DIY garden room ideas and inspiration

Adding a garden room can completely transform the look and shape of your garden which is great if you want to spruce up your home if you’ve been living there for a long time, or add your own personal stamp to a new house. It also gives you a whole other room to add to your house to use for whatever you want, whether you need another storage space, area for your children, somewhere to unwind and relax, or a professional environment.

If you plan on adding a permanent garden room that you’d include with selling the house, it can even add value to your property, and also makes a great creative creative project if you love DIY or interior design.

Whatever your reasons for wanting a new garden room, you may be looking for exciting ideas on what you can turn the space into. That’s where we come in. At Ace Sheds, we’re experts on all things sheds which is why we’ve put together a list of our top five DIY garden room ideas and inspiration, including:

Whether you want a space for the whole family to enjoy, somewhere private for you or an area to share with friends, get ready to take note as we take you through some of the most popular garden room ideas!

Home office

With many companies now embracing remote and hybrid working, you may want a dedicated office space designed to suit all your needs. Whether you’re in meetings all day and need a quiet space to listen, or want an unconventional, unique area to help unleash your creativity, you can design your dream home office without taking up a room in the house.

If you’re thinking of creating a permanent home office, you’re not alone! Online searches for ‘small garden office’ have increased by 50% in the last three months, while searches for ‘DIY office decor’ have risen by 200% in the same time. 

So, why convert your garden shed into your very own home office? Aside from being one of the most popular shed renovations, it gives you a private, quiet space where you can work, have meetings, concentrate and be productive without distractions, especially if you have other people in your household working remotely too. Also, having a clear distinction between your home and your office means that at the end of the working day, you can shut the door and enjoy your evening without being reminded of work, making it one of the best possible garden room ideas! 

Your new garden room office will be entirely bespoke, suited to your every need to create the ideal working environment for you. Whether you want a standing desk, bright colours to boost your creativity, potted plants, whiteboards on the walls, several desk monitors or anything else, you can have your office exactly the way you want it. This also applies to having a small business. Whether you’re a hairdresser, dog groomer, baker or jeweller, you can convert your new shed into a hub for you to work from!

What are you waiting for? Check out our blog on how to turn your garden shed into a home office to get started today.

Bar

The next garden room idea on our list will come as no surprise, given the huge rise in interest for creating bars and drinking areas at home. Over the last three months, online searches for ‘summerhouse bar’ and ‘DIY home bar ideas’ have risen by 60% and 189% respectively. From small scale garden sheds with a fridge and a table, to full-scale bars with alcohol on tap, home bars are taking over! 

Having a home bar is a great way to socialise because you can invite friends over for drinks on warm Summer evenings. It’s also a great investment because you can end up saving money if you’re buying your alcohol in bulk rather than paying for pints at the pub or taxis home!

You can theme your bar however you want, depending on which style suits you best! Will you make it:

  • A contemporary, minimalist bar
  • A classic pub vibe, taking the term ‘pub garden’ literally
  • Your very own tropical beach bar paradise
  • Based on a famous bar/pub from a film or TV show?

However you decide to decorate your bar, we know you’ll have a great time, just like you will when you experiment and invent new flavours for your cocktail menu. Want support getting started with your home bar? Take a look at our blog on how to build a shed bar, where you’ll find everything you need from materials to tips on fitting the roof.

Cinema/games room

If you’re looking for garden room inspiration, adding an entertainment space to any house is a great idea for families because it can lead to hours of fun for the family, and can also provide entertainment for children on a budget. An entertainment space could mean any of the following:

  • Cinema room
  • Games room (darts, pool, board games, table football and more)
  • Technology room (Xbox, Wii, PlayStation and other gadgets)
  • Chill out space (aimed more at teenagers, you might have a mini fridge, speakers, big TV and a mixture of the other types of entertainment spaces)

Since January, entertainment spaces have increased in popularity, with online searches for ‘DIY home cinema’ rising by 25% and ‘games room in garden’ by 85%.

Having a cinema or games room in your garden will provide fun for hours on end and will keep children busy on the weekends/during the school holidays. What better way to spend time together as a family, couple or friends than by unleashing your competitive nature in a game of darts or unwinding with a RomCom. In fact, you can get great use out of a cinema or games room all year round, whether you want to snuggle up and watch a Christmas film or play a game of pool on a hot Summer’s day.

Your entertainment space has practical benefits too. Dedicating a garden shed to games means they will take up less room in your house so it won’t get cluttered. Also, having a cinema room is a great investment, especially if you’re already subscribed to services such as Netflix and Disney Plus because it means you’ll likely spend less money at the cinema. 

The best part? If this is a project for the whole family, you can get them involved with decorating and interior design to make it the games room of their dreams! 

Children’s playhouse

Keeping with the theme of entertainment, creating a fun, interactive, engaging children’s playhouse is a great way to keep children entertained for hours on sunny days. Over the last three months, there has been a huge rise in popularity for children’s playhouses, with online searches for ‘garden wendy house wooden’ increasing by 600% and ‘garden playhouse’ by 120%.

Why are children’s garden playhouses so popular? Whether you create a classic wendy house where their imagination can run wild, a soft play area, or a summerhouse with lots of different activities, you’ll be giving your child somewhere amazing and unique to play. Need some garden room interior ideas for your playhouse? You can theme your playhouse garden room to make it stimulating for children. Choose between:

  • Their favourite TV characters
  • Create an animal theme
  • Use bright, bold colours
  • Match the rest of your house
  • Let them choose

The best part? It can double up as a toy storage area so that your house doesn’t become too cluttered!

A children’s playhouse can also be great if you have children of different ages because there can be lots of different activities/toys/games in there that cater for all of them. Your children will be wanting their friends to come round and play in their fancy playhouse all the time!

If you’re wondering how to create a garden room that your children will cherish for years to come, read our blog on how to convert a shed into a playhouse.

Mindfulness space

Our final idea for creating an incredible garden room on a budget is a meditative mindfulness space. Taking time to relax, unwind and practice mindfulness is really important, which is why having your very own wellbeing area to retreat to is a great idea. We’re not the only ones who think it’s a brilliant garden room idea, as online searches for ‘meditation space at home’ have increased by 100% compared to this time last year.

A mindfulness space is an area that you can go to and focus on you, it’s a place to do something that makes you feel good. This means a mindfulness space will look different for everyone. You may create a:

  • Yoga room
  • Crafting space
  • Mini library
  • She-Shed
  • Home gym
  • Place for your hobbies
  • Meditation zone
  • Art studio
  • Place to play loud music

You don’t need to limit your mindfulness space to just one of these ideas, the space is designed to be your happy place so you could incorporate a gym, art studio and mini library all in one room if you wanted!

Detached from the rest of your house, you can leave the chaos of everyday life and step into your very own sanctuary. Looking after your mental health and wellbeing is incredibly important, so having a garden space dedicated to practising mindfulness is a great idea! Whether you spend a few minutes each day meditating or spend hours getting lost in a hobby, your new garden room will become your new favourite place.

If you’re looking for cosy garden room ideas, a wellbeing area is ideal because you can create a calming atmosphere and fill it with your favourite things. Whether you find calmness in minimalism, cosy furnishings or soft lighting, you can decorate it however suits you best! In fact, if you’re a creative, DIY-lover, you may even find the designing and decorating process relaxing and mindful.

Things to consider when creating a garden room on a budget

Once you’ve come up with your favourite garden room ideas and picked a winner, there are many things you need to consider before your garden room dreams become a reality, such as:

  • Electricity
  • Lighting
  • Plumbing
  • Insulation
  • WiFi
  • Position in the garden
  • Type of shed
  • Shape of your shed - will you choose small, medium, large or bespoke?
  • Size of the garden shed or summerhouse
  • Cost
  • Security (locks, insurance etc…)
  • Interior design - do you want it to match the aesthetic or the rest of your house or will it be the room that stands out from the rest?

Don’t worry, at Ace Sheds we’re here to support you every step of the way! While we don’t do any internal work such as insulation, plumbing or interior design, we have a selection of guides to help you once you’ve bought your perfect wooden shed from us! Read our expert guides on:

Make your DIY garden room ideas come to life with Ace Sheds

So, there you go…a list of our top five favourite garden room ideas, from a cosy cinema room to an exciting children’s playhouse. Creating a unique garden room that’s separate from your main house opens up a world of opportunities. Whether you need extra storage, peace and quiet or somewhere to express yourself, you can use our blog as all the garden room inspiration you need to design something truly magical.

We’re not just known for our brilliant garden room ideas, our industry-leading, high-quality garden sheds and summerhouses are perfect for creating DIY garden rooms on a budget. Our timber is PEFC Certified (which means our suppliers operate against the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification), we’re CHAS and SSIP approved, and also Made in Britain Approved.

That’s right, our timber buildings are carefully handcrafted by our incredible craftsmen at our workshops in Kent. Speaking of Kent, we even offer delivery to Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Essex, London and Middlesex.

Get in touch with us today to start your garden room journey!