Workspace/ Retail Progress

OMG I am ready for the weekend. This has been a hectic week! I've been coaching Con-Man's soccer practices (Alone I may add since the head coach has been out of town), been a woodworking bad @ss, and just been kicking butt in general. ;)

I've also been working on the Retail/Workspace project I have talked about before. SInce this is something I am working on solo, mainly to grow my portfolio, it's been hard to get motivated to put time in on it when I'd rather just veg out and watch TV. I've refined the floor plan, drew up some preliminary elevations, and working on my SketchUp skills. For those who don't know SketchUp is a 3D modeling program. Check it out!

Here is an overall view of the space looking down from above:

On the left hand side of the picture is the "work area". Where artisans can come and build and design their products to sell. There are large work tables along the exterior of the space and a high top table for computer or office type work. There is a conference room, break room, office, and storage as well. There is still a lot to be added- shelving, detail, color, and other furniture.

The more interesting part of the space right now is the retail area on the right hand side. This area is designed for the artisans to sell their wares to the public. Basically they built and create their products to sell in the work area then sell it in the front!

I still need to add more furniture for display but for now I've started designing the check out counter, the large wooden columns that separate the retail area from the display window, and a large display wall wit built in shelving. Here's a closer look:

Here's an elevation view of the display wall. It is covered in sough wood slats, has display shelving popping out of the wall for small sale items, and large shelves built into the wall for large sale items.

And finally an exterior view looking in through the large glass windows:

I'm no SketchUp expert but I've been having fun practicing and honing my skills. What do you think so far? Do you ever work on things just for fun or for practice?

Retail/ Work Space Revised

One of the things I love most (and sometimes hate) is that design is never done. You can rearrange, revisit, and renovate over and over to achieve different looks for the same space. The same holds true to my little side project. I wasn't completely in love with my first stab at the space plan so I've been reworking it. I could go one and on forever switching and rearranging but for now this is what I am going with.

There are lots of shelves lining the walls for storage and what not. I envision them looking somewhat industrialized.

The open work tables will look just like they sound- large tables that can be used for any purpose. Whether it be building something or just sitting and working on a computer or sewing- these multi purpose tables give lots of room to spread out and work.

The space I am working with has a whole wall of windows that I want to take advantage of. I wanted as few walls as possible in the work area. So for the conference and main office I choose to give them a full wall of windows to allow as much light to filter through as possible.

So that's all for now. I have some more inspiration photos for the Retail area to share later on this week! 

Retail/ Workspace Floor Plan

Hey Friends! I've been slowly but surely working on my design for my Design Retail Workspace. I've been doing some space planning and brainstorming and this is what I've come up with so far:

My original concept was for a group of artisans (Not necessarily Etsy sellers but they could be) to be able to come together, have a place to work on their projects and designs. They could be a team of designers or just individuals who need a space to work on and create their designs. Then be able to showcase and sell their work to the public in the retail area in front as well as have the opportunity to sell online. 

Anthropologie Workspace

Woo hoo! 200 followers! Thanks guys, I'm so excited! 


For a follow up to my wonderings about who these people at Anthropologie are I did a little detective work. I'm not going apply for a job here or anything- I'm just curious about who is behind all this creativity. It seems that (and I could be wrong) that each store has their own designer that comes up with the displays. Their main head quarters is in Pennsylvania at an old Navy ship yard that was converted for their use.

Check out this article that tells all about the headquarters for Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, and Free People. With such a cool workspace no wonder they have such amazing merchandise! See some of the pics below:

Having a meeting

Styling it up!

What an awesome space to work in! Check out those columns, can I live here?

I love how it is so open and bright.

Merchandising? Look how they are reusing that concrete structure- how resourceful.

And check out this article from the architects who designed the space. They talk all about the history of the building and have lots of floor plans. They also talk about how they saved and refurbished most of the original elements of the building. Love this!

I thought it was pretty cool to see where all the beautiful clothes and furniture come from.  What do you think?