Backyard Offices: Make This the Best Summer of Your Work Life

Garden offices (or backyard pods) are the best thing since strong coffee and noise-cancelling headphones, especially now that we’re all working from home. Imagine being ensconced in one of these cool structures instead of having to spread out on the kitchen table with your noisy crew in the background?

Tiny Room Co.

1 / 10

Branching Out

Need extra space? This cool cube by Tiny Room Co. – that floor-to-roofline window! that angled roof! that timber deck! – is beautiful tucked under twisted tree branches.

Studio Shed

2 / 10

Tropical Feel

We’re getting sleek Miami vibes from this swanky structure by Studio Shed (they’re in Colorado, but deliver to Canada). Clad in James Hardie cement siding with metal details, prop the doors open to let in the breeze. You can’t do that from the stuffy 21st floor of your office tower. And how about that side lounge?

Studio Shed

3 / 10

Contemporary Cool

Admittedly, this glorious backyard pod is verging on tiny home territory – it’s not just a place to plop a laptop. Put in the drum kit and a sofa and you’ve got a guest house. But as an office it works beautifully, too.

Tiny Room Co.

4 / 10

Minimalist Marvel

Lined in solid plywood with a chic black exterior and fitted desk, this stylish pod from Tiny Room Co. makes “going to the office” a joy. A large picture window frames the view.

Six Four Five

5 / 10

A Walled Oasis

Cedar decking and vertical cedar strips clad this sweet garden shed made by the architectural studio, Six Four Five A. Aptly called “a walled oasis,” it was created for a young family who needed extra office space, and room for their toddler to roam on the grass.

Home Network

6 / 10

Modern Industrial

Shipping containers have been trending for good reason: they’re sturdy, inexpensive and spacious. Perfect for a home office, we’d say! Backyard Builds’ Brian McCourt and Sarah Keenleyside did a bang-up job on this four-season shipping-container office, decking it out in furnishings because every home office needs a spot to nap.

Backyard Pod

7 / 10

Swinging Into Monday

Imagine this cabana as your home office? It’s got staycation vibes – lounge in the swing during breaks. Designed by Backyard Pod, the streamlined structure is covered in James Hardie’s fibre cement siding. The cabana deck is finished in tongue-and-groove cedar.

Urban Pods

8 / 10

Architecturally Sharp

Imagine waking up and carrying a coffee over to your backyard office? Work life never looked so good. This hunky unit called “the ufficio” is by Urban Pods. Vertical, wood detailing and inset lighting tucked into the overhang gives it stylish attitude.

Home Network

9 / 10

The Full Monty

Ok, so you could eat a plate of spaghetti Bolognese in this backyard garden office, or you could plunk a laptop on the table and start Zooming.

Modeco Construction

10 / 10

Pretty Prefab

Eye-catching and clean-lined, this 8×10-foot office pod from sustainably-minded Modeco Construction sports an iron-ore roof and door and wireless smart-control floor heating and lighting. That garden setting is so pretty!