The Back Office- Before & After

 As anyone with a home-based business knows, office space starts leaking into other areas of the house, and as your business grows & you bring in new people, you need more room.  A few months ago, we moved our guest bedroom from one bedroom to another room- an unfinished storage-type room that we had finished.  The "empty" guest room became our back office.  Here's a picture of it "before" when we pretty much just thew everything in it:

{scaaaaaary, I know}

A couple of weeks after doing that, we organized it and started working at our temporary sawhorse & scrap plywood desks.  We ordered furniture & and then we waited for everything to arrive.  We've been working in it as it gradually became an actual office.  It's finally all in & it feels so good to have this new extra space!!! 

We lined the walls in shelving (from West Elm) and stacked all of our fabric samples, magazines, client binders, inspiration binders and catalogues on the shelves.  I love having a spot for everything!!!  (Before it used to be spread through mulitple rooms but now it's all pretty much together.) 

It's sort of a long bowling-alleyish room which actually works really well for our purposes.  I put two massive hammered metal desks side by side to take up almost the whole right wall.  I use the one by the window (and heat vent) and my assistant, Meghan uses the one closer to the camera.  (Meghan is perpetually HOT and I like to be toasty so this works out best for us :)

I love having both a light space & a darker space to work in.  The office feels much moodier than the main workroom with huge table we use for spreading out projects:

It's so bright in here that it's hard to see the computer screen in the afternoons but it's perfect for working on fabrics & finishes and drawing & spreading out. 

 ...Back in the office, I love this shot that Helen took of the mimosas in my old lab beakers:

{Thanks for the flowers Holly!!!}

I was able to fit a teensy corner desk in the corner of the room for an additional workstation for bookkeeping & for our new intern, Alexa.  Christian has pretty much claimed it though:

{I snapped this pic of Christian in his NASA suit, "working."}

Our inspiration wall is finally up above our desks & it makes me so happy!!!

We layered it with photos that inspire us (some that have been saved for years with the hopes of one day having this wall) fabrics we love & that fit our mood, and mementos.  I piled some of my favorite design books in front of the wall for easy access, and because these desks are so incredibly deep (I think almost 3 feet?!!) we now actually have room for them to be nearby.

(You can spy Baby Liess's pic in there towards the bottom in front of my workstation! ;)

Anyway, because we have a place for almost everything, it's been really easy to keep it organized & that's so freeing.  (It's like those dreams you have of finding extra rooms in your house!!)

Also, I thought the comments were really interesting in the last post (from Friday) about sharing things on blogs, magazines, etc.  There seems to definitely be very differing opinions and I see both for sure but will probably continue with "sneakity peeks" of rooms vs showing the whole spaces until after I've given them a chance to be published.   (My office today is different because it's on my own home, of which I think I've shown pretty much every inch of on here :)  Would love to know your thoughts!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

*Photos by Helen Norman

Photoshoots & Projects!

Yesterday my photographer & her assistant (Helen Norman & F.J. Hughes) -are also good friends- arrived to shoot a few projects.  I am SO EXCITED about these photos!!!!!  Today we're shooting another one & I can't wait to see these. 

{Not a photo from our shoot yesterday...  this is froman earlier shoot of  my textile line}

Yesterday, we shot a living room & dining room in an adorable bungalow along with my newly (& finally) finished office and workspaces at home.  I had help this time from Holly Chapple, an amazing floral designer based out of Leesburg.  Holly'a work is featured frequently in magazines & wedding blogs and she is INCREDIBLE.  If you love flowers like I do, her work is pure eye candy.  We met after she saw my feature in Victoria Magazine & the timing couldn't have been better.  Together we looked at scouting shots I'd taken of the rooms to be photographed and came up with loose plans for arrangements we could use when we took photos of my finished work.  Holly then created the actual arrangements in her own style for the shoots.  

{This isn't one of our photos but a beautiful little arrangement I pulled off of Holly's blog- The Full Bouquet-   You need to visit.  But you'll spend waaaaaay too much time there, just a warning! ;)

So anyway...  I get emails & questions every once in a while about showing more of my finished work.  The reason I don't show very many of my finished projects on my blog is because I'm hoping that some of my unshown finished projects will be published.   The Catch 22 with finished projects in the interior design business is that to attract clients & show others what you can do, you need to put your BEST projects on your portfolio & your blog, but you also need to bring attention to your business by being published in shelter magazines...   And many magazines (including some digital magazines)  don't want to use projects that have already been shown online. 

I have been lucky enough that some magazines- both local and national- have published projects seen on my blog/portfolio, and I can't explain how thankful I am that I have been able to share my work with you on here & then with a much larger audience when the magazine is released.  I completely understand magazines not wanting to publish things that have been seen already anywhere  because they are looking for completely fresh & new content, but I also really appreciate that some other magazines understand that these projects & the sharing of them is directly related to designers' livelihoods & will still publish things that have been seen before.  I think it really affects newer designers (like me) because each project is really a different facet of what you can do & your business drastically increases every time you add new photos to your portfolio because you attract new people & you improve and solidify your business.  (Although I guess this probably applies even to very established designers because I'm sure they're pushing their own design envelopes too with every new project.)   We are in the business of creating & we have to share & show what we create in order to keep going & to keep moving forward, but we have to be really careful about how we best "share" our work the first time. 

Believe me, I am like a child when it comes to being excited about finished projects that I'm proud of.  ("Look what I made Mom!!!".)  And the first thing I want to run & do is post the pictures right here to share with you all because I feel like you are routing for me & offer me so much support, but I have to temper myself & my excitement.  (It's torture, for real.)  And I want to put them on my portfolio so that potential cllients will see them & want to work with me.

But then...  Every time I have learned that a project of mine is going to be published, it's like a dream come true.  Honestly.  I pour over magazines & just love them so much, and when I find out that something of mine will be in one, it's surreal.

So I have to balance it all & decide carefully.

Any thoughts?  I'd love to hear your experiences & I've been thinking for a while that it would be great to compile a list of magazines who do accept projects that have been on blogs & those that don't, just so that people are aware of what options they are closing off when they put things on blogs & what options are still viable.  Anyone know any ones in particular that are one way or the other??

.....

I'm off for the day to the photoshoot--- have totally been on the computer blogging while my children run wild.  Oops.

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Vintage Shaving Mirror

This weekend was so nice.  We got so much relaxing (& eating!) in and even a few random things ticked off of our "To do" list.  One of them was hanging the vintage shaving mirror I got my husband for Christmas.  (Yeah, I think he really loved it, considering it took until now for us to get around to hanging it ;) 

Our master bathroom is pretty terrible.  I have a green fiberglass shower, linoleum floors and the shower/ toilet area is separate from the vanity area (surrounded in Hollywood style vanity lights- aaahhhh) which makes the small space feel even smaller.  I hide the green shower with a shower curtain that goes up to the ceiling and have simple shower hooks up for our plain white towels.  (The one pro is the all natural light it gets.)  The view into the bathroom makes a great focal point out of the toilet.   arg.

We have plans to redo it eventually, but it's not high up on our priority list. 

BUT.. sometimes the little things make even bad rooms a bit more bearable. 

I decided after installing the mirror that if we just ignore everything but the shaving mirror, the bathroom is perfect!




If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Finished Ottoman- Sneakity Peek

I just wanted to share a quick peek of a fun ottoman we did in one of my new fabrics for our clients.  We topped it with a massive old wooden tray for drinks & snacks.      (Or as in this pic, pretty things.)

{"Squircles in black & white by Lauren Liess Textiles}

Seeing the end results of our projects & our clients' reactions is always the best part of this job. 

(Kind of feels like that Friday feeling!! :)

Have a great weekend!!

To view my whole line of fabrics, check out http://www.purestylehome.co/

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact us about our design services.