PROFESSIONAL HOME OFFICE ON A BUDGET

Some months ago I had the great opportunity to help a friend rennovate her home office space. Jennifer Armitstead is a very successful small business owner working in job placement and career coaching- check out her business- JA Career Coaching- and website here. (And note the great job we did of incorporating her logo colors into her office space!)

Jennifer needed a more professional space to bring clients into but also needed to stick with her existing home office location. As a small business owner not wanting to sink too much capital into any one thing (I certainly sympathize), she was working on a budget and we both decided much of the office space could be completed with Ikea product and supplemented with some other items here and there.

As it turns out, we ended up using all Ikea, excluding some decorative items Jennifer already owned- elements that gave the space some real personality and individualism. In addition to the new furniture, we selected new paint throughout and reworked the layout to better accomodate Jennifer and a client in 2 comfortable chairs for coaching and consulting.  We added functionality and reworked storage to make the space run more smoothly on a day to day basis.

So, here is the before:
 

The during:

And the after:

I have to say, I did not think Ikea could produce such a professional and pulled together look. I think, in fact, they are a great resource for small businesses, despite their strong ties to the residential market. However, I do want to reiterate the importance of those key unique items Jennifer brought to the space...without these the Ikea office would probably lack soul- an important element to Jennifer.

 
 
 
 
 

Thanks Jennifer, it was a pleasure!

THANK YOU!

While I am thankful for lots of things in my personal life, today I wanted to share my thanks for my wonderful clients I have been privileged to work with this past year. I have been lucky enough not only to have (almost) more than enough work than I know what to do with, but also to have clients that have allowed me to develop projects I believe in creatively, and also clients that have been nothing but a joy to work with. My projects this year have become great collaborative undertakings, embodying my clients desires and visions, adding my expertise as needed, and ultimately producing a great end result.




As a small business owner, my clients are key to my business growth and ongoing development, the honing of my skills and overall design sense. So, to those of you that visit my blog- thank you!



And to everyone, Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for your ongoing support of my blog!

SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY

I felt as a small business owner myself, I wanted to call attention to the 'Small Business Saturday' push that is happening for the second year during the biggest shopping weekend of the year.  I think it is a great initiative and a great opportunity to find great small businesses in your area.  Check out the facebook page if you want to find out more, and other small business owners- lets promote!  http://www.facebook.com/SmallBusinessSaturday?sk=app_214385065292578

As for my loyal blog followers, I thought I would offer a special 'Small Business Saturday' deal- between now and November 28th, I will be offering your first three hours of design consult at half price.  So try a consult for the holidays at just $75 for 3 hours!  Three hours is a lot of time...consider all we can get done on your new or existing house in that time.  Shoot me an email if you are interested: christa@christapirlinteriors.com


Happy Holiday Shopping!




Fine print: Must be booked through Christa Pirl Interiors by 6pm November 28, 2011.  One per customer and per household.  Three hour consult must be used by Jan 15, 2011.  Consult only valid in the greater Salt Lake City and Park City area.  Valid for residential or small business projects.

LITTLE (AND NOT SO LITTLE) GIRLS ROOMS

I am currently working on a bedroom for an utterly adorable one-year-old.  It is a wonderful type of project that I don't often get to work on.  Kids rooms are often considered less important than the main living spaces in a home, and it is assumed the kids will pretty much destroy anything nice in the space regardless.  However, I would claim that a well designed children's room can mean a much more tidy and special place. 

I recently completed the transformation of another girls room from little girl to early teenage girl.  This was a great chance to consider that constant evolution of the kids room, and I am currently taking that very much into consideration with the baby room I am now working on.  Here are some before and after photos of the now updated 'teen' room.  Does not take a lot to make that leap...we were able to keep all of her traditional family heirloom furniture, and just give the room some more pop and color.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BATHROOMS ARE FUN

I just love designing bathrooms.  Especially when you have great clients who are interested in doing something unique and fun.  Bathrooms are not nearly as involved as kitchens, and there are such endless options for tile and fixtures these days. 

I recently finished a particularly fun project with wonderful clients.  This is a secondary bathroom in their basement which will function as a 'spa' bathroom and will mostly be used after working out or when they are entertaining in their basement bar/media room/pool hall.  Hence it needed a great shower but also needed to function as a fab powder room for guests.  The large walk-in shower is equipped with multiple showerheads and jets, however, all of this is neatly tucked away behind a glamorous looking olive green glass tile wall.  The 'front-of-house' has a custom concrete sink from Mountain Wave Concrete, wonderfully dynamic glass tile from Bedrosians, lighting from Hudson Valley Lighting and Price Pfister fittings.  Here are some photos taken by two photography students at the Art Institute of Salt Lake, Melissa McCafferty and Cory Steffen.