Boutique Law Firms, Shopping, Small Law Firms

Test Case: Designing Woman — Can I Personalize My Sad, Empty Office On A Budget?

After making partner, Allison Peryea decided to redo her office; here are her 11 tips.

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Allison Peryea's couch

Allison Peryea’s couch (click to enlarge)

I have never much been into personal office décor. Maybe that’s because I have always practiced law post-recession: In a world where people can’t get or keep jobs, I don’t want to bring in anything that I can’t carry out in a single banker’s box. But mostly I think I have just been too busy: An office is where you get work done and accumulate empty yogurt containers.

My perspective changed a bit when I became a shareholder last summer. I scored a bigger office with a sweet view of the high-rise construction next door. (How I finagled the best office among the shareholders is a story that involves alcohol, carpet remover, and two emails, but I won’t say anything else about it except that my honor and virtue are intact.) The space had been empty for a couple months, and the office vultures had picked its bones clean of any decent furniture. I was essentially left with a desk, a desk chair, and two red pleather wingback chairs with gold nail-head trim. The pleather had worn shiny in places, like the cheeks of a crying clown.

I decided that this new office would serve as a blank canvas for me to decorate a space that really felt like my own. (I mean, I haven’t updated my own Craigslist-chic apartment since 2008, when my first cat introduced me to the world of feline home destruction.) And I felt qualified to take on the task, since I have watched A LOT of those home-improvement shows that all seem to take place in Canada.

I get the whole “see how powerful I am with my leather-bound bounds and rich mahogany” look of traditional law offices. But I wanted to create a law office that clearly belonged to a woman—at least more than the Ikea-vase-with-fake-flower aesthetic I had going on before. And I wanted to be fairly cheap about it, because I am related to my Grandma Peryea.

I didn’t really get started with my “renovation” project until a couple of months after I changed offices, as billing and procrastination took precedence. But while waiting for a flight on Cyber Monday, I came across a ridiculously unsuitable white leather slipper chair on sale at Macy’s. It looked like it belonged in the dressing room of a rich but lonely Park Avenue bride. Inspiration struck. I also bought a new desk chair, as the purchasing floodgates had opened. It was a knock-off of the chair I really wanted, which saved me money in furniture costs but is so poorly designed it will likely result in chiropractic expenses down the road. Next I replaced the red chairs with a royal blue velour pair trimmed in silver. I like them because men feel uncomfortable and look awkward in them.

Now I had some furniture but no decorations other than a homespun collection of paintings I made—including an oil of my deceased cat—temporarily covering up the depressing nails on the wall. I found my salvation at the Marshall’s in my hometown over Christmas. I threw everything into my cart that was silver and shiny, like a discount-shopping bird. I supplemented with a spree at the HomeGoods just north of Portland, intoxicated by the lure of tax-free shopping.

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My Portland haul made all the difference. It started feeling like my personalized space, and everything was such a good deal I kept forcing people to ask me how much each item was so I could “surprise” them with my thrift. Grandma Peryea would have been damned proud.

My next big step: Buying a couch. Couches intimidate me, since they take up so much room and are so expensive, like the psychological burden of student debt. I spent months surfing the internet for a bargain, but I wanted something really specific. I broke down and bought the grey, velvet couch of my dreams. I only pulled the trigger because they said there was only one left in their entire U.S. warehouse, and my competitive instincts took over. Nobody sits on it, but just knowing a napping location is available calms me. And it is outside my cat’s Zone of Destruction, which is good.

Allison Peryea wall artFor a finishing touch, I bought wall art online. This was a big struggle, since I wanted something that “spoke to me,” and that’s something wall art is physically incapable of doing. I ended up buying a stretched canvas print I saw in a People.com photo of Bristol Palin (bipartisan problem solving at work!), and a close-up of an abalone shell in a clear acrylic frame that I alternately love and want to smash with a hammer.

I don’t think my decorating “journey” is over. For instance, I am still online stalking a pair of full-price throw pillows, and I dream of a Mad-Men-style bar cart to make my office more popular among coworkers. But I have fulfilled my professional dream of having a napping couch, so those things can wait.

I know most of us (like Old Me) think of our offices as just a place to type words and fix strategic mistakes. But for those who want to personalize their spaces—heck, we probably spend as many waking hours at work as at home during the workweek—here are a few things I learned along the way:

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• It is pretty easy to find free furniture shipping online, and stuff comes pretty quickly. But for a big-ticket item, try to check it out in person if possible.

• Google the crap out of something before purchasing it online. Once you find something you like, chances are it is out there somewhere else with a lower price tag.

• Be patient. Wait until something catches your eye or goes on sale. If you put the room together a little at a time, you’ll have a better sense of what you need next.

• Bring stuff from home. You already paid for it, and presumably already like it. And it looks fresh in a new location.

• Expect haters: Not everyone shares your taste. My firm co-owner Stephan calls my office “the bordello,” which is both a hilarious and accurate nickname.

• Don’t be afraid to get something that you love but that doesn’t seem to have a set location or purpose. I bought this shell-inlaid stool-table thing, and I have no idea what it is for, but it completely ties everything together.

• Pick a color scheme and stick to it. But intentionally break away with a few pops of color. (Yes, I have a bowl of fake lemons in my office to tickle the senses with a bit of yellow.)

• Group items together to create a little scene for the eye. Include as many fake flowers as possible.

• Reintroduce printed photos to the world. Just use the color setting on your office copy machine. I will tell no one.

Allison Peryea windowsill• Be personal: I bought a silver-painted wooden “A” that sits on my windowsill ($7!) and every day I walk into my office and see it and think, yep, that’s my office.

• If you plan on keeping something around for a while, splurge on the one you really want rather than the cheapie version. For example, my back hurts right now while typing in this knock-off chair.

Allison Peryea is a shareholder attorney at Leahy Fjelstad Peryea, a boutique law firm in downtown Seattle that primarily serves community association clients. Her practice focuses on covenant enforcement and dispute resolution. She is a longtime humor writer with a background in journalism and cat ownership. You can reach her by email at [email protected].

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