Alison Donaldson Garden Building Design Case Study

This case study looks at Alison Donaldson and how she transformed her Dunster House Rhine Log Cabin to create her own garden building design to fulfil her vast array of hobbies. Alison, a legal audio typist by profession, has a love of crafting. Now she has a space to indulge in all of her arts, photography, sewing, dressmaking, blogging, and a place for her vintage item collection.

Read on for her story on how she enhanced her living space with a garden room.

Space for hobbies

Alison confesses to having “…too many hobbies!”, which is the reason why she needed to buy a garden building to use as a space to create in.

She previously used one of the bedrooms in the house as her craft room, but found it became too small to accommodate all of her hobbies. Buying a log cabin from Dunster House meant she could have a bigger room to complete her arts and crafts projects in, and free up space in the house for a guest room. Her son could now move into the old craft room, giving him a bigger bedroom, while his old bedroom could be used for guests to stay.

Choosing the right garden building

It turned out that all Alison needed was a trip to Dunster House to find the perfect garden building for her. The “design and size …were exactly what I wanted/needed for the space we had for it,” she says. And it was “good value,” she adds.

Her decision was also helped by the “very good” service she received from our team, who helped and advised her on all the different options available.

The log cabin build

Alison found creating her perfect space a simple task when it came to assembly, but the hard part was deciding where to put everything inside. The build process itself took about a week, including the painting of the log cabin. However, it took her “much longer to find homes for all [her] stuff,” she confesses.

Although Alison had planned a design in her mind ahead of the project, she did not take into consideration any new purchases she might make when filling the space. She says: “I planned the space using my existing furniture and then added in more where I could!”

Budget also played a part in limiting what Alison could do to complete her new space. Despite now working from home, she was only able to insulate the floor and ceiling of her log cabin. But regardless of this, she is still more than happy with the end result.

The perfect garden room space

Alison describes her finished log cabin as a delightfully eclectic and cosy space. Her garden room is the perfect place to spend time crafting, writing or just relaxing. It is crammed full of all of her bits and bobs, finally providing her with the space she needs for all of her many hobbies. She jokes that people always comment on the large amount of things that she has, and tell her to do a car boot sale. Although she doesn’t let many people see inside the log cabin as she thinks “it isn’t very often tidy!”

Alison has plenty more plans for the future of her log cabin, to make her retreat even more perfect. One day she would like to “paint the remaining bare wood inside baby pink” to finish off the interior look of the garden cabin. As for the exterior, she wants to add a veranda and some decking.

Another satisfied customer, Alison says that she would “definitely” work with Dunster House again. She has already recommended the company to her parents, who now have their own garden retreat as well.

If you feel inspired by our case study on Alison Donaldson and her garden building design, take a look at our full range of high quality Log Cabins. We have a wide range of sizes, shapes and styles available, so you can make your own garden retreat to accommodate your needs, hobbies and interests.