the norm these days, you can not only save a lot of money, but also help the environment by reducing the mountains of waste that grow as a result of repeatedly throwing away prematurely broken equipment, while at the same time the planet’s resources are excessively strained on the production side. Setting up workshops is one of the main reasons for buying garden sheds, although wooden garages are also ideal as workshops, particularly because of their large garage doors.
• Setting up a garden sauna can also be seen from an economic perspective, because you save the entrance fee to the public sauna and the travel costs to the public sauna if you have your own garden sauna. Depending on how you value your own time, this investment will usually pay for itself within a few years – combined with an often increased frequency of sauna visits afterwards. The real advantage of having your own garden sauna , however, is that the sauna in a private setting is much more relaxing, one of the most important health-promoting effects of saunas.
• Residential houses limit the living space. Very few people live in houses that are so big that there are empty rooms to choose from for new ideas. Very few people don’t have good ideas or dreams about how they want to develop their personal lifestyle. To put it positively: Garden houses are bought because there is still room in the garden for new projects for which there is no room in the house or only with considerable compromises. What’s more: there is no other way to provide protected living space as cheaply as buying a garden house .
• Of course, the further development of gardens also involves general or garden architectural measures, which can include the creation of flower beds, the planting of trees, the creation of wetlands, ponds, swimming ponds, pools, watercourses, wilderness corners, hedges and much more. Attention is also paid to the protection of local small animals, bird nesting boxes are hung up, birds are fed, hedgehog castles are built, stone piles are created for lizards, flower meadows for bees and bumblebees and much more. The installation of a garden pavilion can also prove to be a very effective garden architectural measure, which is both a visual highlight and provides a desirable seating area or shelter.

Garden development and personal development go hand in hand

By buying a garden house to create the space needed for new plans, whether private or professional, you are killing two birds with one stone, because at the same time as setting up the garden house for a specific purpose, the garden is also given a new reference point. It becomes more homely, a space where you like to spend time. There is nothing to stop you from buying a garden house with a comfortable, covered terrace for purely business purposes . There you can have a relaxed conference with friends or business partners or take a relaxing break from gardening on another occasion, perhaps with a cup of tea made from freshly harvested garden herbs while you look at your work with satisfaction and perhaps make new plans. Tea made from fresh herbs can be made not only with mint or sage, but also with ginger, lemon balm, lemon verbena, anise hyssop, chamomile or simply birch, raspberry or blackberry leaves, among many others.

A socket in the garden shed with an electric kettle is also not a bad idea for garden office hours.

In this way, life in the garden, which you cultivate at the same time as your garden, enriches your existence with many new aspects and makes it more fulfilling, relaxing and satisfying in many ways, whether in lockdown or not. That is then no longer so important.

The garden house as a garden architectural element

For all the practical reasons that one might have for buying a garden house, there is one important aspect that has only been mentioned in a few places so far: a garden without a garden house looks strangely different to the same garden with a garden house. Somehow a garden house has an effect that identifies the garden as an inhabited space, a living space. If we talk about garden development in the sense of cultivating the garden, then some kind of structure in the garden that serves as a place for people to stay is almost inevitable. So many other measures such as benches, lighting, plants, raised beds, petanque courts, playgrounds, basketball hoops, paths or other extensions never have the same inviting effect as a garden house, especially if it invites you to enter or stay – for example with a covered terrace and garden furniture. How you use your new garden house in the garden – as a focal point, a boundary, hidden or as an element that supports a division, how you set it apart or make it appear more subtle – all of this is up to your landscape design talents. Good planning and imagination are the sources from which an attractive and practical garden design is created and this creative freedom in designing the garden is also one of the reasons why gardening is ultimately so satisfying and spending time in the garden so pleasant.

How do you buy a garden house?

The question may seem strange to you, but there are actually methodical instructions on how you can proceed so that your not insignificant investment in a new garden house really does lead to a long-term satisfactory result. We have provided one of them for you here . In fact, it is not necessarily easy to find your way around a huge online offer where you cannot actually view the garden houses, but have to rely on more or less complete information on the sales pages. It is said that having the choice is difficult, but after the agony, you want to have at least purchased a product that you like and will use in the long term.

Careful planning before purchasing

Don’t be afraid to dream your new garden house into your garden! Visual imagination is important in garden design and can be trained. After you have visualized a location, imagine how your garden house will be used in practice! Placing it in the middle of the garden – or even at the very back of the garden – is not always automatically the best choice. Garden houses can also make sense right next to the house. When considering this question, you can weigh up your desire to create an area that is secluded from everyday life. A garden house that is integrated deeper into the garden will of course have a stronger effect on integrating the garden into an everyday living space than one that is placed right next to the house.

How big should the new garden house be?

Planning before buying a garden house includes not only garden architectural and practical considerations, but also choosing a model that is ideally suited to your intended use. This includes the visual appearance, as well as the “inner values”, quality, wall thickness, room layout, functionality. Size is of course also an important factor. It should of course have freedom of movement, enough storage space, enough room for sensible furnishings. A tip that we always give: simply add another 50% to the calculated or imagined size at the end to allow for all the uses that you cannot yet imagine, because the house in the garden will quickly prove to be so useful that it will be used for much more than you had planned. Future developments are also often difficult to plan in advance and if you go to the trouble of planning and buying a new garden house, you could give these unforeseeable developments the space they will need in advance.

heating and insulation

Choosing the right wall thickness is important for planned heating, because just one or two centimeters more wood, which is an excellent natural insulating material, can make a big difference in heating costs. In this case, you could plan to insulate the critical areas at the same time. The heat rises upwards, which is one reason why the ceiling needs additional insulation, and the cold floor draws heat away from the floorboards if the floor is not additionally insulated. Fortunately, we offer insulation kits for ceilings and floors for all models, which you can order as an option with your new garden house. Double-glazed windows, which are the norm here – even equipped with safety glass – are also a feel-good factor in frosty temperatures outside and save energy costs.

Out of the four walls and into the garden!

The feeling of being confined to your own four walls, which even led to a significantly increased suicide rate during the Corona lockdowns, is a thing of the past as soon as you buy a garden house and thus extend your personal, “perceived” living space far into your garden. A garden, this mixture of nature shaping itself and human cultivation, can be developed in such a way that you can find joy and peace, grounding and relaxation, challenges and freedom there. Whatever your plans, a garden house will help you develop the garden in your own, individual way and can also serve you well in many other ways.