My New Williamsburg Office Begins!

I just signed the lease on an incredible loft office in Williamsburg! It's an old school building-- only a freight elevator or a million tall narrow steps to get to my garret, but once I'm there-- it's awesome. Or, more to the point, it's going to be awesome.

Granted, it's looking a little rough in this picture. I promise it's got charm! 

Before you guys roll your eyes, that only I would consider the space shown above "awesome", let me say in it's defense that the location is unbeatable, the rent is great, and once they replace that window, I'm going to have a lovely view of my fire-escape, which I'll access through that heavy-duty looking door.

When I say fire-escape, you should realize that is most likely synonymous with "happy-hour balcony" and "coveted green space", which are both plans I have for the extra square footage outside of my window.

I'm in the throes of designing the space now-- trying to focus on the maximum amount of storage and a work space arrangement that actually accommodates the way I work with my assistant. I'm considering foregoing a traditional "two desk" set up for a big work table in the center, so we can spread out while we're working.

Something like this:

I ferried out to IKEA today, and picked up a pair of these EXPEDIT 4 X 4 Cube Shelves and another pair of these smaller EXPEDIT 4 X 1 Cube Shelves which I'm going to stack to make a huge 10'0" X 8'0" wall of shelves to store all of my supplies and materials.

I'm going to get everything set up, and then I might venture back to IKEA for their high gloss desk/console called the BESTA BURS. (I love that you can always count on IKEA for weird, consonant filled furniture names...)

All of that is mostly functional, rather than aesthetic design. The really fun part is going to be finding the right work table and deciding what the overhead light fixture should look like... I happen to have this fixture on hand--

It's a big baby-- about 18" in diameter and gleaming brass. I bought it for a whopping $5.00 in a thrift store in New Hampshire, and for the time being, it's a (very cheap) front runner for the light in my office. Of course, I'd also love to put up a cool, ultra modern pendant, like one of the bad boys shown below, but I'd say I'm gonna have to bide my time after my big blow-out at IKEA today... 

That said, looking at these makes it all the more apparent how fabulous they are in comparison to the brass fixture I've got. Alas-- patience is a virtue-- right?!?

I'll keep you in the loop as the office starts to take shape, and of course, as my work table pursuits evolve. The hunt is on!