office

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

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Mother Nature’s beautiful boulders go from construction challenge to unbelievably gorgeous landscape feature!

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA – Ryan and his family knew they had the perfect spot for a home office, even though there were a couple of (not so tiny) obstacles. However, as the pandemic loomed on, their idea shifted to an urgent need. Ryan contacted Modern Shed Design Consultant Jeff Bergerson. “No other shed manufacturer wanted to touch our space because of the boulders. It wasn’t until I got an on-site inspection by Modern Shed preferred installer Dave Walterick that I felt comfortable moving forward,” said Ryan.

Simply put, Ryan, Jeff and Dave realized the standard 10’x12’ shed wouldn’t fit, i.e., “in between a rock and a hard place.” As a result, they decided that Modern Shed would tailor the shed to fit – a 9’x12’ shed. “The space is REALLY tight between the rocks and the setback rules; it is literally inches away from one of the boulders,” Ryan explained.

“Once it started to rain, the dirt covering the utility trench started to settle, and Dave’s crew came back to jack up the shed in that corner,” said Ryan. “Luckily, the very large timber used under the walls and floor was strong enough that the shed hardly moved.”  This is an example of the strength and durability of Modern Shed’s unique floor system.

If you’re ready to invest in a lifestyle upgrade for yourself, contact Modern Shed today!

Palm Desert Paradise

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PALM DESERT — When Tom and Casi moved into their 1,740-square-foot Palm Desert home four years ago, they identified a spot where Tom could eventually have a home office.

Each of them work from home — Casi works as a financial consultant for a high-end designer, while Tom, a former stand-up comedian and actor, writes content for programs such as awards shows or music specials for a Hollywood producer.

When it came to their new home, they worked with their builder/designer to create a space exactly how Tom wanted it — however, Casi was the first to land a job, so Tom found himself back to where he started, working from various spots in the house, such as the dining room table.

“Her jobs tend to be long-term, while mine are a month at a time,” Tom said. “The office became hers, so I patched along for a couple of years.”

When the COVID pandemic struck, they began to research home offices they could put up in the backyard. Their experience with Modern-Shed went quickly. 

“We were stuck at home, and in late August, well into the COVID experience, I showed Casi what I had seen online,” Tom recalled. “To my surprise, she agreed to build one. Our first email was sent in September and we were building in November.”

Tom was attracted to the design of Modern-Shed, with the transom windows and the look of the wood coming from the eaves. Casi watched all of the videos on Modern-Shed’s gallery online to get a sense of everything someone could do with a shed.

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The personal touch

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Rebecca’s 640-square-foot Modern-Shed home and workspace

PORT TOWNSEND — Rebecca’s experience with Modern-Shed came about through a desire to be closer to old friends and have a space to work on her art. It also included a little bit of luck.

Rebecca, a sculptor and woodworker, grew up in Seattle, but lived in Alaska for 30 years and later Portland, Ore.

She decided a couple years ago that she wanted to move to Port Townsend, a picturesque coastal city in Washington, where a close-knit circle of her childhood friends lived. However, she struggled finding housing.

“I was looking around for an already built home, but I couldn’t find one at the time,” Rebecca recalls. “I wouldn’t have built a house from scratch if I could find one. I had done a fair bit of construction in Alaska and didn’t want to invest a lot of time building, but there just was nothing available. That’s the truth, there was nothing appealing whatsoever.” Continue reading →

The work-from-home solution

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PORTLAND — When you’re two executives working in high-powered fields, finding space to work is critical.

It becomes even more so when you have two young children at home.

Sara and Greg both work from their home in Portland, though now Sara travels 80 percent of the time for her job.

Before finding Modern-Shed, they both juggled working from home with working outside the home in various offices.

“We needed an extra work space in our home because even though we had offices and were working within other offices, we’d occasionally be working in our home,” Sara says. “It became more of a heavy need to work at home since we have two small children. But working in your house is not realistic when the kids get home at 3 p.m.” Continue reading →

Room to think

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OLYMPIA — Two years ago, every single room of Olivia’s three-bedroom, ranch-style home in western Washington was occupied.

The mom of two worked from home and she needed a solution. Enter Modern-Shed.

“I have a house that is basically perfect in terms of the location,” Olivia says. “It’s near the school district, it’s near the city, but not in the city. But it’s really small. I needed an office because I was tired of working on the dining room table.”

The single mom worked from home as a psychologist and creative writer, and she dreamed of some day building a tiny house.

“I was looking for local and affordable options,” she recalls. “I had been toying with building a tiny house for a long time and even taken workshops from Jay Shafer and from Dee Williams with my dad. But it would take all year for me to build one. Since I didn’t have a handyman in the house who wanted to do that with me, I decided that prefab made a whole lot of sense.” Continue reading →

The ideal commute

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PORTLAND — Within the first year that Steve started his consulting business, he knew he needed to find a space to work outside of his house.

Steve and his wife, Michelle, and two daughters live in a three-bedroom Portland home built in 1912.

Steve works in accessory and product design, with his hands on everything from watches and eyewear to other wearable technologies for brands like Nike and Timex, while Michelle designs and creates handbags and clothing. 

“I was working in our finished basement, which is a nice basement, but there was a lack of light and still, it’s in the basement and it’s in the house,” Steve recalls. “I started looking at renting spaces or doing a prefab build. My goal was to get a modular system I could build myself.”IMG_4034 Continue reading →

Quality, quickly: An on-island solution

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island get awayisland retreatisland get away-2San Juan Island — In an ideal world, Tom wouldn’t have purchased a Modern-Shed.

The Portland-based attorney loves to build things and enjoys having his hands on a project, so when he began considering building a home office on his family’s property on San Juan Island in Washington, he would have ideally liked to build the office himself.

But, we don’t live in an ideal world, and Modern-Shed helps our customers wisely and efficiently use their time so they can have the types of spaces they’ve always dreamed of.

“I really like building things, but I don’t have the time,” Tom admits. “I wanted a quality product that could assemble very quickly. That was the key criteria.”

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Tom’s 12′ by 14′ Modern-Shed office on San Juan Island

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What more do you need?

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Here at Modern-Shed, where every employee works remotely, we completely understand the needs of our customers who want to find a quiet space where they can work from home in peace.

General Manager Tim Vack can now say he understands the full Modern-Shed experience — Tim recently took the plunge and purchased a Modern-Shed home office of his own!

Tim’s 8’ by 12’ shed is located on his vacation property on Mason Lake in rural western Washington and offers him a way to stay connected with coworkers while enjoying his favorite place in the world.

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The ultimate fan cave

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SEATTLE — When Joe and Lisa moved into their new home in the Leschi neighborhood of Seattle this past June, they both felt as though the home was missing something.

“For some reason, the house didn’t have a basement or an office, a space where I could go and work and watch football,” said Joe, an attorney who puts in many hours over the weekend. “I needed my own office space to get my work done.”

In addition to work, however, Sakay has been a “huge” Seahawks fan his whole life. Continue reading →