Gray Space Design Studio Reveal!
Hey Friends! Our new office space is now complete and I can’t wait to share it with you! In this blog post we’ll walk through a photo tour of our new office space and along the way I will share some design tips that may be helpful for YOU when thinking about designing your home.
Here’s a little back story…when I started Gray Space in February, 2016… as a side-hustle, I worked wherever I could sit comfortably with my laptop, which often ended up being my family room sofa. As time went on, and after I hired our first team member (Karla… our Project Manager… yay!) and we moved our work space to my small (10’ x 10’) guest bedroom. Somehow, we managed to sandwich a desk large enough for two laptops and a growing sample library between a sofa bed and random storage totes. Lots of growth happened over the next three years in that tiny bedroom and in May of 2019, I dove headfirst into full-time entrepreneurship! (Click HERE to read my full side hustle to full-time entrepreneurship journey!)
As a full-time entrepreneur the need for a larger office space became more and more real once our second team member joined… about six months ago (Rose… our Design Assistant.. yay!). So we decided to pack up and move from the guest bedroom to a spare room that is double in size with walk-out access… that once served as my husband’s “man-cave” (more to come on that…).
Let the transformation began!
As we do with all of our design projects, we started by saving inspiration images, outlining our functional design needs and ultimately drafting a design board for the space.
Then we dug deep by identifying a source of inspiration!
Last October, at High Point market (the largest furniture trade in the world), I walked into a furniture showroom and feel in love with an art piece. It stopped me in my tracks. I literally starred at it for minutes. It felt both powerful and feminine and was breathtaking. The colors of white, sepia, cream and tan felt calm and peaceful… all feelings that I wanted to carry over to our office. The design launched from there.
DESIGN TIP:
Start with a point of inspiration. This could be artwork, a rug, a family heirloom, etc. For example, at the last minute in the design process, we decided to incorporate the 50-year-old victorian-style crystal and brass chandelier from my home’s dining room into our new office and I love it! It has always been a favorite feature of mines and with the upcoming One Room Challenge, the move works out well because I am planning to incorporate more modern elements in our living room space. Adding the old chandelier to the new office, brings an air of elegance, a great story and an abundance of light into the space.
Incorporate items you love in your home no matter how well or not well they may “fit” with existing décor.
Next up is function. I believe function is equally as important as aesthetic. In an interior design office, we often have loads of furniture catalogs or fabric sample books to store. So proper storage was key. I fell in love with the Kallax storage system from Ikea, when I used it in my daughter’s room last year, and I knew that the open shelving would work well for easily accessible storage. After measuring, I realized that I hit the jackpot. The width of our new space fit four Kallax units perfectly. It was a double win when I realized the height of the shelves also fit perfectly under our small fixed basement window at 57” tall.
DESIGN TIP:
Don’f forget about function. Identify your storage needs, how you will use the space throughout the day and function must haves and consider them throughout the design process. We ask our clients to identify this early on in our design questionnaire.
Once we identified design inspiration, function and did some behind the scenes work on the design style that we wanted to capture in the space, we were able to work on completing the design plan. As a team, we value a contemporary space, that felt like home but was minimal in profile and globally chic. With those characteristics in mind and the art piece’s colors of white, sepia, cream and tan at the forefront of the project, we were able to quickly fill in the rest of the space.
I am currently obsessed with wallpaper… and knew that I wanted to include an accent wall in the space. With the art piece’s paint colors in mind, I found that I was attracted to wallpapers with a black and white pattern. I narrowed it down to a dot and floral pattern. I posted a poll on Instagram, HERE and you guys helped me make a final decision. Florals won! A few comments mentioned how calming flowers would be in the space and one comment in particular mentioned how flowers can symbolize the growth and blossoming our company has experienced over the last few years. I couldn’t agree more.
Next, we selected paint. I knew I wanted white. It’s becoming my new favorite wall color. But I also wanted to brighten up the space, especially since it only has small basement windows and minimal natural light. To complement the tone of the wallpaper we decided on Extra White by Sherwin Williams . This color is crisp and sharp without feeling cold! Amazing!
DESIGN TIP:
Select your paint colors last: A room should be designed first and then select wall paint to complement other items in the space. Starting with paint, will pin you in a corner and force you to find items to match the paint.. almost like finding a needle in a haystack. There are thousands of paint colors and even more custom color combinations that will allow you to match paint to almost anything.
In addition to the Ikea shelves for function, I wanted our team to have a collaboration table to work from. I envisioned a long table that we can spread out our cad drawings and inspiration images all over in meetings and brainstorming sessions. One that encouraged collaboration while working. After searching around for a while, I found the perfect solution, the Transformer Table. This table was perfect because of its modern look and amazing function. Get this… it’s an expandable table that can convert from a small console size table at just 18” wide… to an large 118” table that can seat 12! When I host client and need to seat more than our team, I can simply expand the table by adding a table leaf or two.
With artwork, colors, shelving and work space all set, we finished the office with items that felt like home. I pulled in my favorite cane back occasional chair and accent cabinet from other areas in my home. I also added one of my favorite accessories… a Juju hat. A ceremonial headdress from the country of Cameroon… which I have an affinity for since discovering that 29% of my maternal ancestry, belongs to that beautiful country. To finalize the space, I layered in a bit of high-style with a set of beautiful black velvet and gold dining chairs with a high back and armrest for comfort.
We spend a lot of time here and wanted to make sure it felt like a second home and inspired our team when working on projects for our amazing clients!
I am so grateful for this space each and every day. Thank you for taking a photo tour. Head over to my Instagram or Facebook and turn on the post notifications for more reveal photos this week! I will also share a reveal video on our YouTube channel at the end of the week!
Let me know what you think of our new space!?! If you would like our team to help you design your new office space (virtual and full design available), please click this LINK to inquiry about our design services.