Garden sheds get the special treatment

I promise as a mydeco guest blogger that I have a plethora of subjects to blog about that document my World Wide Web travels into the world of interiors and design, showcasing the beautiful, elegant and cutting edge. But, on this Monday morning, stick with me…because today, my offering is about the good, old, practical garden shed.

Who’d have thought that a nonchalant comment about sheds on Twitter this weekend [I'm currently waiting for my own brand new shed to arrive] would generate so many responses such as ‘I’m also excited about sheds,’ and ‘I can quite see myself entertaining in ‘tulip tower’ shed’?

My response was: ‘I’m actually not that excited about sheds,’ but more about the builders moving in this August and the fact that I have to empty the garage [into the shed] in preparation for new foundations and four new walls that are going to shape the super cool and stylish open plan kitchen, diner and living area that I’ve been imagining and dreaming up in my mind for the last five years.

Saying that, there is an exception to every rule, and I have to confess to being extremely excited about sheds when amidst my research, I stumbled across sheds of the designer variety – by Wayne and Geraldine Hemingway to be exact, founders of British fashion brand, Red or Dead, and now creators of the weird and wonderful, but useful. Think water butts [literally], bikes, wallpaper, floor and wall tiles, digital radios and affordable, sustainable housing developments.

For the ultimate in shed design, the ‘Shack up’ shed collection by Hemingway Design proves that even essential garden storage can benefit from the magical designer touch. As Wayne himself says, ‘sheds are one of those things that are joked about and to many the concept of design and sheds going together sounds daft. But sheds have always been part of my life. As a collector and hoarder my sheds play a role in my life. Without my sheds where would my collection of 60′s deckchairs and sun beds go? A serious British institution…the shed.’

As for my shed, it will be filled with kids bikes, piles of old interiors magazines that I point blank refuse to throw out as I know I’ll need them one day – or at least will be able to sell them on ebay for a fiver – sunloungers and surfboards, making the eclectic interior of personal junk just like any other, but the exterior, far from standard! Wayne Hemingway adds, ‘A serious British institution…the shed.’ I tend to agree as without mine, the builders can’t start knocking down my garage, soon to be my blissful new home.