An Office Transformation

I have just been kicking myself lately.  I never seem to remember to take the oh-so-important "before" shots.  I'm usually so excited to start a job, I sort of just dive right in.

Let's just say that this office looked like this before.

White walls, fluorescent lighting, commercial carpet, aluminum blinds.  Okay, the actual office is a little less NYC, a little more suburban midwestern office park, but you get the idea.

And now:

Welcome!

This is the office of a small family foundation, and it needed to feel comfortable, elegant, and classy, and to reflect the family in general and the foundation namesake in particular.  In my inspiration, I found myself thinking of Nate Berkus: masculine, traveled, neutrals and textures--only with a little less modern edge.  The photo above is the view from the front door.  When you come in, there is this seating area to the right.

The mix of antique walnut, leather, velvet, mohair, antiqued mirror, gold, and blue and white pottery feels collected and a little old money to me.

That small angled wall is actually an interior floor to ceiling window with that chicken wire glass and terrible aluminum blinds.  The blinds are NEVER opened, so instead of turning the angle into a feature, we decided to make it "disappear" into the wall, and softened it up with a pleated flat roman shade in a Schumacher silk the same color as the walls.

One of the fun things about this project was using the art that the foundation had collected one way or another over the years.  These Native american watercolors are beautiful, and helped set the color palette.

In the seating area, we swapped out the big fluorescents for recessed halogen floodlights, and supplemented them with wall sconces and table lamps.

I blogged the frame transofrmation (above) here, and the massive gallery wall here (and here.)

I'll be back with a few more details and ideas on accessorizing an office space.  And someday I will learn to not only take "before" shots, but to take a decent "after" shot as well!