Hot yoga rooms, photography studios, sensory spaces – there’s no limit to the ways in which garden rooms are now being used.
The Dundalk-based garden room supplier Sprout Pod says demand for these rooms has soared in recent years. “We are really busy with back-to-back orders for several months,” says managing director Ciaran Kerr. “We have people looking for a garden room, home office, home gym. Modular homes are getting very popular, and home businesses too.”
When he spoke to The Irish Times, Sprout Pod had just processed an order for a therapy room. The therapist customer had been planning on renting a space, but found the prices were too high. “We have a lot of glamping projects across the country as well,” he says.
Sensory rooms for children with autism who need a quiet space is another recent development, while garden rooms have also been used as music recording studios and weightlifting training rooms.
The fully-insulated garden rooms have a solid steel frame and, depending on the design selected, they can achieve an A standard when it comes to Building Energy Ratings (BERs). The rooms can be fitted with solar panels and smart radiators to further reduce energy bills.
Sprout Pod’s fully-insulated garden rooms have a solid steel frame.
“We put in smaller concrete supports to secure the steel frame and that allows us to build in most gardens and get it tight to the boundary,” he says.
The cheapest option for a home office delivered and installed by Sprout Pod starts at €11,000 for a 3m x 2m room, while at the top end of the scale, the 42sq m option starts at €75,000. This includes two bedrooms, a bathroom, a fitted kitchen and a living room.
Under current guidelines, there must be 25sq m of free space in your garden after the garden room is installed. Planning permission is not needed for a garden room of up 25sq m (270sq ft), but this size is expected to increase under new guidelines being drawn up by the Government.
Sprout Pod: a very comfortable interior.
“The proposed changes by the Government will help to ease planning requirements for people trying to find cost-effective living options,” Kerr says. “This will help many people who are maybe trying to save to get on the property ladder, families who need extra space, or those thinking of downsizing.”
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Bathe among the trees
Some people dream of having a garden room, but why have just one of them when you can have three? This is the approach taken by Emma Edmonds, who is definitely making the most of her garden space in Ashford, Co Wicklow.
The interior designer for Stillorgan Decor converted her garage to a summer house more than a decade ago. A carpenter friend, Stephen Lawler from SL Carpentry, replaced the garage doors with tall slim doors and windows, and insulated the interior with shiplap planks. Edmonds says, “I added on a porch and did composite decking in a pale colour and cedar shingles on the roof of the porch, to give it old-world New England vibes.” Inspired by US interior designer Joanna Gaines’s use of black and white, she opted for awnings in those colours for the windows.
She uses the summer house for sewing, drawing and antique restoration. It’s also a repository for her collection of dolls’ houses, hatpin holders and other old treasures.
Emma Edmonds’s summer house at Ashford, Co Wicklow. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times 
Emma Edmonds’s summer house entrance. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times
But that’s just one of her outdoor rooms. Another was provided by her father Vic, who built an American-style back porch with pillars and a see-through roof. Its clear PVC awnings are rolled back during the summer so she can enjoy the verdant garden.
Emma Edmonds installed some old convent windows rescued from a skip, and a stained-glass panel that came from a French church. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times
On one side of the porch, Edmonds installed some old convent windows rescued from a skip, and a stained-glass panel that came from a French church. She’s not sure of the identity of the female saint depicted in the panel. The saint is holding a small church, so she might be St Bathilde, who founded many religious institutions. It would indeed be appropriate if it is St Bathilde, as the saint is overlooking a bath – an upcycled acrylic slipper bath − plumbed so that Emma can bathe in comfort, looking out at the tree ferns, pond and water feature. “The garden isn’t overlooked,” she explains, “and the bath keeps the heat long enough to have a nice little rest. In the summer, you’re looking into the garden, wriggling your toes, and it feels like you are in the trees.”
‘I go from the hot tub to the bath and it works very well.’ Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times
Her third garden room is a small lean-to she built during the Covid-19 lockdown to house a hot tub. Unlike many lockdown projects, this has stood the test of time. “I go from the hot tub to the bath and it works very well.” Her neighbour’s five cats and Maxi, her Maltese terrier, often make an appearance to keep her company. “It’s all nature, and birds and animals,” she says. “It’s really lovely.”
‘Somewhere to go without going anywhere’
It’s difficult to know how to describe Robert Lynn Maguire’s garden room. A pub? A shrine to Americana-style memorabilia? A hobby room? It’s all of the above, and more. “I’ve got quite a bit of stuff in here,” he says with considerable understatement. “I filled the walls with stuff and then I had to go to the ceiling because I ran out of room.”
Robert Lynn Maguire’s garden room at Kilpedder, Co Wicklow. A pub? A shrine to Americana-style memorabilia? A hobby room? It’s all of the above. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times 
Robert Lynn Maguire in his garden room pub. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times
He built the garden room in Kilpedder, Co Wicklow, after he and his wife Marie moved back from the US in 2000. “I had collected quite a bit of stuff over there so I needed somewhere to display it,” he explains.
Maguire got some help from friends when it came to constructing the shed, which measures about 40ft by 14ft. “I did the insulation, all the walls, stuff like that. When I had the floor done, I built the bar.” Between the bar and its two snugs he can entertain up to 15 people. The row of beer taps is just for show, though. “There’s no point having barrels of beer because they would go off,” he says.
Maguire has to think long and hard when asked for his favourite item among the thousands of mementoes. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times 
Signage of all sorts abounds at Maguire’s bolthole. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times
The bar takes second place to his eclectic collection of memorabilia. He has something to suit all tastes. In one spot you’ll see a sunglass-wearing deer that sings Rawhide. Beside the fridge you’ll find a “Colin Powell for President 1996″ badge. If you don’t like the Benny Hill record, you might be interested in the 2004 Boston Globe front page commemorating the Red Sox victory in the World Series for the first time since 1918.
Maguire has to think long and hard when asked for his favourite item among the thousands of mementoes. “The Beatles collection, I suppose. Anything to do with the Beatles, I like. And I’ve collected a load of Simpsons things,” he says.
“Whatever looks nice, I pick up. I have figures, empty beer cans which I helped to empty, licence plates, road signs. Any flea market that was near where we lived, I was there at the weekend. And if I buy one of something, it doesn’t look good unless I have four, five or six of them.”
Maguire says, ‘Any flea market that was near where we lived, I was there at the weekend.’ Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times 
‘Anything to do with the Beatles, I like.’ Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times 
The bar takes second place to Maguire’s eclectic collection of memorabilia. He has something to suit all tastes. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times 
‘It’s somewhere to go without going anywhere.’ Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times
Friends come over at the weekend to have a few beers and shout at the rugby players on the television. “It’s somewhere to go without going anywhere,” he says. The log-burning stove, record player and CD player means it can be hard to leave. “We have about three inches of insulation on the walls so my bad singing is not heard any further than the four walls here,” he quips. The insulated ceiling under the galvanised tin roof adds to the sound-proofing.
‘It’s a disease that there’s no cure for, thank God.’ Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times
Now that he has run out of space, has he stopped collecting memorabilia? “Oh God, no,” he says. “It’s a disease that there’s no cure for, thank God.”
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