Grand Designs UK celebrates the humble shed and some enervating DIY
Simplicity rules for this Grand Designs couple, who prove that a pared-back shed, albeit it on a large scale, creates the perfect family home.
REVIEW: Blokes love their sheds, and maybe they are onto something. What if a shed really could be turned into a decent home, not just a sleepout?
What if you stretched it and made it bigger and higher? And what if you then moved your family in?
Grand Designs UK guru Kevin McCloud thinks it could work. "Houses are overrated. Sheds are the future," he says right at the start of the latest episode screened on Three.
Micah and Elaine Jones, shown here with Grand Designs UK host Kevn McCloud (left) have pooled a lot of resources to build their best shed yet.
And having watched this build in County Down, Northern Ireland, we think he may be right.
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Architect Micah Jones has a plot of land with lots of sheds. You could say Jones is a fanatic. He grew up in this place, which he calls Shed Land, and he has a shed for everything, including one for his tiny old Fiat, and a pretty flash one for his architectural practice.
The new house, which has been described as the largest shed in Ireland, features a stone base and an upper level made from cross-laminated timber panels produced in Austria.
Now, budgetary considerations have made him look twice at a shed for his own family, and wife Elaine is all for it. They've even found a bit of land in the country with some old stone sheds that will need to be demolished, all for just £80,000 ($157,000).
McCloud visits the first structure Jones built as a lad, and it's a shed of course. Now part ruin, with not a straight nail in sight, it doesn't bode well.
Northern Ireland's biggest shed will, of course, be very large, with a blockwork lower level that will be clad in stone reclaimed from the demolished sheds. The "more adventurous" top level will feature prefabricated, cross-laminated timber panels. And there's a bit of a rush with the blockwork because the timber panels, built in Austria, arrive in just three weeks.
Grand Designs UK host Kevin McCloud checks out the new kitchen with Micah and Elaine Jones.
The weird thing is, with the help of a lot of hands, the house does take shape in a month, despite the fact that the Joneses have set aside an entire year for the build. It's also scary for Micah to realise he has blown half of his £210,000 (NZ$411,000) in just four weeks.
And we get to see how it's going to look on the inside – sharp, modern and very pared back. Jones is putting trusses on the outside of the gabled roof, so the inside is a very clean-lined gabled form, much like a child's drawing of a house. The walls are wrapped in ply and the stone also comes inside, with a single wall soaring the full height of the gable. What's not to love?
The family lives in on site, in what McCloud describes as "a rodent-infested caravan". But they get to save this way.
The fully glazed end gable provides an enviable view.
And let's face it; they are building this "shed" for less than £1000 ($NZ1900) per square metre, which is less than half the average cost of a build in the UK. As a comparison, Building Guide in New Zealand says $2000 to $2500 per square metre is usual in this country, but custom house builds are likely to be anything north of $3000 per square metre.
The Joneses do go over budget, as the interior costs escalate by $35,000, so they do a lot of the work themselves. Micah is doing his own stone walling – a massive job. And Elaine hand paints every tiny diamond-shaped wood tile that will form the kitchen splashback.
They save further money by using agricultural roofing products, and waste timber from the build is used to construct the stairs and the wood store. Lots of friends and family help out before their new baby arrives – historically, this is how many communities built their homes.
A stone-clad wall rises the full height in the semi-open plan living floor.
And then finally they are in. The shed is completed; it's gigantic, and Jones is quick to say it's "not some kind of architecture trophy".
He shouldn't be so humble. This is a magnificent house. The simplicity of the design has helped to keep the costs down, as did the DIY, which must have felt endless. Even the colourful splashback, which looked fearsome in the making ("bonkers" according to McCloud), actually looks amazing.
This couple get a lot of house for their money. And the view from the living areas on the upper level are grand – as Micah Jones says: "It's a cracking spot."
The woodstore beside the fireplace is built from CLT off-cuts.
When McCloud arrives for the grand reveal, he notes the timber has weathered over the year, and the stones have faded, so both materials seem better connected visually.
It's exactly as Micah wanted – to make something that would improve with age and get better. "It's not just when it comes out of the box that it looks great," he says.
McCloud is right to say: "This is proper architecture. It's raw and enclosing."
Niches in the timber-lined bathroom walls provide shelving.
Elaine sums it up when she says she loves it because it's uncomplicated. "And that's what we need, because life's complicated enough."
And she's adamant they won't move again; they won't be needing more space. "There's plenty of space to build more sheds," she says.
Let's hear it for the shed.
Grand Designs UK screens on Three on Tuesdays at 7.30pm
Grand Designs host Kevin McCloud was pretty impressed with the shed build.
An idyllic setting - the shed house is beginning to blend in with its neighbours.
- Homed
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