Shed of the year 2024, Sponsored by 
This sun house is the perfect place for my mother to relax, read, listen to music and take afternoon naps. Even if the weather in wales is a little cold, it is still warm in the sun house, while the sun is out. She wanted me to recreate the feel of a Moroccan Riad garden, to appreciate the overall effect, have a look at my Youtube video. The funny thing is, that in this quiet area, on the edge of a small town, the locals have no idea that this Moroccan paradise exists under their noses.
After many years of travelling with my mother in North Africa, she asked me to recreate the feel of a Moroccan Riad in her back garden. As the summer holidays were just beginning and I am a teacher, I had plenty of time on my hands to organise and create the transformation. First I painted the Shed in Cuprinol Garden shades' Barleywood, then I was able to move inside, where a seat was created for me to upholster. I added thick foam seating for comfort and upholstered with a rich warm red fabric. Underneath the seat is a storage area, which has two curtains to cover the space from view. The walls were painted freehand using reclaimed emulsion paint and the floor was painted in cuprinol wood stains, also reclaimed. I made a stencil for the floor by adapting a middle eastern design, and created the effect of a round rug. After a brief visit to the Islamic Relief shop in Cardiff I had enough fabric to create the cushions, curtains and create a tent effect ceiling. The interior was then finished off with Moroccan tassels, musical instruments and a painted mirror and panel with dancer which I created at home. For the exterior I added artificial succulents to the window boxes, painted the garden wall ox blood red to mimic the red walls of Marrakesh, painted a minaret and together one sunny afternoon we covered the plinths with mosaic tissere which were also reclaimed. Apart from the initial build I would guess the makeover cost around £100, and most of that cost was the foam for the seat. I worked around 60 hours to complete the project.
