HomeThis Week: Forest Park’s @WorkDesign m@kes me h@ppy
31. Aug, 2009 
3 Comments
Frankly I wasn’t overly excited about visiting @WorkDesign, Julia Archer’s Forest Park shop, which offers furniture, organization and accessories for the home office, but that’s only because most of its competitors feel bland and boring by contrast. Plus, I’d been up late the night before writing and goofing off (3 a.m. late), so I was tired and cranky. Luckily, Archer has excellent taste, and soon the shops mix of vintage and new home office furniture, accessories and storage supplies began to work on my dopamine centers like a Triscuit cracker loaded up with cream cheese and a slice of jalepeno: Yum. Hot! Crunch. Yum.
As I lingered in the shop, I moved from one object to another, imagining how each would help me live a better, saner, more organized life, a life of midnight bedtimes and pre-Noon meals. Somewhat dramatically, the intoxicating promise of a better life convinced me to give up the ghost about my much fantasized thirtysomething-style dinner parties and to finally make the decision to convert my dining room to a home office. I’ll need the space for the stuff I’ll one day buy from @WorkDesign: a modern wall mountable desk (with accompanying wall storage unit), a gorgeous vintage phone (available in several colors) and a small table lamp / bookend by Danese, which somehow manages to look stylishly modern yet seriously old-fashioned.
As I bit my adieu, I felt better, which made me want to sing something happy – maybe something like the Brady Bunch classic, “It’s a Sunshine Day.” Brady power activate!
I think i’ll go for a walk outside now
the summer sun’s callin my name
(i hear ya now)
i just can’t stay inside all day
i gotta get out get me some of those rays
everybody’s smilin
sunshine day
everybody’s laughin
sunshine day
everybody seems so happy today
it’s a sunshine day
@WorkDesign. 7500 W. Madison St. Forest Park, IL. 708.488.9297
I loved the sleek office supply set, but I found the stapler to be especially exciting.
Great shots of a lovely store & dog. I was in here not too long ago and was very impressed.
But are you seriously converting your dining room to a home office?
Dreamy – this is the store for the adult version of shopping for back to school supplies. Who needs a box of #2 Dixon Ticonderoga pencils when you can have all that other neat stuff!
I do want to Andrew. It seems like 1/3 of my apartment’s being used for “What If” moments, which isn’t the best way to live in the moment is it? Plus, using a dining room for a dining room table feels so conventional.