office space // renovate to create
My wife and I live in this great loft space in downtown Champaign, IL. What used to be some sort of warehouse has since been converted into living spaces. We happened upon the listing for the loft in Craig’s List of all places, immediately fell in love with the space, and have been happily dwelling here as tenants for the past 2 years.
There was one room in our loft that had loads of potential but we didn’t know what we could turn it into. So for a while it was simply a storage closet under the stairs. Thankfully, after years of shoving things in and out of this “closet”, we put in some work and turned it into something functional… and nifty :]
Since the inception of our company, Oliver and I have been crunching out edits in his apartment. Creating a second editing space became a necessity for our sanity and workflow. Transforming the storage closet into an office seemed to be the logical and natural next step.
don’t be fooled // there’s plenty of space behind this closet under the stairs
prep time // clear out the space and tape up the walls
height // the ceiling gradually slopes up 12 feet
notepad shmotepad // I’m constantly scribbling ideas down and didn’t want to limit myself to a pen and paper :: a chalkboard wall works well for me!
the set up // apparently you’re supposed to apply an initial coating of chalk before you begin using it :: though, I think I could have skipped this step
pepper // my dog. hard at work.
mod floor // a great way to unify the scheme of the room and create a comfortable, sleek feel was to install some carpet tile
start from the center // my brother-in-law was my right hand man through all of this
approved by the mrs. // running decisions by the wife = happy marriage :]
moving in // setting up the furniture
tech support // oliver, installing hardware and software
mod art // I love comics . A LOT. So when I found this art, I was stoked!
heroes // can you name them? art courtesy of modHero by Rogan Josh
men at work // writing out our queue!
cave drawings // I love the chalkboard wall because I can see and manage all our work
from the bottom up // clean and simple :: desk + chair from the Container Store
from the top down // the hanging DVD rack is from the Container Store :: shelving units and storage from IKEA
details // it’s fun to break things up visually, even with storage!
cool containers // this old cigar box has become host to the business cards I’ve collected
hardcover // a throwback to my English Lit days
mix it up // industrial bits and earthy tones
books by color // fun to see how genres mix when you arrange by color
a boy and his toys // I may get older, but I still need my toys
thanks dad // my dad’s old SLR [film] is a nice visual anchor for this space
@ work // a fully functional batcave! er… studio!
peace of mind + creativity // can’t wait to see what comes of this!
Cheers,
Chris
wow it’s awesome! i love what you guys did with it.
and i can’t believe there was that much space under there! haha.
thanks gniu! did you ever see it when there was just loads and loads and loads of stuff in there? it was driving me nuts!!
That is very cool! Thanks for sharing!
love it…I plan on having a chalkboard wall too…but for different purposes =)
btw. you have some mad home remodeling skills
different purposes, aye? :P
thanks for the props, brotha. in one of those shots you can see my magazine holder that has a whole stack of dwell magazines in it!
You read Dwell magazine?!??
Nice space you made for yourself there, Chris!
i <3 dwell. thanks, grace!
pretty sweet chris! love the new studio and chalkboard wall.
enjoy your work chris! keep it up!!
thanks, joe! glad you’re enjoying our stuff! i love the wall too… a lot. haha
i am seriously in love with your office space!! when i saw it last week, i kept telling ollie how much i loved how you used the space!!! i said if my office space looked like that, i would love working so much more :)
so awesome it deserves another comment….i love this kind of stuff!!!!
2x the comments! Why thank you :)
nice i can sleep there when you are not working. I agree with others – chalk wall for the win!
LOL – I’ve slept in there a few times already! pepper will be snuggling with you!
That’s pretty awesome Chris.
thanks p.paul – i typically tend to leave projects hanging, but marah made sure i finished this one!
… remodel my room please. THANKS.
haha. dude. this is so sweet. i’ve never heard of a chalk wall. that’s freaking awesome. :)
haha – thanks bro – the chalk wall rocks!
Awesome!!! My favorite is pepper’s arrow and cushion. :) you should submit this to magazines/online for the amazing reno!
thanks sarah – pepper loves to hang with me and that’s her favorite spot. besides my lap – LOL.
i’m thinking of submitting to apartmenttherapy.com :]
i love it.
the black, chalkboard, wine corks, cigar boxes, film camera, bamboo, wolverine.
miss you guys + pepper
thanks christina – you are missed. thanks for contributing to the richness of our lives with your art :]
This is such a fantastic office space! Love how it went from blank slate to modern and hip and all kinds of great adjectives.
And I *love* those Argonath bookends.
“all kinds of great adjectives” :]
i love the argonath bookends too
This is so amazing! Total <3! Like everyone else I love the chalkboard wall! Is that a paint? What brand? Love the art, too!
thanks anjie! i feel like i can get a lot done in there and enjoy it at the same time. the chalkboard wall was inspired by joseph gordon-levitt’s room in (500) days of summer! the paint is a brand called rust-oleum tintable chalkboard paint. you can get it tinted in a variety of colors!
I love, love, love this space. I’m interested in the carpet squares over the tile…..how did you finish that off where it ended? Threshold or what? Thanks.
thanks pat! glad you enjoy the space – i do too :]
at first we thought to line up the squares along the edges of the wall and then cut off the excess. we didn’t think we needed to follow the advice on the box and start in the center of the room. that was a mistake – hahah. the whole room was starting to look diagonal! so we restarted from the center of the room, removed the protective covering from the back, and then laid it down as many whole 18×18 squares as we could.
the next step was to lay down the rest of the squares (with the protective backing still on), using a utility knife around the edges to fit it perfectly against the wall, and then removing the backing and laying it down. sorry if that’s confusing! i hope that answers things for you though!
So insanely creative. We have a bit smaller and more rectangular space that I’m now thinking about converting into my new home office. Kudos!
thanks a lot! it’s really great to have a space to create. i didn’t want to just throw some furniture in and call it a day. it needed to be something that would inspire if i were going to spend hours in it!
I love the x-men toys. I so want one.
thanks for posting the reno :]