A ROOM WITH A FEW DIFFERENT VIEWS
Most mornings, while others are fighting traffic, Philip Friedman is happily at work in his home office in Potomac. An attorney, Friedman waits for the rest of Washington, D.C., to get to work before he hops in his car and heads to his law firm, where he specializes in consumer class actions. From home, he’ll write a brief, answer e-mails, or make phone calls. Then, if he’s feeling the need to be creative, he’ll walk across the room, pick up a brush and paint.
Friedman’s office is a study in left brain/right brain tendencies—a home office that doubles as a painting studio for the lawyer and artist. Brenneman and Pagenstecher Residential Architects and Builders designed the space underneath a first-floor addition. Architect Dean Brenneman wanted the shift from lower-level recreation room to office/studio to be dramatic—and it is. Steps like those you’d find on a fire escape lead down to stained concrete floors. High ceilings, huge windows, lots of metal and exposed brick give the office an industrial-loft aesthetic that’s surprising in this suburban enclave.
The space reflects Friedman—easygoing, smart and creative. The left side of the room is—appropriately—dedicated to his legal work. A streamlined work space with laptop, phone and files is all business.
On the right side of the space are easels, palettes, paints, brushes; half-finished and completed paintings are everywhere. Splotches of paint that hit the floor just stay there, adding a charming patina to the concrete. Friedman works from home about 15 to 20 hours each week, and he paints when the mood strikes. He says “painting can be a break from writing a brief, or I might spend the entire weekend working on a painting. I started about three years ago as a means to relax, and it works.”
The home office encourages creativity and is a place he looks forward to going to every day. “I love the light, the spaciousness, the quiet, the view of the trees, the fact that my dog, Elvis, hangs out with me while I work, and the fact that I’m not sitting in traffic,” he says.
A COTTAGE INDUSTRY THRIVES IN BETHESDA
Nestled in a busy neighborhood behind Suburban Hospital is a charming home painted a cheery yellow where artist and mother of three Karen Deans lives and works. A former muralist and illustrator, Deans found her artistic niche in transferring the vibrant hues and unique patterns of her original oil paintings onto square wooden boxes that can stand on their own or be hung on a wall. Her creations, dubbed Wooden Tiles, are sold by more than 140 retailers nationwide.
Her office/studio is a light-filled sunroom just off the kitchen, making it a fully integrated work-family experience. “Somehow it has always worked well for me because it allows me to engage in the blessed curse of multi-tasking, providing the space for me to start my business while also cooking dinner and helping with homework,” Deans says.
Surrounded by windows on three sides, the room offers an abundance of natural light for Deans as she creates the paintings that will eventually adorn her tiles. The perimeter of her studio holds a drafting table; storage for paints, palettes and brushes; and a desk and filing cabinets where she handles the business side of Wooden Tile. An easel stands in the center of the room holding the painting she’s currently working on. Often, Deans moves the easel a few feet from her studio to the kitchen, so she can consider it as she changes roles, from artist-in-residence to a busy mom who is married and has two daughters and a son.
A few years ago, as orders for her tiles began to come in at a brisk pace, Deans ran out of space in the studio so she also annexed the basement for her business. The space is bright, open and whimsical. In the unfinished lower level, Deans has set up a “factory” where she and a parttime assistant assemble the wooden tiles in a lengthy process that involves painting the unfinished boxes, gluing and varnishing digital reproductions of paintings to the boxes, finishing and signing each one and shipping them to retailers.
The pressure to keep up with orders and expand the business (she now offers Wooden Tile Tabletops as well as a line of Wooden Tile stationery) can be daunting. Yet Deans derives great pleasure in all of it and loves the fact that she was able to set up a home office where she feels creative and motivated.
A PLACE FOR POLITICS AND PROSE
When E.J. Dionne and his family moved into their Mohican Hills home in Bethesda a few years ago, the hardest room in the house to unpack was Dionne’s study. As a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a columnist for The Washington Post, Dionne’s livelihood depends on a deep understanding of all of the issues of the day, which apparently requires thousands of books.
He’s settled in nicely now, however, and uses his home office to write almost all of his columns and books.“I like working at home because there are fewer distractions and especially fewer phone calls,” Dionne says. “At Brookings, I’m surrounded by interesting colleagues. I learn a lot from talking to them and our chats feed back into my other work, including the column. But when you’re talking, you’re not writing.”
His home office is conducive to writing. It is filled with natural light, has high ceilings and gives him everything he needs—bookshelves and a quiet place to write. Built-ins line every available wall. “I’ve accumulated far too many books over the years,” Dionne says. “The ones I keep in my office are a combination of books about politics, history and religion that I consult a fair amount, and books written by friends that I just like to see up there.”
Of course, political memorabilia is everywhere, including a Norman Rockwell print titled, “The Defeated Candidate;” a 19th-century political cartoon that is an early depiction of the Democratic Party’s donkey symbol; and a Roosevelt-Truman poster from the 1944 election.
“When we were looking at houses, I was immediately taken with the office and knew I’d be happy working there,” Dionne says.
BLUEMERCURY MOM
The first thing you see when you walk into Marla Malcolm Beck’s home office is the beautiful fireplace. Even without a fire blazing, it creates an atmosphere of warmth and peacefulness, and Beck gives off a similar vibe. It’s hard to believe that this relaxed 30-something mom of three is the founder and CEO of bluemercury, a high-end makeup, skin care and spa retailer with 27 stores nationwide.
Beck works out of her home in Bethesda’s Burning Tree neighborhood at least a few mornings a week when she’s not traveling to her stores. “It’s where I do all of my creative work,” she says. “When I’m in the Georgetown office [the company’s headquarters], it’s impossible to do any writing, product testing or creative development. That’s why my home office is so important.”
Beck’s office is right off the foyer on the main floor. Built-in bookshelves hold an interesting mix of volumes on politics, law and beauty, with some classic fiction sprinkled throughout. Photographs of her family adorn the walls, as well as an original painting of John F. Kennedy that Kennedy himself owned; Beck and her husband purchased the portrait at a local fundraising auction.
Her desk holds a computer (with a running ticker of store sales nationwide) and an enormous variety of skincare products. Beck personally tests every product she is considering selling in her stores. “New products come to the Georgetown office. If they make it here to my home office, that means I’m interested. If they make it upstairs to my bathroom, that means they have a pretty good shot of getting into the stores. I’m a tough critic.”
In addition to choosing products, the Harvard grad writes much of the marketing and sales material for bluemercury. “At home, I can write copy for our catalogs, blogs and marketing materials in a few days. If I did that in the office, it would take me weeks. And I can come out and play with the children every now and then and make sure everyone is OK. I feel organized and creative in here.”
DESIGNING WOMAN
After years of working in a tiny room on the second floor of the bungalow she shares with her husband and their two cats in Cabin John, Margaret Fisher, a nationally recognized master knitter, decided it was time to create some space for her expanding knitting business, Margaret Fisher Designs (www.fisher-designs.com).
A former corporate executive with an MBA, Fisher opted to leave the corporate world behind and focus on her passion—knitting. Until last year, she worked in a room that could barely hold her, let alone her reference books, needles, yarn and files. Her new second-floor office is a great-looking, functional space that Fisher rarely leaves because she loves it so much. Three skylights and banks of windows on two sides bathe the studio in light, with additional help from some sleek track lighting over desktops and counters. Light oak floors, neutral walls, built-in shelves and a kaleidoscope of color on her yarn wall hit a perfect note aesthetically.
Fisher worked with architect Dean Brenneman to make sure her office met her unique needs. “I needed an island with drawers and a countertop to spread out my designs and block them. The height is custom made for me at 39 1/2 inches so there is no strain on my back,” Fisher explains. In addition, a custom-made table in the center of the room is the same height as the perimeter desktop, which allows a seamless transition between the two work areas.
“Another priority when designing the space was having enough shelf space to hold my books and materials now, but with room to spare for the future. My business is growing, and I don’t want to outgrow this studio.” With custom built-ins and the smart use of wall and closet space, Fisher has plenty of room to expand.
Her studio also serves as the headquarters of her publishing company, Vanduki Press. In 2008, she published her first book, Seven Things That Can “Make or Break” a Sweater™. Whether Fisher is knitting, writing or running her business, her home studio supports the task at hand. “I spend all day in here. I get so much accomplished, and I feel like I’m in a beautiful tree house.”
Kate Kuhn is a freelance writer and senior editor at Gryphon House Inc. She lives in Bethesda with her husband and two sons.
