Pimp My Shed: The New Pseudo-Laneway

With laneway houses and basement suites minting faster than you can say Welcome to EcoDensity, a self-sufficient room of one’s own is the next logical step.

The new Vancouver-based Nomad offers a 10-by-10-foot micropod called Space (from $25,000), with a 60-square-foot attic, perfect for a flex office, artist or yoga studio, or man cave (or all of the above?). The Lilliputian footprint has its advantages: anything under 100 square feet is exempted from the city’s onerous zoning process. Channelling a playhouse on steroids, these little moisture-, termite-, and fire-resistant abodes come flat-packed and ready to assemble like Ikea furniture (marriage counselling not included).

Meanwhile, the new Filter Studio by Camera Buildings (from $24,000 ) is a handsome glass-walled gem that arrives wrapped in cedar slats (the better to filter light). Interior finishings, LED lighting,and built-in furniture are part of this 10-by-10-foot prefab studio that’s ready to be dropped in as your perfect garden accessory.