My eco-cabin makes family visits special: no more sleeping in the living room, no more queues for the bathroom (grandchildren especially love the compost loo in the cabin)and no more cant-get-to-my-desk stress for me.
I believe it is a deep human need to build your own home, but a shed is the next best thing! My build began with redundancy money, a major cycle accident and a Ruskin College project: see it on http://priscillawaugh.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/eco-build-introduction/