The idea of working from home can be a wonderful idea, full of inspiring pyjama-clad mornings with your prime office essentials: wireless laptop, mobile phone, and a pot of freshly brewed tea.

But for many, the reality is a disappointing one. Home is where you live - and while you might be a sofa-loving layabout at home, at work the chances are you cope better in a neat, organised environment. So trying to force your working life onto your home comforts can be a frustrating and futile process.

Sound familiar?

Luckily, there are plenty of alternatives. Some people find that they just need to clear out their spare room and keep their home office separated by a simple door (in the words of home-worker Jeff Zbar, "The power tool of the home office is a door that closes"). Others fair better by setting up shop in a co-working environment, or hot desking in a local office.

But if all else fails, why not consider a garden office?

This doesn't mean you have to convert the garden shed - although unsurprisingly this particular idea has already been successfully tried and tested (more on this later). You can also go down the route of a professionally built office, which can add value to your working life, as well as to the price of your home...

A professional garden office

There are many different sizes, designs and features available when it comes to purpose-built garden offices. Since the notion of virtual working has grown in popularity, so too has the home and mobile office industry.

A professionally built office in your garden doesn't have to look like an office - in fact they often look like elaborate sheds or miniature chalets, with well-insulated walls and water tight roofs. It's generally much cheaper than a house extension, and you have the added benefit of being able to put it wherever you want.

Depending on your requirements, some even come with extras such as kitchens, showers and sleeping facilities, making it a complete all-in solution.

Richard Disney, of hospitality recruitment firm RD Resourcing, has recently built a 'liveable' office in his back garden.

"It's perfect for me," he says. "When I'm working from home the garden office makes it so much easier to concentrate. It stops your work and home life merging because you can shut the door on your office at the end of the day. That's especially important when you have a family."

He also adds that by building a new structure on his own property, he's making a personal investment by adding value to his house.

The outcome is that you have your own space in the garden that's solely dedicated to your work. It's quiet, secluded, and totally separate from your house - away from the distractions of household chores, personal calls and family demands.

Office pods

A similar solution is an OfficePod, an eco-friendly and futuristic-style workplace that brings all the essentials of the traditional office together into one compact solution.

Like other purpose-built garden offices, OfficePods provide a secluded space dedicated to work, which helps lay an important boundary between home and work life. Consequently, this provides a drastic cut in commuting times, which can also reduce harmful CO2 emissions.

In fact research suggests that for every person who uses an OfficePOD, their CO2 emissions are reduced by between 46% & 67% (when compared to the amount used for average journey times and use of an air conditioned office).

Plus, solutions like OfficePod help to dramatically reduce the amount that people and businesses have to spend on the cost of an office, let alone travelling to work. An endorsement by the Financial Times claims that the average saving between basing a worker at home in an OfficePod, rather than in central London, "could be more than £9,000 per year, excluding commuting costs".

Converting a garden shed

Finally, an increasingly popular solution is to convert a garden shed into an office.

If you already own a garden shed, or you're looking to buy a new one, take a moment to consider the workplace potential it can offer before filling it with trowels, empty flower pots and rusty junk.

Most sheds are sorely underused, and have the space to offer a perfect working environment. The image used above - courtesy of shed office provider Vivid Green - is one such guest post, and shows the potential that the humble garden shed can offer. Of course many will require some sort of refurbishment work to make sure they're well insulated, watertight and comfortable. But with a little thought the outcome could be just what you need.

In fact, the notion is becoming so popular that there are now websites dedicated solely to shed offices. Popular blog Shedworking, for instance, has been running since 2005 and is packed with useful tips, design ideas and guest posts.

Author Alex Johnson is also publishing a book, called 'Shedworking: The Alternative Workplace Revolution'. Speaking to the Financial Times recently, he says:

"A garden office is good because you finish work, go home and you're physically in a completely different environment. If you're working on the kitchen table there's always the temptation to check e-mails. Keep the two lives as separate as possible, so work doesn't encroach on real life."

As the popularity of virtual offices have grown in recent years, so too has remote working, and inventive methods of working from home that help to create a separate office environment. On top of this, garden offices promote one of the most sustainable workplaces available - an important step in the right direction for the workspace industry.

To find out more about working from home or setting up a virtual office, search online at virtualofficeworld.com or contact one of our expert advisors for free help and advice.