The Office: What's Your Aesthetic?

Residential interior designers often say that they have to be marriage therapists too. Husbands and wives tend to get at each others' throats when selecting furniture, materials, paint, etc. for something so personal as their own house. Luckily, Ben and I are not the combative type, but I didn't realize how different our aesthetics were until now.

This next phase in our office design, and for any Flashbent Interiors project, is to understand our client's aesthetic. After all, not everyone can live in an boudoir inspired bedroom with black lace...

...but it works for Christina Aguilera.

So how does one figure out their aesthetic?

One great resource is Houzz. It's like Pinterest for interiors. Browse through the many pictures of interiors to get a sense of what resonates with you, what you like, and what you hate. As the designer for our office, I created an IdeaBook with a bunch of images of home offices that I LOVED, liked, and I thought were OK. I didn't select any that I hated since I am also the client :)

I absolutely LOVE this office space. It's unique, bright, modern, and eye-catching.

Contemporary Home Office by San Francisco Interior Designers & Decorators Artistic Designs for Living, Tineke Triggs

I like this. It's a subtle mix of color.

Contemporary Home Office by Dallas Interior Designers & Decorators Traci Connell Interiors

This is not bad. It's a little more traditional or formal than I would like, but I wouldn't protest if this were our office.

Contemporary Home Office by Oakland Interior Designers & Decorators Shari Misturak

Of the 30 home office images that I selected, Ben liked only a few. None were on my LOVE list, but were doable. And marriage is all about compromise. I learned that Ben's aesthetic is slightly contemporary, but highly functional. He wouldn't want anything just because it's "pretty"; it has to be useful.

This was one of his favorites. He really likes the stripes on the wall and likes the clean lines. He doesn't like the main office chair though.

Transitional Home Office by Toronto Interior Designers & Decorators Jane Lockhart Interior Design

This was probably on the extreme of what Ben liked, but he said he liked the color and that it looks functional.

Contemporary Home Office

Given his choices and my choices, we are agreeing that a contemporary style is the way to go. The main colors should be subtle and more neutral looking (for Ben), but there can be some pops of color for my eclectic taste.

I love it when we both can have our way. :)

SIDENOTE // many people think they are a certain aesthetic when they really are not. The nice thing about Houzz is that I can put together an Ideabook with many different styles and tastes to find out what actually suits my clients best.

Next step is selecting our color palette.

Stay tuned!

{Rashida}