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We've been talking about it for months, and it's finally here - the new office reveal! We ARE still waiting for some pieces to arrive (as most of us are waiting for furniture) but we were too excited to hold it in any longer! As much as we want to reveal the final space, the process of deciding to get an office, the searching process, and the design process are all important steps that we don't see a lot of designers talking about, so we're diving into the office journey on the blog today!
We started looking for an office space about a year ago, searching commercial real estate listings online and waiting to see something that felt right. My first assistant had been working with me in my home office, dealing with my dogs slobbering, barking, and asking to play all day, and I wanted to provide a more professional working environment for her and future employees. Coincidentally, she ended up moving to Utah when COVID really set in, so the need for the office wasn't as urgent, but we still kept an eye out. We really needed the extra space!
As we see happening throughout the country, businesses have been forced to close, and many spaces started showing up. We went to see a few in person, and nothing felt right. And then a small property opened up in downtown Ventura, which used to be a charter school. The property owners broke the spaces up into individual spaces that could be leased. When we walked through, we just knew - this is it! I was thinking one of the back units would be just fine, but Brian (as always) pushed me to see that the big corner suite with large windows and ample space for client presentations would be perfect for us, and of course, he was right! It's a good thing he has so much faith in Madison Nicole Design!
We played with furniture layouts for a long time, trying to determine which would be the best use of space. Here are just 4 of the many! We knew we needed work stations for us, a client presentation area, a sofa for clients to seat test before purchasing their own, and storage for loose fabric samples, fabric books, finish samples, rugs, flooring, and all the other office supplies that were necessary. Ultimately, we landed on the bottom left layout because it felt the most open, and we love the natural light window running across the entirety of the sample space along the right side wall. Brian is working on our custom client presentation table (told you, he's the best!) and the sofa under the other window is backordered, but the lounge chairs we have now work just fine (much to the dismay of my Living Room at home).
I love the long shelf above our workstations. We can display our latest favorite decor finds for clients to see when they come in, and gives us a place to keep designing since we love our jobs so much. Also, big shoutout to my mom for gifting all of the live plants in the office - thanks Mama!! We still have some adjustments to make here, but for now, it gives us a beautiful spot to look at and to stay inspired.
We needed to save money where we could, so we used IKEA cabinetry for the sample storage wall and our desk area. We approached the design keeping in mind that we needed to balance our budget with displaying pieces that our clients could purchase as well, making the office part workhorse and part showroom. Would you believe me if I said we have a mini fridge completely hidden in here??
How much do you love that light fixture?! Funny story about it - we are not above admitting we make mistakes too, and that light fixture actually was too big for a client project. Whoops! It was sitting in our garage for some time, but now we have a great fixture that is the perfect focal point, and shows the quality of the lights we typically specify.
Lastly, I have to shoutout my team for being here for the wild ride and working to provide a great experience for our clients! They helped me build this office, from assembling all those Ikea cabinets, to installing hardware, and shlepping cardboard boxes from my car to the office, to the recycle bin. I'm so grateful for them and for all of you for following along. We'll be back with another post once everything has actually arrived, and our space is looking exactly how we envisioned! But for now, we are so happy with the progress! Cheers to the next phase of Madison Nicole Design!
If you are interested in items featured in the office, we have linked anything we can link for you down below! If you do purchase any of these items through these links, we may receive a small commission. Thank you for supporting small business, especially in this time!
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