Newspaper Page Text
FALL HOME & GARDEN REPORT
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GETTING AWAY
FROM IT ALL (Without leaving)
Homeowners squeezed for space are turning to cozy "cabins" they
can build in their backyards. These affordable, DIY units are extending
our living space like never before. By Jeffrey Ressner
S A SINGLE MOTHER living in
Austin with her 16-year-old son,
Sydney Rubin adored the archi
tectural style of her 1952 two
bedroom bungalow. But she des
perately needed more space for a
home office. Adding a new room
would have run about $40,000,
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and at least double that to convert her carport. Either
way, the renovations would have compromised the
6
USA WEEKEND • Sept. 14-16,2007
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home’s original design. Instead, Rubin came up with
a novel solution: a tricked-out backyard cabana that
transformed her garden area into an idyllic workspace.
“I know it sounds flaky, but it’s a really inviting,
happy-looking structure,” says Rubin, who bought the
upscale cabana online after mulling over her various
options. The 140-square-foot unit took a couple of
workers just five days to build using prefabricated
materials, including gorgeous tight-knot redwood
panels. Tbtal cost: $22,000. Now she has a home office,
a garden feature and a conversation piece.
“Every time someone comes over, they ask the
same question: ‘Where can I get one?’ ”
These days, the answer is easy. Prefab cabanas,
or “cabins,” as people also call them, experienced a
resurgence in the 19705, and in the last few years sev
eral companies have popped up selling hip backyard
lodgings perfect for ait studios, meditation rooms or
guest quarters. Keep in mind, however, that tradi
tional “bonus room” additions generally are more sturdy
“They’re less expensive
than an addition and a great
way to escape from loud
family life in the main house.”
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than cool prefab modules and may deliver a better re
turn on investment when reselling your home.
Although separate structures like these often are
used for storage, they also can offer homeowners a
real refuge a different room in which to work,
play or just relax. It’s almost like having a vacation
home in the backyard. The units range in size (100
square feet and up) and are detached from the main
residence and immobile. “A new trend definitely
started in the building industry,” says Casper Mork-
Ulnes of Modern Cabana, the maker of Rubin’s cube
and one of at least a dozen firms offering the nifty
single-room nooks. “They’re less expensive than an
addition and a great way to escape from loud family
life in the main house.”
Garden rooms in general have become a popular
concept as homeowners seek ways to expand exterior
living and leisure spaces beyond wooden decks. Some
daring folks are experimenting with cargo contain
ers; others park gleaming Airstream trailers in their
yards. Jo Stougaard of North Hollywood, Calif, pitched
a large canvas tent in her garden, decorated it with
safari gear, framed Hemingway photos and African
knickknacks and now r often hosts fun dinner parties
there that is, when guests aren’t sipping martinis
inside a nearby Tiki hut, which serves as yet another
outdoor room.
Sometimes fun is trumped by function: Richard
Cornelius of Cincinnati spent nearly SIO,OOO on a
Cape Cod-styled mini-home that he uses to hide his
swimming pool equipment.
Popular for many years in England, the too-cool
garden-room trend got a spark here in early 2004
when Gen X-slash-Y craft magazine Ready Made
published a cover story featuring a $1,500 super
shed by California designer Edgar Blazona. With its
Cover photograph by Jean-Yves Bruel, Masterfile
Oakes photograph, above, by John Black/honestimage
T.E). Oakes,
seated, and wife
Jennifer built a
"playhouse” in
their backyard
in Kentucky.