Office Makeover: First Steps

Blogging about the office has lit a fire under my arse, so yesterday I set to getting started on transforming our office space.

First step: more storage. My easy fix? Ikea's iconic favorite, the Billy bookcase. I don't mind a little Ikea in my life when it comes to something functional and simple, like a bookcase. Until I have the money to have custom shelving built into our library walls, good ol' Billy will have to do. I generally like Expedit's modern see-through shelving better, but since the beau already had a Billy, we decided to buy a second one to hold all my books (On my cross-country move from NYC, I brought only the boring/functional* ones with me; it pains me to think of my well-loved copies of poetry books sitting in a box in my parents' New Jersey basement, collecting dust and cricket corpses).


*"Functional" meaning books Michael Shurtleff's "Audition," Scott Sedita's "Making it in Hollywood," Blake Snyder's "Save the Cat," and "21 Day Hikes Around Los Angeles"; should anyone ever judge me by my bookshelf here, I'm afraid I've become an LA douchebag.

Hello, my name is Billy.

Sadly, Ikea has reportedly changed the shape of the classic Billy bookcase to fit e-readers and that kind of crap. I love the feel of pages in my hands, and I'm not switching over to Kindles or e-readers anytime soon; they'll have to pry the book out of my dead, cold hands. Or at least until somebody buys me a kindle.

Second step: Better chair. I spend a lot of time at my desk and I have horrible desk posture. It's amazing that my spine hasn't curved into a hunchback already from hours of staring at my computer. I scoured Craigslist and found this Zuo Modern high-backed director's chair, originally priced at $599, for $200. It reminded me a little bit of some mod 1960s ad agency a la Mad Men (more Bert Cooper than Donald Draper), so I decided to go for it. Bargained it down to $150, zoomed right over to Playa del Rey after a pilot audition* in Manhattan Beach to pick it up, and prayed I wouldn't be hog-tied and murdered by the seller, who turned out to be a perfectly nice guy from Ohio. Brought my new bounty home:

*Had to dress as a stripper/prostitute for the pilot audition; swapped out the pink velour Juicy Couture for my regular army jacket to minimize likelihood of aforementioned hog-tying and murdering.

Behold! Our Overlord has arrived!

And last of all, a new aqua chevron rug:

How will it come together? The suspense is killing me!

On a side note, I also picked up these amazing/gaudy/awesome shoes yesterday as part of my audition costume:

Next Up: The Office

Now that the dresser is finished, I'm facing my next big challenge: a shared office space. For two writers who work a lot at home, this is the big kahuna. We both spend an inordinate amount of time at our desks, writing, editing, storyboarding, and twittering, so we need this space to be as conducive to creativity and productivity as possible (as well as double as a guest room for my impoverished visiting poet friends). As much as I don't wanna mess with my beau's creativity by hanging up floofy actors' vision boards ("Universe, I will book a pilot!"), I also can't work well in a dark and cavernous library overflowing with books.

Here's my challenge:

Dun dun dunnnnn!

Tight space, too much stuff, non-matching furniture, mismatched styles, and no light. I already chose some dark grey-taupe paint that I love, but it just ain't working with the giant 80s desk and office chair I inherited from the previous tenant, the overflow of books that we have, and the Persian rug that makes me feel like I'm trapped in a professor's office. I want to make this as modern, light, and airy as possible, without emasculating my dude and his man-(half)cave or messing up his flow. Anyone got any ideas?