Office is Open For Business!

My client gave me 10 days to get her office and waiting room transformed. The tight timeline was due to the fact that this is her work space, the place she meets her clients daily, and she was only able to take a week off from work to get this done (which was probably one of the reasons the office and waiting rooms haven’t been renovated in so long).

After working out a time frame where there was a 3 day weekend worked into the schedule, we were off and running. With the painters, electricians, sheetrock installers, carpet installers, and furniture deliverymen all doing their work, I really only got 3 days to get her office ready for business!

But before that, there was a lot of planning. Being a psychologist’s office, the plan was to make it fresh and updated but not to make extreme changes to the layout, which could disrupt patients comfort level. This was very important, as was the fact that we needed to keep it fairly gender and age neutral. There were a lot of things like this to consider, which is a lot different than designing a bedroom or living room in someone’s home. Finding items that had interest and a little of my client’s personality without being pronounced and too personal was a challenge. And to have it be professional without being clinical or sterile, was also on the list.

This is what we were starting with:

Pinky mauve and gray wallpaper and gray shiny paneling in the waiting room.

Worn gray industrial carpeting on the floor doesn’t help!

...and pinky mauve paneling with pinky mauve wallpaper in the office!

In an effort to keep our time budget and our dollar budget in control, the decision not to rip out all of the paneling was made, and I just had to make it look BETTER.

I really think we did it.

There are some odds and ends that need to get done, but the office was ready for business this week. I believe my client is happy with the new office, although she feels a little disoriented after working in the same room with little unchanged for about 20 years.

The custom window treatments are being made, and the baseboards are going to be installed in a few weeks. The little end table on the left side of the sofa may still change to something different.

Here's a little video slide show:

If you want to see these pictures better click here.

What do you think?

Please add a comment! (Waiting room will be in a new post.)