8 Hobby Room Ideas For A Wooden Garden Studio

Building a garden studio has become very popular in the UK - and for good reason. A timber garden studio offers a private retreat, an extra room outside your home where you can unleash your creativity, relax, play, or get into deep focus. What’s more, adding a wooden garden studio to your property might help you delay buying a bigger house.

In this article, we provide 8 hobby room ideas, practical insights, and design inspiration to make the most of your wooden garden studio.

Why Choose A Wooden Garden Studio

Timber garden studios look timeless. They fit into any setting - be it the back garden of a terraced house, the grounds surrounding a Listed Building, or the land around a modern home.

While modern-looking garden studios with walls of windows look nice, they don’t provide much privacy. If you have neighbours, they will likely be able to see what you get up to in there. Plus, not all hobbies need much natural light - you might want to build a dim room to meditate or do yoga.

Adding blinds to walls of windows is expensive and once you pull them down, no light will come in. A wooden garden studio can be fitted with small or big windows, which let in the perfect amount of light for your needs.

Top 8 Uses For A Timber Garden Studio

Below we offer 8 hobby room ideas for a timber garden studio. You don’t have to pick just one, though: you can build a multi-purpose outbulding with one or more internal walls, so you can pursue two or more hobbies in the same studio.

1) Writer’s Garden Studio

Writing from your own garden studio is pure bliss. No one and nothing can interrupt you; plus you get to look out into the garden when the writer’s block hits. Walking across your garden to get in and changing your environment can also help you find inspiration, which might escape you when you’re sitting in the kitchen or on the sofa.

Setting up a writing room in your wooden garden studio is easy - simply place a desk and a good office chair by a window. Install electricity and find a heating solution that suits your property. Set up a wi-fi and you’re ready to get to work on your manuscript or short story. If you plan to spend lots of time in the studio, add a little kitchenette area with a sink and a kettle for those much-needed cups of tea.

2) Yoga And Meditation Wooden Garden Studio

Having a dedicated room outside your home where you can practice yoga and meditation can give a real boost to your practice. Stepping outside and walking into a room with dim lighting and burning incense will put you in the perfect mood.

A small and simple garden studio is all you need. Fit a few shelves to store your equipment, portable lights, bluetooth speakers, and incense burner or oil diffuser. Place yoga mats and cushions around the room and add decorations, like plants. Using portable technology means you don’t need to connect the building to the mains.

If you plan to meditate for long periods of time, you should install heating. Sitting perfectly still can make you feel chilly, even if you added insulated walls and floors to the structure.

3) Garden Games Room

A dedicated games room will help you remember to have fun and stop scrolling social media or binge watching Netflix all evening. You can go old school and make the studio a technology-free space where to play boardgames, cards, darts, and ping pong. Or you can set up a gaming cave with a Play Station or Nintendo Wii and a big flat screen TV.

Pick a medium-sized rectangular garden studio with insulated walls and flooring. Install electricity, water, and heating to make the room comfortable. For furniture, choose between a big table with comfy chairs or a sofa in front of a TV stand. Shelves or a chest of drawers should provide enough storage for your games.

4) Art Garden Studio

Whether you enjoy painting, drawing, or making stained-glass art, having an art studio in your garden will allow you to unleash your creativity with no distractions.

A simple rectangular garden studio with a few big windows provides the perfect place to refine your craft. Connect the outbuilding to the mains to add electricity, heating, and water supplies.Place a table and comfortable chair on one side of the room and fit shelving. Build a chest of drawers to store your equipment and make sure to fit a bright light. A floor lamp with a long cable can be extremely useful if you want to make art after dark.

5) Woodworking Workshop

A timber garden studio makes for a great woodworking workshop. It allows you to keep dust, shavings and chipping out of your home.

Chose a studio with plenty of windows for good lighting and install electricity. Add a lumber storage area, some shelves, a workbench, tool storage, and a chair.

Make sure to pick a size of garden studio with plenty of space to walk around the workbench and work at any stationary machines you install.

If you plan to work while standing much of the time, you might not need to add heating to the building - insulated walls and flooring might be enough to keep the temperature comfortable. If you’re going to spend hours sitting and carving small pieces of wood, you might need to heat the workshop up.

6) Fitness Or Dance Studio

Having your very own fitness or dance studio at home can save you a lot of time driving to and from the gym. Plus, if you only have half an hour before a commitment, you can squeeze a short training session in.

A medium to large rectangular insulated garden studio is ideal for this hobby room. Choose between installing electricity and fitting portable lights. Because you will be doing physical exercise in the studio, you might not need to install heating.

Add your preferred type of flooring, like rubber, to provide a good platform. Once that’s in place, you can fit any equipment around the room. Using shelves to store light gear will help save space.

7) Wildlife Watching Shed

If you own a big piece of land where lots of wildlife come to visit, you could build a small wildlife watching shed. Wild animals flee as soon as they hear human noises. A small garden shed offers a great hideout and helps you stay warm in the winter.

The shed should be simple: fit insulated walls and flooring and add a bench or some chairs. If you enjoy taking pictures of wildlife, build a standing desk or some shelving where to place your camera. Place some well-stoked bird and squirrel feeders in front of the windows to attract wildlife to the area.

8) Old-school photo lab

Do you enjoy developing film? Transform a garden studio into a dedicated photo lab. You can leave the film to dry in it over a few days without worrying about tidying up.

Opt for a garden studio with little to no windows and install electricity and running water. Add a sturdy table, some shelving, and a sink. If you’d like to use the studio for other hobbies, you could fit one or more windows and black them out while you develop film.

Depending on the type of film you use, you might need to heat the building up. If you develop film twice a week or so and you’re relaxed about temperature control, you might get away using a fan heater on a timer.

Choosing The Right Wooden Garden Studio

Whatever you plan to do in your wooden garden studio, choosing a custom-designed one allows you to tailor the building to your needs.

For example, if you want to use it as a writer’s room or an art studio, you will likely need a one-room studio with plenty of windows let natural light in.

If you’re planning on setting up a studio with an old-school photo lab and a games room, on the other hand, an L-shaped garden studio with a separate area with no windows might suit you better.

Olson Timber Building’s wooden garden studios are all unique. You can choose the shape of the building and where to locate windows, doors, and internal walls. Our timber garden studios can be personalised with decking, multiple roofing options, timber flooring, locks, and more. We can even build the studio ready for a bathroom or kitchen installation.

Not all timber outbuildings are the same - pick a garden studio made of thick, sturdy timber so the building will last over the years.

Olson Timber Building’s wooden garden studios are built of sustainably sourced, pressure-treated, robust timber. You can opt for insulated floors and walls to control the indoor temperature and keep dampness at bay.