Our Desk Alcove (with Spike)

So this is where I work (most of the time). It is funny that it has taken me this long to show it you. I guess I spend too much time oogling other peoples offices and somehow felt that ours was a little lacking. I actually quite like our little alcove. I have a nice view of my overgrown trees and plants and I really like having our desk downstairs. Both Mr. S. & I spend a fair amount of time here and it is nice to be with the rest of the family. Unfortunately it tends to get cluttered up with paperwork and toys. For the last couple of weeks I have been trying to purge a lot of the papers and reorganize all of the “stuff” while also adding in some of our favorite tchotchkes.

Desk Area made out of an Ikea Wood Counter

Our desk area is the only “addition” to our house. We moved a couple of walls at the back of the house when we switched our kitchen and dining room. Our back porch and refrigerator room became one space and we added this 3′x7′ bump out to fit a desk. The space sits directly opposite from the piano and abuts the back french doors. The desk is made of the Numerar Oak Counter top. It is in a size that is no longer available (3′x6′). We cut a little bit off of the width and used those pieces to fill the sides to make a custom fit. There is also a 2×4 structure supporting it with joist hangers (it is a pretty heavy counter). We also have some low office units from Ikea (which appear to no longer be available) sitting below the desk. I made the valance and cut the Ikea roller shades down similar to the adjacent Dining Room. I have also added 1 vintage saarinen office chair and am still on the lookout for another reasonably priced one to replace our red Ikea office chair.

Wall Shelves

As part of my goal of making our space more pulled together (but still personal) I switched out some of our boring storage boxes and mixed in some favorite items including a Ben Franklin bust (our favorite Philadelphian), a vase painted by Sam a couple of years ago, a Missoni box, a Robot print and a small race car. On the upper shelf I added a couple of the green storage boxes that we really need and a small trebuchet that I bought Mr. S.  I also added a couple of his vintage albums.

My current favorite grouping

I really like that there is a mix of practical items with fun whimsical things that bring a smile to my face.

Photos, Ceramic Squirrel & One of my husband’s favorite photos by Leif Skoogfors

I have also been working on adding some personal photos to the desk. I am still on the lookout for the perfect tray to layer in below them, but I like being able to see a couple of our annual holiday card photos. We also picked up this awesome squirrel  from Jonathan Adler on our mini NYC vacation last week.

Our old Ikea Office Chair, it has provided many hours of comfort!

The desk chairs that we use at our desk in our alcove off of the Dining Room are showing some (okay a LOT of wear). The main chair has had a hole in the front corner for a couple of months but now the foam has started disintegrating at the front, leaving a not so attractive pile of dust underneath it. Yuck! We have had them for quite some time (at least 8 years) and we bought them on sale at Ikea, so I feel like we have gotten a good return on investment and it is time to retire the most well loved chair and move the other one upstairs to my “someday” office. Of course when we bought them we actually had an “office” set up in one of the bedrooms, so comfort trumped style. Now a days our desk is right out in the open, so we need something that is still comfortable, but also has some style! I did some searching on the internet to see what my options were and was surprised at how little I found that met my parameters, and how expensive most of them were. I didn’t think this would be so difficult and if I am going to spend a few hundred dollars on one, it better look great and be comfortable!

Desk Chair Requirements

1. Comfortable (i.e must have upholstered seat and back and ideally adjustable)
2. Stylish! Something vaguely retro that can coexist with our fiberglass shell chairs.
3. On wheels!
4. Arms that aren’t too big (or none at all) so that at least part of the chair would fit under the desk.
5. Durable enough fabric for 2 kids and someone who has a habit of spilling coffee (that would be me).
6. A matching pair.

So far there is only 1 in the running, and it will require reupholstery!

Vintage Saarinen Executive Chair by Knoll

So after a brief search on my normal go to shops (overstock, pottery barn, ballard design, west elm, crate and barrel, cb2…) I decided to look on ebay. Pretty quickly I found the above chair and I was in love. This is a vintage Saarinen “Executive Chair” by Knoll. They still make these with a slightly different base (at a price of about $1600!). The vintage ones vary drastically in price and some are knock-offs. I am actually finding it very difficult to tell the difference between the real ones and the fake ones. I think this is partially due to most of them being reupholstered and there does not appear to be a good permanent tag. They vary between about $200-800 depending on condition and whether they are claiming that they are original. I think I will probably want to reupholster anything we get with a durable fabric, so I am thinking about buying them as cheap as possible with the goal of reupholstering them. Of course then I will need to find a durable but cool fabric (because with this shape it deserves an awesome fabric!). Maybe even possibly a retro Knoll fabric in an interesting color.  I think it will play nicely with our Dining Room Fiberglass Shell Chairs (by Modernica)…

Modernica Fiberglass Shell Chair (based on the original Eames Chairs)

What do you think?