James & Victoria Sumner
After six years of living in Ireland, Victoria and James Sumner decided that a return to England would provide James with the ideal opportunity to fulfil his ambition of becoming a writer. Looking for the perfect space to inspire him, the couple found their answer in an imaginative bespoke design from Rooms Outdoor.
'When we returned to Buckinghamshire we realised that our garden would give us plenty of space to build an office. We did have room for an extension, but we just didn't want to have to live with all the dust and upheaval so it was never really an option.
'James is very thorough in his research and eventually we narrowed our search to a couple of companies including Rooms Outdoor and after our initial contact with them we felt that they were very professional and imaginative. We already liked their range of designs but explained to them that we were looking for something individual and funky. We were really amazed that, by our second meeting, they had drawn up plans for a truly unique and entirely bespoke design for us. It was exactly the sort of thing we were looking for with its slanting walls and an off-centre location in the garden. The only question was whether we had the nerve to go for it.
'After some thought we decided to be brave enough to say yes and commissioned Rooms Outdoor to begin work on our funky design. Inevitably because it was a one-off there were changes that were made as things progressed, but the team handled it all in a very mature and civilised way. They were very impressive in their professional approach.
'The crew were just a joy to work with. They had to dig quite a long trench from the house to the site to bring waste and water, but they were uncomplaining, very efficient and everything was perfectly restored afterwards. They really kept the disruption to an absolute minimum.
'We couldn't have hoped for anything better with our finished office. As well as the office area it contains a mini kitchen with sink and fridge as well as a cloakroom with shower and WC. This was also all fitted by Rooms Outdoor to exceptionally high standards and means that with a sofa bed in place, we can also use it as a guest suite.
'But it is really from the outside that it is most impressive. Apart from the very original styling in the slanting walls and roof, it has a floating hardwood deck and is clad in handmade bespoke Western Red Cedar tiles. This was an idea proposed by Rooms Outdoor and is a completely unique feature not offered by other companies, as they are extremely labour-intensive to make.
'We also have a sedum roof, which we chose so that it would blend in with all the trees that we have in the garden. We have irrigation in it with water pipes running underneath to keep it nice and green. The sedum is really easy to maintain. We did consider bringing in a specialist maintenance contractor to look after it, but to be honest it really takes care of itself and as it is very low growing needs absolutely minimal attention.
'It was quite hard to imagine how the office was going to look before it was installed especially as we had agreed that it should sit at an angle across the garden. However if anything it has actually made the garden seem bigger. Placing a building in it has given it some scale and perspective and it has filled a shady corner that was very little used before.
'As planned, James is now busy writing in the office and has a computer and telephone there. We had considered getting Sky installed but actually realised that having a TV would defeat the object of creating a peaceful haven.
Even the dog and cat find it peaceful and go and sit outside on the deck when James is working in there. We're just waiting for some warmer weather - we have some lovely Belize clam chairs on order and are looking forward to viewing our garden from outside on the deck this summer.'
