Home Where You can find me on the webs The Threshold DesignWrite

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

DesignWrite Wednesday - Mid Century Retro Industrial Gray vs. Chic Sophisticated Stripes

the mighty tanker desk 
Do you recognize it?
John Megadeath on flickr.com calls this his "Mighty Tanker" Desk.
I used to sell these
at my first job out of college, at the city's biggest office supply and furniture store.
Back then it was the choice of big factories who bought desks in bulk and warehoused them when not in use. Government offices and military bases and paper factories and power plants -- 
that's where you could find these metal monsters.

Practical. Indestructible. Industrial. Unattractive. Durable.

Look what magic happens when you take something practical that may already be in your basement, or at a sale at a price you just can't pass up, and ...
Work It! 
all photos used by permission 

<- I have the same fan that I picked up at a garage sale, only in green. The blades spin & hum like an airplane propeller! And it oscillates. I paid $5.

            GF Chairs -- General Fireproofing --  Mad Men steno pool anyone?


 Strong blacks & whites with punches of red energize gray walls. If you use gray and want strong, energetic vibe in your home office, make your accents  bright, using one dominant color, like the red here. Sunshine yellow is trending now.

And here...
Gray doesn't have to be industrial and masculine.

From the Office Stylist.com, Stylishly Chic: Feminine, warm, chic gray:



 Stripe tutorial can be found here:
http://www.younghouselove.com/2009/06/walking-the-line/
Note: tone on tone is a good look for small office (and bathroom) spaces, and if you have features on your walls like sconces, take them into account when you're planning out the stripes so they are centered.

 The OfficeStylist.com is a terrific site for home office inspiration and links for fun, hard to find office accessories and necessities. Check it out for ideas on integrating your workspace into your home.




Yellow or Acid Green makes a great accent color with a feminine chic gray office like this one!


Another link to show how to dual purpose your dining room into a home office: http://www.shelterpop.com/2010/05/20/make-your-dining-table-a-home-office/

What do you think? Can you warm up to gray? Or do you like it cool and chic?  What colors would you use to accent gray?



2 comments:

  1. Awesome! I never thought of this steel gray color as being so pretty. Also masculine...

    I'm a huge color fan, but would never have gone with this one. Now I'm rethinking that idea...

    Thanks for sharing.

    Tami

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gray can turn silver, or warm up to a shade of taupe Tami.
    Happy that you like it so much now. Little orphan Gray....

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for following!