New offices finished

The new offices for the pediatric clinic are finished ...

To really appreciate it, let me remind you what we started with:

The main room was an empty box space when we started and we needed to turn it into a conference room with a small seating area. Unlike the clinic, we were not able to paint the walls in this space, so I used colorful art from Modern Digital Canvas to brighten it up and brought in some inspirational artwork as well.

 

To help the client visualize the design I put together an inspiration board. (We switched out the chairs for different ones then I had previously selected).

There wasn't much space and every inch had to be utilized. This room will be used for parent meetings and workshops. 

The first thing we did was place the furniture and hang the artwork ...

And then I came back in with a new rug and a few accessories to pull it all together (thank you HomeGoods!).

Everyone is happy and all they need are a few fresh flowers and they are all ready for their open house tomorrow.

Carpet tiles

I went by the pediatric clinic today to finish up a couple of details. I had to level the Ikea frames now that the photographs have been added and did a little repair work on some of the canvases that had tears in them. I used duct tape to repair the tears (just put a patch of duct tape on the back) and then mixed up some acrylic paint and covered up the white canvas showing through the tear.

Tip: To keep artwork level, I take  painter's tape and wad up a couple of pieces (sticky side out) and use them to secure the frame to the wall. I used to use quake hold but I found that it left an oily spot on the paint afterward. The painter's tape does not hurt the wall if the artwork is removed later. Using the tape keeps the artwork level even if it is bumped or while being cleaned.

While I was there I got to peek inside the finished classrooms. I had not seen the rugs installed yet and they really finish off the rooms (I could only get into one to photograph). One of the teachers commented on how much they love the clinic - their classrooms, the kitchen and even the conference room. She said she doesn't even want to leave at night. That was so rewarding to hear!

The area rugs were custom designed FLOR rugs. I used them primarily because they come in individual pieces, or tiles, which can be replaced if stained or damaged. Because these rugs are being used in a pre-school setting and also with autistic children the risk of an accident soiling the rug is highly probable. The rugs will need to be cleaned often and so using a commercial grade carpet was also important. Being able to replace a 'tile' if needed was an added bonus. What I love about the FLOR carpet tiles is that I did not have to sacrifice design at all. They come in many colors and patterns. I selected a simple rug with a main solid color and with a second color as a border. Originally I had planned to use a few more colors but it was decided that the multi-colored rug would be too distracting to the children. The style I used is called Toy Poodle. The carpet tiles are easy to install and the possibilities are endless with all the colors and styles available:

Aren't they great?

Preschool classrooms {part 2}

My favorite paint color in the pediatric clinic (see part one here) are on the walls in the conference room, kitchen and restroom. Because I like the color so much they are also my favorite rooms. The color is Atmospheric AF-500 by Benjamin Moore. It is a great color to use for a powder room, laundry room or even a bedroom (I have used it for all three).  

{Paint color: Atmospheric AF-500}

Since the public areas of the office needed to be painted in a more subdued color scheme, I wanted to introduce more color in the rooms that were used primarily by the staff. The color would have been too much for the other spaces but in these rooms the color adds a nice punch to break up all the neutrals and it brings a little more life to the office. I received some feedback from one of the psychologists today who said the conference room felt very calming. I like that.

The conference room:

There will be a flat screen TV mounted on the wall opposite the photograph wall. The photographs will eventually be the children from the clinic (they have placeholder children in them currently) and the frames are Ikea Ribba frames with custom mats inserted to hold an 8x10 photograph. Tip: If you are having custom mats made, make sure you have the inside measurement cut slightly smaller than the size of the photograph or artwork you want to display so that it doesn't fall through the opening.

I love the framed photographs. These frames were only $20 each ($19.99) so if you keep the mats that the frames come with (11 & 1/2" square openings) you can have quite a nice art wall for around $200. I hung my frames around 3" apart which made a total measurement of roughly 5 & 1/2 feet by 5 & 1/2 feet.  Frame a lovely calendar or pages from an art book and you have a unique and very inexpensive art wall.

The kitchen:

I love the way the kitchen turned out. We used all Ikea cabinetry and the backsplash is a linear glass and stone blend (Eclipse series) from Tilecrest.  I used the same door pulls (Ikea Vinna handles) throughout the office to add continuity and simplicity. I like that they are a substantial size and at $7.99 for a pack of two they fit in with the budget. 

floor detail

The kitchen has an eat-in dining table for the staff. The table is not extended correctly in the photos and obviously the room is not finished (I will be adding art on the walls) but you can get the idea. The table is the Bjursta table ($199) and the chairs are one of my favorites, the Snille ($22.99 with the swivel). I use these Snille chairs a lot for children's desk chairs because they come in great colors (love the hot pink) and kids love a swivel chair with wheels!

The restroom is still "in progress" as well but I wanted to show you that I used the same wall color here as in the kitchen and conference room. When I am selecting paint colors for a residence or for a commercial space, I like to keep my wall colors to a minimum. I start with a main wall color that will usually extend through the hallways and large open spaces and then I select individual room colors trying to repeat colors where I can. In this office I have also carried the blue to the more neutral spaces through decal colors, toy baskets and door signs which I will show in a future post.  

I purchased the vanity online from Modern Bathroom a local company here in the Los Angeles area. The Leto 36" vanity came with everything you see (the mirror, the faucet, the top and the pulls) and was nicely priced at $1,029.95 including delivery.  And it came in less than a week! 

We added a large Ikea cabinet that matches the other cabinetry in the office adjacent to the vanity for storage and I will be adding the decoration over the weekend. I am hoping to put all the finishing touches in the office by the beginning of next week and then I will post the final photos. 

Preschool classrooms {part 1}

Today was my second day hanging art and placing furniture in the pediatric clinic. It is moving slower than I had thought. There is a lot of furniture to put together and you know how Ikea stuff is - sometimes it goes together well and then sometimes there are missing parts and confusing directions. The guys are doing a great job but it is just taking a long time. The office is not finished so think of this more as a sneak preview!

Let me give you a little background. The client is a pediatric neurologist who specializes in the treatment of children with autism. This office will house three preschool classrooms, two speech pathologist offices and three psychology offices in addition to an office for the principal doctor who is my client. There are 15 rooms altogether. Three pre-school classrooms, 6 offices for the various doctors, a conference room, kitchen, restroom, manager's office and the waiting room and reception area. When we started, the space was a large empty box.

This is the doctor's first office and she asked for a modern space with a slight Asian feel. She really loved the artwork from Ashes and Snow and asked for some of that artwork to be placed in the office. The other criteria was that the office space be somewhat minimal (not a lot of things the children could get into) and not too much color and pattern in the classrooms to keep the children from being distracted. From the beginning I was very sensitive to the fact that this was a space for children but also for their parents and I wanted it to feel like breath of fresh air to the parents and a place where they would feel hope and be encouraged.

Ashes and Snow {via}

This was a large project for me and a challenge since I design primarily residential spaces so I decided to start with the classrooms (seemed the most fun!). My inspiration came from decals that I found on Esty. Initially the client had expressed a desire for three rooms to have a marine theme. While I was searching for ideas with an ocean / marine theme, I found so many other cute ideas that were not ocean related that it just evolved from there. We settled on a marine room, a safari room and a forest room. Because the rooms were small, the budget limited and we needed the stimulus to be fairly minimal, I used decals primarily for the artwork in the classrooms. And while each classroom is painted a different color, I used the color teal in each room to tie them all together.

The marine room:

My sister helped me with the artwork for the door signs. We used the decals from each room as our inspiration.

I oredered custom rugs from FLOR, and am still waiting for the rest of the furniture to be put together but it is a good start.

The Safari Room:

This is my favorite room. In fact, the giraffe decal was what got me hooked on the idea of using decals in the first place and also convinced me that we needed to branch out from the all marine themed rooms.

Each classroom is equipped with a 2-way mirror and audio for parents to view the teachers working with their children. 

The Forest Room:

When I was searching for decals I was impressed by the variety that was available. I was touched by some of the quotes and wanted to add some encouragement for the parents.

But my favorite decals were the large birch tree trunks that I put in the waiting room. They turned out phenomenal. 

Come back tomorrow and I will share what I did in the conference room, kitchen and restroom.