Backyard Studio Ideas

Gazebo

• A gazebo can serve as a compact little studio. If it's an enclosed gazebo made for three- or four-season use, or you live in a warm climate, you can use it all year round. Or, use an open gazebo as your workspace during the summer months. For painters, craftspeople, writers, and other people who enjoy working outside, this provides a quiet outdoor retreat in which to work.

Garage Studio

• If you have a detached garage with an apartment over it, consider converting the apartment into your studio. Chances are, it only needs a desk and a few other furnishings, although you might want to make more dramatic changes to turn it into your own personal space.

  If you're willing to renovate the garage itself, it could become a large office space. Add windows for lighting, and remove the garage doors, adding a wall on that side. To create a music studio, skip the windows and add padding. A refinished garage can even double as sleeping quarters for guests, as Debra Prinzing and William Wright mention in "Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways."

Cottage or Cabin

• A small cottage or cabin can provide a charming and inviting workspace. Design it to look like a miniature home, perhaps hiding it away in its own little grove of trees, or planting a border of shrubs and flowers around it. Give your cottage the comfort of a home, adding a small outdoor seating area so you can work outside on warm days.

Covered Walkway

• A covered walkway creates a feeling of flow between the studio and the main house, and makes it easier to walk to your studio on rainy or snowy days. Create an arbor for partial cover, or border one or both sides with a trellis. You'll love strolling down the path on sunny days when the flowers are in bloom. Plant morning glories or other blooming vines to motivate you to head to work.

Tips

• In a small space, create a streamlined storage space to keep yourself organized. Build shelving or even desk space into the walls, as Lee Anne White suggests in "Backyard Idea Book," to minimize clutter. Install a skylight as well to take advantage of natural lighting.