Redecoration
It’s been a mad couple of weeks since I came back from holiday. This week onsite with my friends at STV and the first spent head down on another project. But before I could get back to work, I had to set up our new studio.
Our studio’s been set up pretty much the same way since we started working from home fourteen years ago. Things came and went, especially when we moved into shared offices with another company a few years ago (don’t get me started on that) but for the most part it’s been furnished with the same IKEA desks and bookcases. (You might even be sat at one just like them.)
But for months this year I felt fidgety. My studio had got cluttered and a little bit dingy and although I loved the room, I wanted to change almost everything in it. I hoped that a change would reinvigorate me while at work and make me proud of my space when visitors come round.
While we were away on holiday, our decorator spent three weeks stripping and re-varnishing the ash floor. He also painted everything and fitted a rail so that I can hang my amazing Mondo Planet Of The Apes posters on the rough stone wall. He finished everything so well that you’d hardly know it’s the same room.
The IKEA furniture went to our storage unit and in its place we bought from Dwell:
Total spend on furniture: £1,705
I know that might sound expensive, but I figured that as we use it almost every day and probably will for another ten years, it was good value. And. I love it.
It’s hard to over-estimate just how much an environment can affect your mood. I’ve become used to working on-site with clients over the last couple of years, but with the best will in the world, their offices can hardly be described as inspiring. It’s important to make a space that inspires me to want to spend time it and at the same time fades into the background to allow me to concentrate.
That’s what I wanted from my new studio and it’s exactly what I got.