Ban.do Studio Design: Jen’s Office (Emily Henderson)

There are few rooms in the entire world that I love as much as this room. Truly. The photographs will NEVER do it justice, because what you can’t really see is the fact that it is wallpapered completely in a pearlescent glitter wallpaper, which reflects the light around in a way that I can only describe as heaven. I’m not talking about the pink streamer hanging on the wall under the window – sure, that is lovely too, but that wallpaper took my heart and soul into another dimension that they haven’t been to before. Then add in those hot pink chairs, that beautiful vintage desk, the vintage rug, the metallic linen chair, the chandelier and the lavender ceiling that rains a soothing happiness all over her lavender hair, and what we have is a truly enviable, dream-like office. For someone else. Ban.do‘s creative director (and my friend), Jen Gotch. So rude.

Here is how this magical, heavenly room all went down. It was once a boring white room with good bones and lovely light.

Jen really wanted her room to be quieter and calmer, but still exciting and powerful – like her. She specializes in smaller things that have a lot of personality (read = weird, awesome, little stuff), so our goal was to create a space that wasn’t overpowering on its own, and would rather serve as a blank canvas for any small inspiration pieces that she wanted to bring in.

We started pulling together some ideas:

These ideas didn’t necessarily go forward, but they were our ideas and its kinda fun to show you.

Then we pulled together more of a product board (I think very few of these things made it in either).

Chaos ensued, as it does, but slowly the room started to pull together:

In the picture below you can kinda see that the walls look different than the picture above – but it looks like it was just painted a cream. It wasn’t. IT IS GLITTER WALLPAPER. I’ve never in my life done something so important that is so unphotographable. Maybe I should sell tickets to see/feel the room on the weekends?

You can see the paper below laying flat and then installed on the wall, close up.

We got those dope chairs from the flea market, had them reupholstered in hot pink velvet and, wow, was I jealous. Then Jen found that rug at another flea market, without me, which was both irritating (I want it) but wonderful for me, as I get to take credit for it. The chandelier is from West Elm and yeah, its surprisingly awesome.

We created these two mood boards out of plexi for Jen to tape her insanity on to. It wasn’t an easy or cheap process that I necessarily recommend but man, did we love how it turned out. We chose the colors and had them fabricated by a plexi dude. The front of Jen’s board is an opalescent and the sides are neon, so you just get a hint of that intense color as you walk in, but its not overpowering.

Then she uses washi tape to put stuff up. I’m actually totally inspired by this idea, and I really wish that I was able to prioritize my time/life and creativity to print out imagery that I love and keep it surrounding me. I really think this can take your imagination and creativity to the next level.

Ok, all the above photos were the process and nothing was quite finished. So, ready to see where all that Ban.do art direction comes from?

This room:

The fact that I haven’t prioritized having a fantasy/dream office of my own into my life is a tragedy, nay, a CRIME. We are growing out of our studio already, and thinking about getting a bigger space. When we do, I’m getting my own office and I’m not only going to put glitter wallpaper on the walls, but on the ceiling, desk and floor. Although by then I’ll have moved onto doing a rustic french country house and my style will have drifted into smearing plaster all over the walls so it looks like a 17th century castle. What I’m trying to say, through those rambles, is that because I’m such a lover of all styles I tend to gravitate a lot towards the projects that I’m currently working on or writing about. Which is why I can do this style, but also this style.

ANYWAY. You get the point. My house blew up with color while I was working on this job, and now that I’m working on this more Remodelista style, neutral, minimalist home, things are shifting in that direction. I’m so messed up.

But so is Jen, so that’s cool:

So there she is, the most glamorous, heavenly, magical, glitter-rific room in the world. Says me. Let’s recap where we started, and where we ended up.

1. Brass Tray 2. Waterfall Chandelier 3. Chair 4. Paint in Cheery 5. Paint in Lily Lavender 6. White Quartz 7. Amethyst 8. Tufted Chair 9. Gold Accent Table 10. Lamp 11. Pencil Holder 12. Desk 13. Rug

*The first round of ‘after photos’ and all the progress/installation photos by Kelsey Tucker. Refinery 29 ‘after’ photos (and portraits) by Tessa Neustadt. Check out the whole Refinery29 tour here. Want more info on the whole process? Check out the intro post, floorplan/progress post and last Ban.do update post.

Want to buy some happy, smart and cheeky notepads pouches, agendas and iphone cases? Head on over to Ban.do.