BERKELEY — Several years ago, as a screenwriter living in Los Angeles, Mike knew he needed the space to write.

Mike and his wife, Maya, looked around for office space close to home, but nothing called out to them.

Mike had been working out of an extra bedroom, but found himself too easily distracted.

“We have two boys, so it’s not easy to work in the house,” he said. “I needed a door that I could close between me and my family so I could concentrate.”

The couple did their research and found a lot to like about Modern-Shed, however, ultimately they purchased a storage shed from Home Depot, which sufficed for the time being.

Still, when Mike and Maya moved from southern California to the San Francisco Bay Area about seven months ago, they knew another Home Depot shed wasn’t going to cut it.

“The Modern-Shed idea had always stuck in our minds,” said Mike, who has an office at Pixar, but works primarily from home when he works for other

studios. “I needed kind of my own space to sit and think through things.”

Mike and Maya chose an 8’ by 15’ foot shed that Modern-Shed installed in the couple’s front yard, which complements the home nicely and earns

admiring comments from neighbors who pass the shed every day.

“Our street is very walkable,” Mike said. “There’s lots of kids playing around. We put it into the front yard, but incorporated the shed into the fence design, so it looks like it’s part of the house … it gives us a nice play area for the kids and maintains an open space for the street as well.”

Mike was impressed with how quickly the Modern-Shed team assembled his Modern-Shed home office and was also happy with the contractors Modern-Shed recommended to set up the shed’s deck.

“I was just surprised at how fast it went up,” Mike said. “They seem to have it down to a science. It was like watching them put together a puzzle. It’s amazing to see something look so good be put up so quickly.”

Whenever Mike had questions, Modern-Shed dealer Mike Probach was always able to answer them, Mike said.

“I loved how accommodating everybody has been,” he said. “Mike was so attentive and wanted to make everything work for us. I appreciated that,

because it’s a significant investment. It’s good to have a company like that. I’m really happy with the company.”

Mike keeps the Modern-Shed’s French doors open to the yard, so his sons, nine and four years old, and the cats can come and go as they please.

But when he needs to make a phone call or write, Mike knows he has the perfect spot.

“It’s been exactly what I’ve hoped for,” he said. “It’s quiet. It has just this kind of wonderful wood warm

feeling. I love the light coming through the (clerestory) windows. People stop by all the time to ask about it and are really impressed with it. When you buy the house, you’re also buying the neighborhood and it really complements everything well.”