Office Redesign - Part 2

Desk is nearly complete! 

The new desk is coming along beautifully. In order to save money (a lot of money) as well as get the perfect amount of desk-space, size and layout, as you know I chose to build my new desk as opposed to buying one ready-made. All-in-all, the materials cost about $300 and it has seventeen feet of desktop space. You read me right - seventeen (17) feet of desktop. It's glorious!!
Simple in its design, the desk consists of three "module" bases, which both hold up the desktop as well as serve as spaces to hold up to seven 2-drawer file cabinets comfortably. This measurement was done on purpose, as I am in need of lots of file space and those grungy metal file cabinets make for excellent storage. But we'll get to those later.

The desk has a top that, although I would have preferred a solid hardwood, actually has an oak veneer top on a 1/2" of support material. I went this route for cost reasons only. Solid hardwood would have been beautiful and very sturdy, but since I needed 17' of it (at 29" deep), going the solid-wood route would have cost me around a grand. Tax write-off, I know, but I just can't shell out that kinda dough at the moment. Good news though? The oak veneer is really pretty and works just as well. The husband added some solid oak trim around the appropriate edges and affixed it with glue and nails for durability, and just today I added my 6th coat of Polyurethane to seal it all together. It shines like a newborn baby's tears. The final coat needs at least 24 hours to dry and set before install, so this bad boy is just about ready to go.

Creative Space

One of the things a "store bought" desk doesn't provide much of is storage and file space. Even in a module desk you'll be lucky to get 3 or 4 drawers worth of file space, and that just 'aint enough for all the crap I've got. So I came up with a cheap, fun and surprisingly simple solution for my new desk. As mentioned above, I measured out those standard 2-drawer metal file cabinets and had the modules built around those specifications. The next step was to get enough file cabinets to fill those spaces.
Buying them new, metal file cabinets weren't as cheap as I was hoping. They go for at least $60 to $100 a piece!! Hey, I know it's a tax writeoff, but for 6 new cabinets I could be dealing out up to $600. NO WAY. So I came up with a better solution. I'd look around at every thrift store and garage sale in town until I found what I needed. And just this weekend, I found 3 in decent condition averaging $14 a piece. What a steal!
Now for the creative part. I didn't mind buying mismatched file cabinets at the thrift store because of the next step in my plan: color. I now have a nearly-black accent wall, and nothing brings out black like bright, fun color.
Even as a designer, when it comes to my home, I've always been afraid of color. I was the girl with all white walls, wood furniture, and earth-tone accents. Then one day I met a person who was not only unafraid of color, but he used it in ways I had never seen before and it looked... AWESOME. So I started taking a risk and playing with color on my walls. Turns out it looked really good! So here I am again, this time with my black wall (which I never would have done 5 years ago) and now I'm going to liven it up by using brightly colored spray paint to re-coat the mismatched file cabinets.
Take a look at two of the originals:

As you can see they're completely different styles and colors, but that doesn't matter, because all it took was two cans of spray paint and voila!!

Completely transformed to fun, colorful and creative storage space. Okay I admit it makes me think of the golden arches at the moment, but I've got a can of green and a can of blue reserved for my next couple of great file-cabinet-finds. When it's all put together it'll be bright, colorful, and I think my chi will be happy.

That's it for now. I think I'll be doing the final install sometime later this week or next weekend, so look for my next update when everything is put together and I present to you my custom home office, done on the cheap, with both form and function (as well as a little inspiration) in mind.

A Conversation About Web Presence

I headed into downtown Boise last night to check out a local artist (First Thursday's in Boise are when all the artists come out to show their stuff) and happened upon two very nice gentlemen who struck up a conversation with me. We started by talking about art and artists, then the convo merged into what we all did for a living. I was first and told them I was a freelance graphic designer.

Now, when this comes up with people I don't know it usually evolves into questions about what exactly it is I do and I typically end up explaining it in laymen's terms to keep it brief, and that was no exception here. I turned the conversation to the one gentleman, Richard, who in this case was the one probing, and it turns out he was a copywriter for twenty-some years who had worked with just about every ad agency in Boise until the economy fell 3 years ago. After some discussion we realized we knew some of the same big-shot Ad Agency guys -- pretty cool living in a small city sometimes. But he was asking me more about my life as a Freelancer because in the last few years (after losing so much business after the '08 crash) he had decided to pursue his passion of writing and developing music, and the conversation segued into marketing and web presence.

Richard was in the mindset that you had to get out and meet people personally in order to get the word out about you and your business... that's how it was done 20 years - even 10 years - ago. So now he's trying to figure out where he should move to in order to gain traction for his music. I assured him that, in my case at least, you don't have to move. You simply need a good (strike that - an EXCELLENT) web presence. I have very few local clients, and I can say that I've only met about 30% of my clients in person. This surprised him I think, but in today's telecommuting and internet-driven world I firmly believe one of the best ways to market yourself and your business (if you're interested in becoming known nationally or even internationally) is by utilizing the internet and social media outlets. I delved deeper into my reasons for this claim.

In the five years of running my own freelancing biz, I've never had to cold-call to get a client. Every client I've ever had has contacted me first. "How do they find you?" Dennis (the other gentleman) asked. Simple, they either did a Google search for "Freelance Graphic Designers" in a certain area or they found me through one of the many freelance graphic design listings or articles that I'm connected to.

It's more than just having a website - they're a dime a dozen nowadays - you need to have a good website, on the front-end as well as the back-end. You need proper search engine optimization, which means all the little bits of code and keyword copy that help you get indexed properly in the major engines, as well as a good amount of web presence on social media outlets, website listing services and in my case I also write articles for popular blogs which increases my hit-rate and boosts the popularity of my site. Without these things I would have a hard time finding clients, because they wouldn't be able to find me. These things are KEY if you're doing any kind of freelancing, whether it's graphic design, web development, copywriting, etc. There's a much larger market for these services if you go national, rather than staying local. And it's true that getting to know people helps, whether in person or online, because referrals are 50% of my business now. But starting out is the hardest part. If you don't have any clients or portfolio to being with, you're screwed. Gone are the days of being able to walk into a company and market your personality... here are the days where it only matters what you can do (aka. portfolio) and how much you charge.

Go back in this blog and you'll find other articles I've written that explain these concepts in more detail, but I think I was as surprised that someone wouldn't know these things as I think Richard was when he found out about them from me. I suppose I'm so far in the mix that I didn't realize the information hadn't fully reached the masses. Apparently that's the case.

Thank you, Richard and Dennis, for the enlightening conversation last night. It was a pleasure meeting you both, and I look forward to meeting up with you again at the next First Thursday event!

Wall Colors

Narrowed my new office wall color down to three choices: "Cut The Mustard", "Cajun Red" and "Black Fox". Conclusion? While I'd really like a brighter tone like Cut The Mustard on first glance, the deep contrast of Black Fox continues to appeal to me. My custom desk will have an industrial look - my plan calls for natural wood and large silver bolts for use as function as well as décor in the corners - so using something so yellow as Cut The Mustard would likely wash out the color of the natural wood, and Cajun Red might be okay, but the contrast of natural wood against the deep mossy-brown of Black Fox would REALLY look nice in my opinion.

If you've never tried it, go to the Sherwin Williams website. They have a wonderful tool there that allows you to take a picture of your room, select the areas you wish to paint, and preview your paint colors. How awesome is that? So I've attached the three shades I've narrowed it down to for my accent wall. Keep in mind I will no longer have a mahogany desk - it'll be more of a natural wood color... I'm thinking Redwood or Cedar. Your thoughts/opinions?

Office Redesign

I bought a house last year that doesn't have any "formal" office space, so I've been working in what was supposed to be a formal living area. I've written articles and given vast amounts of advice on home office space in the past, but since moving into my (hopefully permanent) home, I have found myself living in a slight state of disgust at my lack of order and happiness with the area in which I spend 80% of my time.

So, first goal:
My office area has no doors, so I often get distracted by noise from my kids, the TV in the family room, dogs barking by the back door, you name it --- anything that comes with not having a way to close myself off from the rest of the house. So my first order of business is to get a door that I can close to the rest of the world.

My second goal is a desk.
I've been working on the same 29"x66" Manager-style desk for the last 5+ years, and it's literally ready to fall apart. The desk has always sat a little too high for my stature, making desk chairs difficult to deal with and I require a box of books to rest my feet on since they can't reach the floor. I've largely out-grown the coverage area of my desk leaving me little room to sketch only after I've reorganized the placement of my mouse and keyboard; it doesn't have enough file storage and the area where my wrists lie as I'm typing on my keyboard is covered in 3 layers of tape to prevent splinters and further rubbing (the finish on the desk has long-since warn to the bare wood). In essence, I need something bigger and sturdier that will allow for more file space, and something a little shorter that would be more comfortable for a person of my average height (apparently most "Managers" are tall and need high desks). After a year of consideration, I have come to the conclusion that this problem will require that I build a custom desk. Based on the finished product, I may invest in a new ergonomic chair as well.

And lastly, feng shui.
About a year into having my own business, while still living in Arizona, I was feeling uncomfortable and ill-at-ease in my office. So I thought I would take the time to research some common feng shui techniques and reorganize it. The difference was night and day, and maybe not only because my "chi" was flowing better, but one of the core principles of feng shui is getting rid of clutter and disorganization. I'm not necessarily a clean-freak, but clutter has always bothered me, so the principles work well for my personality.
Before moving into the new house I wasn't able to clearly gauge the amount of stuff I needed to find a home for in my office area, so I still have a pile of boxes sitting in a corner and far too many books on my bookshelf that spill onto the floor. I have a makeshift photo studio on one side of my office with no way to really store anything away when we have guests, and I have the irreparable eggshell white walls surrounding me in their stark-vomit glory. Mismatched artwork and a variety of nick-nacks don't help either. The only thing I have going for me is a beautiful bay window that allows me to get natural sunlight and a little bit of insight on the day's weather, which I do enjoy. So, my goals are to update the layout of my office space (this involves coordination with my new custom desk), add feng shui principles which include the creation of a bagua map to help with proper layout, adding color to the walls, removing clutter, and adding water/fire/nature elements in the form of color and/or objects. That might sound a little silly, but adding something simple like a scented candle or a large fern can really change the mood/feeling of any space. I've done it before, and I just can't express what a difference it can make.... at least, for me.

So those are my three big goals to complete within the next 6 months, in no particular order. I've already planned out the "industrial barn doors" to close off my office area, the HUGE custom desk will begin construction in the next week or two, and I've already got paint samples for my walls (you can see one sample on the wall above my printer, but that's not the color I've chosen). I'm including "before" pictures of my current workspace below. This is my desk area - to the left is the bay window and behind me is my pseudo-photo studio and bookshelves. As work begins, I'll be documenting my progress. Wish me luck! I can't stress enough how important a workspace can be, especially when you're spending so much time in it.