A backyard office cube is the ultimate WFH luxury

Who: Lisa Kooistra, an interior designer, and Ryan Kooistra, a contractor and co-founder of York Renovation and Design, with their French bulldog, Albert
Where: Burlington

Lisa and Ryan flirted with the idea of a backyard office for years. When Covid hit, they finally got down to it. In their spare time, they designed and built the structure in eight weeks. By last summer, they were sitting side-by-side with the breeze coming in from the open sliding doors. “We love that you get this feeling of working outside,” says Lisa. They also planted a vegetable garden nearby for fresh carrots to snack on, as well as beans, various lettuces, cabbage, eggplant, broccoli, tomatoes, potatoes, herbs and cucumber.

The pod is heated and insulated, so they’re staying cozy through the winter, with Albert napping on his dog bed nearby. Lisa and Ryan even step into the pod after hours for date nights, when their daughter is asleep and they need a night away from to-do lists.

Their pod is 100 square feet, made of lumber and clad in siding. It’s now a prototype for LivPods, a modular construction business they created, with prefab pods starting at $28,000. They’re constructed off-site and craned into place.

This height-adjustable ergonomic chair ($215 from Inbox Zero) is upholstered in vegan leather.

For date nights in the pod, they repurpose the rolling table ($299 from CB2) for a cheese plate and a carafe. “The pod is now an extension of our living space,” says Lisa. “We’ve definitely had a few glasses of wine in here.”

The brass sconces by Trent Austin Design ($288) are on dimmers to allow for mood lighting.

Albert spends most of his day napping in the pod.