To work in the garden (SAD)

[Workinginthegard]

Posting for traffic. I suffer from SAD and want to maximise daylight. Does anyone have a garden office? I am looking at the Jhon Lewis pods which are around 15k and wondering if that could work as an office?

Any ideas welcome. I already take vitamin d, excercise and have a lumina lamp. I am sitting in the garden having breastfast. It is a bit chilly but a nice day otherwise. Thinking it would be nice working in the garden

This is my garden, the left side with the white wall doesn’t have much light but we could put the pod there.

You could work in the garden and you can work in the garden and that's alot of money plus installation and extension of electricity to your pod. However I'd say that it looks pretty shady so would you even get sunlight if you put it in. It looks like this garden is facing north so what levels of sunlight is it getting during the winter?

Can you put a desk and heater in a south facing room near a window to maximise the sunlight without the expense? One of the key things for me is to get out and face the sun as soon as I can in the morning - which I do every day sunny or not when I feed the outdoor cats.

I had a garden office which I worked in for years, the sun would hit it after midday and for the afternoon but it was freezing in the mornings in there, and it was a fully insulated garden office/room with double glazing and an insulated floor. So once you have one it also costs money to heat for an hour before you go out there to work otherwise your fingers seize up pretty fast.

Thank you. This is great advice. It is north facing and doesn’t get much light in winter; the left side is pretty shady all year round. The front of the house does get more light so I may put the desk facing the window which is south facing in the studio where we have the office, at the moment is on the other side. Thought of doing that last year but spring arrived and the weather improved and all as forgotten.

I am sitting in front of the house every morning to face the sun.

Agree that it sounds like a lot of money and will likely be on the cold side this time of year. Could you look on FB marketplace or similar to see if anyone is getting rid of a greenhouse? If you're wanting it to be transparent this could be a good inexpensive way of trialling the idea. My Dad used to insulate his with those big rolls of bubble wrap and you could potentially run a fan heater out there.

Thank you both. I got a desk in my bedroom. I am going to move it today to the studio to face the window which is south facing. Need to reorganise things a bit as there is a corner sofa, may need to move corner to other side or push it away from window.

There is a desk on the other side but is fixed and quite dark facing the wall. Cheap and easy solution. I feel better the days I go to the office as I sit near a window. Not sure why I have not done this before.

I am sitting in front if the house facing this beautiful sun, but can’t do much here; fortunately I am off work today.

I use my SAD lamp as my office (WFH) desk lamp and turn it to my face for an hour or so a day. That works a treat and the room is bright all day.

My office is north facing so it's a dark room but it's painted white to brighten it up. That said I'm about to redecorate it as its very tired and I'm going for warm wood panels behind me and a rainforest type scene with wallpaper in front of me.

I wouldn't spend serious money on a garden office unless you need it when the lamp on your desk might be plenty!