I too work from home. The change took some to adjust to. Early on it was novel and I was smug that my 'commute' was only 15 seconds - bedroom to office. Over time I found I was not working so well as I was in an 'at home' frame of mind. I combated that to some extent as follows: 1. Paint it to look and feel like an office - if not you gradually feel to much like you are at home and work suffers. 2. Layout has to be practical first, looks count second. I see your desk and I think you are like me. Filing can be an issue. It is easy to end up with a desk buried under a foot of papers and that impacts your work and your mind. Have plenty of filing space - cabinets and/or shelving and ensure a fair amount of it is within a pace of your desk. Working from home means you will need to do most of the taking out and putting away, even if you do have an occasional assistant. Being able to do that within a simple turn from your chair means you can keep doing it. Once it is a chore to do, then suddenly it all piles up. 3. Going to work in the morning - get up, walk out and then come back in to the office. It may sound strange but as a habit you then feel you are at work. I used to stumble down the stairs and into the office and then work didn't really happen properly - I wasn't in an 'at work' frame of mind. Commuting to work is a pain but it actually makes that distinction - I am now at work. For me, making sure I am dressed suitably to go to the gate and back helps with that frame of mind. 4. Lighting - again, make it like at office - bright enough and no shadows. 5. IT equipment. Make sure it has enough space. There is nothing as infuriating as fighting with a printer in a tight shelving unit when the inevitable paper jam/toner change crops up as you are rushing to complete something. Again, working from home means you will be in charge of all this too, so get it all installed correctly so that it all works without too much effort from you. Your time is better spent in your primary role, so IT needs to be there for you, not you for it. 6. Drinks etc. For me I keep all that in the kitchen. This saves space and also makes me get up and stretch my legs from time to time. I don't have any young children anymore so there is no problem going and getting a drink - no break in the 'at work' mode. If you have young children at home this point may not work for you. 7. Make sure family and friends understand that you are at work and not simply at home. There is a tendency for them to think you are at home and that they can thus disturb you any time. Working at home means flexibility but also lost time from distractions if not done carefully. Good luck with your new venture. Onwards and upwards!

Hello, new is always bright and, sometimes, not great but after a few weeks of rain it should dull down the brightness. I have a question - the deck looks very narrow - only seating width 2 persons? Why didn't they take it out to the edge of the dark green mound picture 3? Picture 2 - I would suggest getting some pretty aggregate and making a pathway between the fence and the deck BUT I would seal up the sides of the decking and even concrete the ground under it (or at least put something over the bare earth) to use as storage area (presumably this hasn't been done). I'm going to probably make people comment on this but with a garden like yours I would have taken it down in levels/ terraces (removing the soil for possible use later) and built retaining walls and steps and having a semi-circular stone terrace at the house end if possible (round end facing away from the house) and another at the bottom end (round end facing the house). However, you have what you have so.... you can paint the wood and why not put a board at the road (?) side of the decking (Pic. 3-4) so people cannot see you eating/drinking/sleeping :-) if this is'nt possible then add a curtain of some sort around the whole area so you cannot be seen by neighbours. If the width of the decking is wide enough, and I'm not sure it is looking at the layout, then suggest planting small conifers in pots (or troughs) around the edges of the decking and once these are established and grown to approximately the height of the pergola roof the trail lights through them and around the frame work For a quick and immediate "FIX" get some trellis with artificial ivy, or similar, and attach it to the pergola on the street side - lots of companies offer Artificial Extendable Trellis Hedge Screening - check out the internet or your local garden centre. It will look very pretty, very quickly once the newness has worn off and, almost certainly by summer depending on the weather. Another quick question - did the builders seal the wood? Thompson Morgan

Hi Jonathan- in regards to why we chose pedestals… there were a couple of reasons. We had been warned about making any changes to the existing drainage channel and foundation air bricks because it might cause damp issues. We had been talking about building a side return extension, so it seemed a waste to install something permanent we would have to rip out. Similarly, our children were very young and we liked the idea of being able to fairly easily change the garden layout as they grew. I don’t recall making a straight cost comparison. I do recall ordering way more pedestals and sizes than we needed because I was nervous!

I’m no building expert but there are two things that I feel can be used to create a budget patio. Decking or gravel. Softwood decking is cheap, easy to lay by a decent DIYer, but rots after about 8-10 years. Gravel is cheap and anyone can lay it, but it will be a bit lumpy underfoot. Another choice could be concrete paving. Cheaper to buy than say, sandstone or porcelain but will need laying by a landscaper. A competent DIYer could lay it, but it is essential that a hardcore (type 1) base is laid and a wacker plate used, then a cement bed should be laid before the paving is laid on top. Depends how competent you are. If you miss out any of the steps then the paving could move and become uneven with time and it will never look smart. I’m no expert, but my brother is a builder so I’ve learnt this from him! If you have back problems then I think laying any sort of patio could be an issue. I had my garden paved with sandstone in 2016. The area was about 12’ x 50’. The cost was £2000 - £900 for the paving, and the rest was labour and grouting. I would imagine that prices have gone up a lot since then? Landscaping is a skilled job and that is why it can be costly. Here’s my brother using a wacker plate and the second pic is some of the garden paving he laid.