Oh Happy Day Studio Tour: One Desk 4 Ways
The office area is one of the last areas we decorated in the studio. All the managers have desks along the back wall and when we designed them we decided to call this post One Desk: 4 Ways because everyone’s personalities are so different and each office area is reflected in their style. We partnered with IKEA (one of my favorite stores ever) to make our office areas functional AND pretty. Just like the rest of the studio I had Ikea kitchen cabinets installed along the length of the entire wall like a “fauxdenza.” I did this because we need a ton of storage and lots of places to hid messy/unsightly projects and supplies. In addition it just looks clean and I love that I can lean art on it or stack books and it automatically looks great (I also did this in my home.) For the desks we picked these IKEA legs and paired them with these glossy desk tops that Jenny Komenda recommended. They are the best! Other than the desk and the fauxdenza I just told everyone to do what they wanted.
1. THE BOSS
This is my desk. My role has changed in the company as we’ve grown (I no longer get to be the one to fringe paper for the pinatas.) My job now is to set the direction and priorities for the team. Helping come up with ideas, searching for new products for the shop, getting the new studio put together, and assigning projects to team members. For my desk I knew I wanted a big inspiration board…
For this board I got a large piece of homasote from the hardware store and covered it with fabric. It creates a giant pin board so I can make a real life Pinterest board come to life. It’s so important that my team can see what is going on inside my head. I would describe my personal style as bright, iconic, playful, and fun. Instead of keeping the desk legs a standard color I painted them yellow to match the blog! I chose this yellow chair from Ikea to match. I started with this removable wallpaper from Spoonflower that goes on like a dream. I love grid patterns right now. It’s a graphic neutral that looks good with almost everything. I also bought this striped print from Book/Shop and framed it in a Large Ikea Ribba Frame.
The main challenge with my desk is keeping clutter under control. There are always new product samples or bills and paperwork around. Having storage options was super important so my desk didn’t always look like a hurricane. The fauxdenza helps a lot. I also bought these storage boxes from Ikea but I decided to spruce them up with big loose paint strokes. Form and function!
I also added some of my favorite things like my Italian red vintage typewriter, my silver ball inspired by my visit to Casa Barragan in Mexico City, a little smiley face pouch I bought in Paris, and lots of art books.
Styled by Jordan Ferney | Resources: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
2. THE COLLECTOR
Amy is the Oh Happy Day Art Director and came to us all the way from Australia. She is one of the most talented people I know in real life. Her job is to art direct the photoshoots and decide the visuals for Oh Happy Day. She is ridiculously talented and we are so lucky to have her. She is always collecting beautiful tchotchkes and knick knacks, which is why she is so good at her job. She has the most fun job at Oh Happy Day but she works so hard and is constantly searching and looking for new things. I think sometimes people want “fun” jobs but they don’t realize how hard you have to work to do it really well.
For Amy’s space she was inspired by all the beautiful things she collects, “I’m a collector at heart and it’s the details that make me happiest in life so I like to surround myself constantly by all the little things that inspire me to create.” She started with a soft grey wall. Since space and storage are constantly a struggle Amy knew she wanted some sort of shelving. She ended up going with these wooden floating shelves and painted the edge a purple-ish pink to add a bit of color to the wood. We installed them off center. She decided to paint the legs of the desk the same color too. For the desk chair she chose this pastel blue chair that is modern and comfortable. She even added some simple hooks to hang her pretty necklaces and jewelry. On display she keeps all her pretty collections, art books, quirky pillows, and pink record player. I love all the textures and shiny things.
Styled by Amy Moss | Resources: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
3. THE ORGANIZER
Andrea is the Oh Happy Day Shop Manager. She is responsible for reordering all the products, styling product photos, updating the site, and overseeing the shipping and warehouse. Andrea is super organized, sometimes I’ll come in on a Monday and realize she has spent the whole weekend rearranging the warehouse! She is amazing and we miss her like crazy while she is on Maternity leave. For her office she chose a “Present and Correct” style which means lots of pretty office supplies! She ends up with a lot of purchase orders and invoices so it was important she had places to keep all her paperwork organized.
Ikea is perfect for office organization and Andrea chose lots of paper organizers, clip boards, and shelves to keep everything in it’s place. She went with this pretty chair and painted the desk legs minty to go with the whole color scheme. Andrea used these stackable cube shelves to add more space for supplies, catalogues, and magazines.
She customized this corkboard with paint and hung everything in a grid on the wall so she could put up all her pretty office supplies on display. Her color palate was lots of pastels with pops of brights and neons.
Styled by Kendra Smoot and Amy Moss | Resources: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
4. THE MANAGER
Alison is the Oh Happy Day Managing Editor and has worked for here for almost four years(!) she basically runs the entire blog. She does everything from planning the editorial calendar, producing ad campaigns, styling photos, scheduling social media, to managing employees. It’s so hard to find someone that is organized and keeps meticulous deadlines as well as someone that is artistic and creative. We don’t know what we would do without her. To keep everyone organized for the past year she has been using a piece of foam core with a makeshift calendar on it. It was not cute (although very functional!) She looked for a pretty calendar but only found this one on Etsy which seemed cost prohibitive. She was trying to figure out a DIY version when she realized there was already a step by step on A Beautiful Mess. It turned out great and is a really pretty and functional calendar.
Alison’s style is feminine, classic, and artistic. She explained what she was going for, “For my desk, I wanted it to be pretty simple. I really like that pale pink color that is everywhere right now- and black and white. So, I tried to keep a really simple color palette. Paul hand-painted the calendar for me – I use it every day to help schedule out our week. I don’t like clutter, so I removed anything that looked too busy. I basically tried to keep it super clean, classic and simple. ”
After the calendar was in place she chose this modern white clock and asked Naomi, one of the crafters on our team, to create this custom artwork in the Ikea Ribba Frame. She chose this pretty glowy lamp, some copper details for her desk, and added cozy details like this striped blanket and pink pillow to her chair (the studio gets cold so it’s not just for show!) Alison kept the desk legs the original color and chose this sleek task chair. You can’t see it well in this photo but it’s gorgeous and such a good deal.
