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Inside Out Oxford Bespoke Garden Rooms
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Pro Spotlight: 3 Steps to an Outstanding Outdoor Room
Create a multipurpose garden retreat that not only offers extra space for everyone, but is simply gorgeous, too
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Who: Jim Gabriel, Director at Inside Out Oxford
Where: Oxford, UK
In his own words: “Adding an outdoor room can make a great home even better, helping you avoid the need to move from your already beautiful property and established lifestyle, and offering essential extra space.”
Having expanded a home outwards and upwards, families often face the dilemma of needing even more space for a changing family situation, but may not have the option of selling up and moving on. That’s where a bespoke outdoor room, built to your specific needs and specifications, can come to the rescue, offering a unique solution to an array of space conundrums.
“Outdoor rooms are a superb way of adding extra space without the need for complicated and lengthy planning permission, as long as they are within the permitted height of 2.5 metres and your home isn’t in a conservation area or listed,” says Jim Gabriel of Inside Out Oxford, who has been designing and building outdoor rooms with his co-founder and business partner, Walter Cundy, since 2015. “We’ve seen the demand for our bespoke outdoor rooms grow over the last few years, as clients realise the astronomical cost of moving. They soon discover they can achieve exactly what they need by staying put and creating a multifunctional space outside that works for their entire family.”
Where: Oxford, UK
In his own words: “Adding an outdoor room can make a great home even better, helping you avoid the need to move from your already beautiful property and established lifestyle, and offering essential extra space.”
Having expanded a home outwards and upwards, families often face the dilemma of needing even more space for a changing family situation, but may not have the option of selling up and moving on. That’s where a bespoke outdoor room, built to your specific needs and specifications, can come to the rescue, offering a unique solution to an array of space conundrums.
“Outdoor rooms are a superb way of adding extra space without the need for complicated and lengthy planning permission, as long as they are within the permitted height of 2.5 metres and your home isn’t in a conservation area or listed,” says Jim Gabriel of Inside Out Oxford, who has been designing and building outdoor rooms with his co-founder and business partner, Walter Cundy, since 2015. “We’ve seen the demand for our bespoke outdoor rooms grow over the last few years, as clients realise the astronomical cost of moving. They soon discover they can achieve exactly what they need by staying put and creating a multifunctional space outside that works for their entire family.”
Firsthand experience. It all started when Jim Gabriel, a carpenter by trade, built an outdoor room in his own garden for his family. The multipurpose play den at the end of the garden had to also incorporate an office, a workshop, and easily convert into a home cinema. “So many people who saw it said, ‘I want one of those,’ that I knew there was a market for totally bespoke, lovingly crafted garden rooms,” says Jim, “and 10 years later, we took the concept to market. We’ve had a full order book ever since.”
Having undertaken dozens of unique and individual projects since starting out, the design build duo believe it’s their attention to detail and passion for the product that sets them apart from the cookie-cutter garden room companies. “We build everything from scratch on site and a typical project can take between five and six weeks,” says Jim. “We love creating a thing of beauty for discerning clients, and building something different every time keeps the whole process fresh, interesting and fun.”
Having undertaken dozens of unique and individual projects since starting out, the design build duo believe it’s their attention to detail and passion for the product that sets them apart from the cookie-cutter garden room companies. “We build everything from scratch on site and a typical project can take between five and six weeks,” says Jim. “We love creating a thing of beauty for discerning clients, and building something different every time keeps the whole process fresh, interesting and fun.”
Starting point. As well as taking time to think about what you need an outdoor room for and how best to use it, it’s worth looking into the permitted development regulations in your area, in case you’re in a restricted location or you plan to build above the height restrictions. “Getting permission is something that we have plenty of experience in, and although permitted development regulations allow most of our outbuildings to be built without first obtaining planning permission, problems can crop up with conservation areas or neighbours who aren’t keen on a structure at the end of a garden,” says Jim. “It’s always better to get permission up front rather than apply for it retrospectively, and we can help with that.”
When it comes to the design stage, Jim starts with a basic 2D drawing of the site to give the client a sense of how the outdoor room will work in the garden. Then he works up a 3D model to show the interior spaces and materials. “The drawing stage is free and all part of the service, it’s only once the design is agreed that we cost everything up,” says Jim. “Any aspect of the bespoke design can be adapted and amended at any stage to suit our clients as we build on site, which is a crucial element that the off-the-shelf garden room companies can’t offer.”
To create your ultimate outdoor room, follow Jim’s 3 useful steps…
When it comes to the design stage, Jim starts with a basic 2D drawing of the site to give the client a sense of how the outdoor room will work in the garden. Then he works up a 3D model to show the interior spaces and materials. “The drawing stage is free and all part of the service, it’s only once the design is agreed that we cost everything up,” says Jim. “Any aspect of the bespoke design can be adapted and amended at any stage to suit our clients as we build on site, which is a crucial element that the off-the-shelf garden room companies can’t offer.”
To create your ultimate outdoor room, follow Jim’s 3 useful steps…
1. Think Outside the Box
Most off-the-shelf outdoor rooms are boxes, however, they don’t need to be, especially when most gardens aren’t square. Many successful outdoor room designs work with the available space to create a building that blends sympathetically in the chosen setting, while also making a statement at the same time. “Even a larger-than-average structure, such as the one shown here, can be cleverly designed to melt into the background, making your garden appear bigger and the garden room less obtrusive,” says Jim.
After the owners of this home in St Albans couldn’t find a garden room installer that was offering a solution for their needs, they were recommended Inside Out Oxford, who were able to design a unique outdoor room with three different sections. The owners now have an outdoor loo, a workshop and a cosy living space nestled into the corner of their garden, and the structure beautifully contours with the trees and surrounding landscape to create an appealing effect.
See more of this project
Most off-the-shelf outdoor rooms are boxes, however, they don’t need to be, especially when most gardens aren’t square. Many successful outdoor room designs work with the available space to create a building that blends sympathetically in the chosen setting, while also making a statement at the same time. “Even a larger-than-average structure, such as the one shown here, can be cleverly designed to melt into the background, making your garden appear bigger and the garden room less obtrusive,” says Jim.
After the owners of this home in St Albans couldn’t find a garden room installer that was offering a solution for their needs, they were recommended Inside Out Oxford, who were able to design a unique outdoor room with three different sections. The owners now have an outdoor loo, a workshop and a cosy living space nestled into the corner of their garden, and the structure beautifully contours with the trees and surrounding landscape to create an appealing effect.
See more of this project
2. Work With Existing Elements
You don’t need a completely blank canvas when designing and building an outdoor room. Thanks to the bespoke nature of their designs, Jim and his team can build their rooms to work with any existing elements within a garden. “Trees are often a big issue – either ones that can’t be removed from the site, or precarious ones that overhang from other gardens,” says Jim. “However, as we always use strong steel rafters and ground screws, our garden rooms are incredibly robust, and falling branches just bounce right off them.”
Keen to preserve her 100-year-old pear tree and the character of her garden, the owner of this charming outdoor room in Oxford wanted a quiet retreat that embraced the beauty of the tree. Jim designed a structure to sit around the trunk, “like a new set of clothes”, and also added a useful ladder on the side, so the owner could safely retrieve the bumper crop of pears each year.
See more of this project
You don’t need a completely blank canvas when designing and building an outdoor room. Thanks to the bespoke nature of their designs, Jim and his team can build their rooms to work with any existing elements within a garden. “Trees are often a big issue – either ones that can’t be removed from the site, or precarious ones that overhang from other gardens,” says Jim. “However, as we always use strong steel rafters and ground screws, our garden rooms are incredibly robust, and falling branches just bounce right off them.”
Keen to preserve her 100-year-old pear tree and the character of her garden, the owner of this charming outdoor room in Oxford wanted a quiet retreat that embraced the beauty of the tree. Jim designed a structure to sit around the trunk, “like a new set of clothes”, and also added a useful ladder on the side, so the owner could safely retrieve the bumper crop of pears each year.
See more of this project
3. Treat it Like Any Other Room in Your Home
An outdoor room is much more than a glamorous shed and certainly doesn’t have to be flimsy, cold or damp. When designed properly, with damp-proofing, weather-proofing, insulation and heating, a timber-framed garden room is built to last, and can be enjoyed all year round. So, when arriving at a design that works for you, consider your outdoor room as a permanent and valuable addition to your current home, and it will naturally feel like an extension of the house.
In Oxford, the brief for this outdoor room was to dismantle the existing off-the-shelf garden room that was cold, unfriendly and unusable, and replace it with a substantially warm and robust art studio, built with proper aluminium windows and doors, incredible insulation and impeccable water-tightness. “We’re so confident that our rooms are built well, they all come with a 10-year guarantee, and the windows and doors 20 years,” says Jim. “This particular outdoor room is a place where you want to be – a place built with passion. We really enjoyed building this one, and think it ticks all the boxes!”
See more of this project
More: To discover more projects by Inside Out Oxford, visit their Houzz profile here.
Tell us: If you had an outdoor room, what would you use it for? Share your thoughts with fellow Houzzers below.
An outdoor room is much more than a glamorous shed and certainly doesn’t have to be flimsy, cold or damp. When designed properly, with damp-proofing, weather-proofing, insulation and heating, a timber-framed garden room is built to last, and can be enjoyed all year round. So, when arriving at a design that works for you, consider your outdoor room as a permanent and valuable addition to your current home, and it will naturally feel like an extension of the house.
In Oxford, the brief for this outdoor room was to dismantle the existing off-the-shelf garden room that was cold, unfriendly and unusable, and replace it with a substantially warm and robust art studio, built with proper aluminium windows and doors, incredible insulation and impeccable water-tightness. “We’re so confident that our rooms are built well, they all come with a 10-year guarantee, and the windows and doors 20 years,” says Jim. “This particular outdoor room is a place where you want to be – a place built with passion. We really enjoyed building this one, and think it ticks all the boxes!”
See more of this project
More: To discover more projects by Inside Out Oxford, visit their Houzz profile here.
Tell us: If you had an outdoor room, what would you use it for? Share your thoughts with fellow Houzzers below.
- This story was written by the Houzz Sponsored Content team.
At Inside Out Oxford, we realise that each square foot of a client’s property is valuable.
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Review by Ian:
We are impressed with the overall quality of our finished garden room and how well it integrates into our garden. It is well-insulated and the windows and French doors feel very solid so can be used a...More