Logan Square Executive Office
Something that surprised Karen and I when we first started this business was what clients most commonly want in a renovation project. If you’re a designer or contractor you probably know that the answer is resoundingly “Bathrooms!” because that’s by far the most common ask. We assumed, coming off of the pandemic and with so many people now permanently or at least part-time working from home, that home offices or office work spaces would be a premium for most clients. We did add an office nook to our Rogers Park Deco Foursquare, but hadn’t been commissioned to do a full office, yet.
When this project came along we were thrilled to finally get to explore that idea and tumble down the rabbit hole of what makes a functional and gorgeous home office. We knew from the clients that they wanted color (our specialty) and that the husband would be using this space as his main office. As such he wanted the space to feel executive. He wanted the background of his Zoom and Teams meetings to really pop with a gorgeous bookcase to display art, his collection of books, and to evoke a feeling of substance and sophistication. His wife wanted the room to set the tone for future decorating in the house- combining natural fibers and materials, a mix of rich color and muted tones, and high end materials.
How it Started
The office was a remnant style from the previous owners who used it as a children’s bedroom. While colorful, the space was a bit over-the-top for these clients and didn’t really meet any of their needs in terms of sophistication, a palette they liked, or functional storage and seating. The room features three beautiful windows overlooking a park with lush trees, and though our client set the room up as functionally as he could, the layout wasn’t taking advantage of the view and led to an oddly placed and cramped working space.
The Concept
The guiding principle for this office was sophisticated, executive-chic. The room was a decent size and had gorgeous windows we absolutely wanted to make the most of those. There was also a large storage closet on one end of the room that we knew we could do something with. Given the love of natural fibers and more muted tones alongside rich color, we thought of one of our favorite wallpaper designers, Innovations, and their line of stunning woven papers. We also discovered in our conversations with out-of-the-box cabinet vendors that no ready-made solution would be a good fit—we had to go custom for the bookcase! If we’re going to give this room a fully elevated style then we knew we had to really go for it and find an expert craftsperson to give our clients something they couldn’t find in any other home, a bespoke piece. We played around with more traditional shapes with curved arches to mimic the windows, and a more modern take (that ultimately the client fell in love with) with nice clean lines.
The Process
It took a few tries and a lot of wallpaper samples before we hit on the right combination of modern style and natural sophistication, but once we did we were off to the races. We found artist and furniture maker Julius Dorsey of Chicago Fire Furniture and instantly hit it off with him—we knew this would be a great partnership to take our concepts and build out a real design for this bookcase that the clients would love. The bookcase we designed features white oak shelves and a hand milled white oak reeded panel. As we chose luscious dark paint colors, sumptuous hand-made rugs, and began sourcing furniture pieces, we really felt the spirit of the project coalescing. We even, after several rounds of trying to find just the right desk that says “executive” but not in an 80’s evil villain kind of way, ended up commissioning Julius to craft a walnut custom-made desk for our client.
The Reveal
When the room install was finished, our clients were left with exactly what they’d been hoping for—something that is grounded by natural fibers and materials, with rich and bold color to accent. Something refined and distinctive for professional meetings but functional and comfortable for when he’s not on camera. We took the intense color out of the room and gave the space new life with colors that sing together to create a space that the clients are excited to use every day.
