Space to Work: 1940s Retro with a Twist

Hello!  Welcome to part two of your virtual tour of the new office.  We have finally completed rennovations to another room of the practice, which by the way is officially up and running!

It took six months of cleaning, painting, tiling, shopping, moving, arranging, rearranging, nitpicking, and tweaking to get it just right.

Groovy light fixtures

As I mentioned in my first post on the topic, Space to Work: Office Design, the “Man Cave” had a lot of potential, but it was a mess.  The linoleum tiles in the ‘before’ picture were stuck directly to the concrete. There was a mysterious brown, sticky substance embedded in the spaces between them and they were stained, torn, and in some places missing. We pulled those grimey things up and the Angry Russian laid new porcelain tiles at a jaunty 45-degree angle.  He chose Navajo White grout to make the tiles “pop.”  He also hung a new smooth ceiling to get rid of the old one sporting nicotine-encrusted stalactites. We hung new fixtures for a finishing touch.

El Diablo painted the cabinets white and the hardware gold with an overcoat of clear gloss. The whole room was painted a softer, creamy shade of yellow.  We added a couple of new light fixtures. And Voila! The Man Cave disappeared and the “Princess Playhouse” (as El Diablo refers to it) emerged.

Skattur provided the plate beneath the cabinet (a find she scored at the Goodwill) to dress up the wall.  And see the little guy in the windowsill up there?  Another of Skattur’s Goodwill finds.  Here’s a close up:

owl with succulent ears

How ridiculously cute is he? His name is Owlfred E. Jennings.

I decided to go for a 1940’s vibe with the decor. Several years ago I inherited a massive stereo console from my grandparents.

the stereo console

It’s a beautiful piece of furniture and though I have never had the space for it, it’s a relic I had to keep. It gives me warm, fuzzy memories of a childhood spent sneaking into the forbidden living room to bother the big kids while they listened to records…

sitting area

There I would find them inclined on the orange corduroy speaker pillow (which I also still have) staring into the depths of an album cover as if it contained the answers to life’s mysteries.  Around the holidays, Elvis crooned Christmas songs from the speakers accompanied by the snaps and crackles of needle to vinyl.  In short, the console has good mojo. It served as the foundation piece for the room and inspired me to go retro with the furniture for the waiting area.

I got a great deal on two reupholstered vintage chairs from an antique mall. They are comfy and they have wheels! Then I paid too much (even with the 40% off coupon) for the table and lamp from Hobby Lobby.   Nanook gave me the picture above the lamp.  It belonged to my grandmother. The two sconces belonged to Skattur.  She donated them to the cause because they were scrolly and yellow. And because she’s awesome.  I picked up the rug from Target.

And finally, you might wonder what’s up with that little picture to the right that looks a bit out of place.  It  hangs right near the doorway to the therapy room and serves as a daily reminder to get my brain on straight before going to work:

note to self

I hope you enjoyed today’s virtual tour. There are two rooms  left – the bathroom and the therapy room.  I  will get pictures of those posted eventually.