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Monthly Archives: January 2013

B.C. woman fined for renting garden shed to homeless couple

Man, woman and pets living in tool shed in Kelowna, B.C. paid $200 a month

CBC News Posted: Dec 7, 2012 7:23 PM PT

A power cord that ran from the woman’s house in Kelowna, B.C., supplied electricity to the small metal building, for which she was charging rent of $200 per month.

It’s not clear how long the people and pets had been living in the shed. Bylaw officers warned the owner two weeks ago it was not suitable accommodation, but the advice was ignored, said city spokesman Stephen Fleming.

Fleming described the small building as “a standard type of metal garden shed that you’d get at your local hardware store. It certainly doesn’t look like a place for people to be living in.”

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Installing a Modern-Shed Kit:

Modern-Shed kit construction is easier than you might think.

Modern-Shed Kits: Ever thought about having a Modern-Shed in your backyard? Do you have basic construction skills? Can you read directions?

Great then you should have no problem installing a Modern-Shed Kit.

The best way to minimize the cost of a Modern-Shed is to install it yourself.

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Small Living in the Big Apple:

Small Living: Finding Work / Life Balance in 500 Sq/Ft

Small Living, Small Spaces

Small Living in the Big Apple

New York independent business consultant Michael Pozner had a need. He wanted to have a functional living space in his 500 Sq/Ft Big Apple apartment by night but he also needed a space to work in during the day.

One of the major challenges with small living is storage and in the case of Micheal he decided to build his space around the storage. Instead of multiple pieces of disjointed furniture which clutter the space he and his designer Darrick Morowski set out to de-clutter.

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Prefab Laneway House: 12′ x 20′

Prefab Laneway House:

Prefab-Vancouver-Laneway-House

Prefab Vancouver Laneway House

Designed as a place for visitors to rest their travel-weary bones this Guesthouse concept could easily be adapted as a Laneway House for the Vancouver marketplace.

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Gambier Island Homesteaders – Remote Island Living

Q&A with Gambier Island homesteaders James and Lara

Gambier island perfect for a Modern-Shed by Westcoast Outbuildings Inc.

Gambier Islanders Homesteaders – James Spouler and Lara Kehler

Gambier Island

January is that time of year where people take stock of their lives and ask that all important question: “What am I doing with my life?” Usually this results in a few trips to the gym and then it’s back to business as usual. But for some, it leads to something more radical.

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Backyard Bedroom: Home in a 96 Sq/Ft box

Backyard Bedroom Kit: A Teenage Dream

Backyard Bedroom Kit: Our customer came to Westcoast Outbuildings with a problem. Their children were growing up right before their eyes. Brother & Sister once happy to share a single bedroom, it was now rapidly becoming a dysfunctional situation.

Vancouver Backyard Bedroom

Modern-Shed: Backyard Bedroom installed by handy client.

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Backyard Office & Storage By Modern-Shed

 A Backyard Office Close to Home.

Backyard Office Kit by Modern-Shed

Mixed Use: 7′ x 22′ Backyard Office / Storage

SEATTLE — Chris Hansot was used to paying $400 a month for an office in Queen Anne he barely used. It got him thinking about a Backyard Office.

The software salesman travels regularly for work around the Northwest and Canada, but when he needs to get projects finished, he needs the privacy and space to do so.

Chris found himself working more and more from home, in order to be close to his wife and four kids — a 6-year-old boy, two twin 8-year-old girls, and a 10-year-old boy.

He has another office in Bellevue, but he hates going there, he said.

After four years paying monthly rent on the Queen Anne office near his home, he finally made the decision to build something even closer to home, a backyard office.

“I thought, ‘Why am I paying money for this?’” he said. “I need a place to go and have my own space.”

Chris looked into building a garage with a home office attached, but he was surprised at how costly a home addition could be.

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Frank Lloyd Wright please design me a dog house for Eddie.

Frank Lloyd Wright… Please design me a dog house

In June of 1956, Frank Lloyd Wright — a man posthumously recognized as “the greatest American architect of all time” by the AIA — received an unusual letter from 12-year-old Jim Berger, a boy looking to commission the design of a home for his dog, Eddie, by the same architect who designed his father’s house 6 years previous. Incredibly, Frank Lloyd Wright agreed and, as seen below, supplied a full set of drawings for “Eddie’s House” the next year. Construction was eventually completed by Jim’s father in 1963.

frank lloyd wright

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright

Unfortunately Eddie hated his new home. It was demolished in 1973.

The full exchange of letters can be found below, along with a photo of the completed dog house. It was the smallest structure ever designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and possibly the least used.

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