Office Therapy: It's All in the Details

In the latest installment of the Cathers show (does it ever end?), SFFS's Director of Operations Sarah Cathers discusses making your workspace a place you like to be. (Using her own office as an example, of course.) Roll over for her commentary!

When your office is a converted basement closet, things can get weird pretty quickly. This is one of a series of paintings I created for the SFIFF55 Festival Lounge decor. I have it right across from my desk so I can stare at it. I find this to be one of the happiest color combinations I can think of.  It really helps fight of the Seasonal Affective Disorder you can get from lack of sunlight down here in basement land.

I custom built this desk from some old cafeteria counter tops that used to be in the Letterman Hospital here in the Presidio (which is now Lucasfilm, by the way). Since my office is so small and weird shaped, most store bought desks didn’t leave enough room for me to walk by them. This desk, however, is juuust riiight.

Every spring, an arts space in the mission called The Lab holds an art auction. I ‘ve been working on that auction with them for a number of years and its impossible not to bid on a few pieces myself. Hanging them in my office helps ease the artwork over-crowding that is happening in my home.

Someone gave my roommate the gift of a glass thermos. I got jealous and bought one for myself to replace my crusty old kleen kanteen. She also has a glass tea pot at home and you guessed it, I coveted that as well. I was telling my mom, who is an amateur interior designer, about the concept of my office design while she was last in SF. She bought me this pair of olive wood coasters and then mailed me this beautiful wood thermos she had for her tea. She said it smelled too much like coffee.

This is another one of my personal paintings. I made it to go in my old office (RIP). To the left of it is my “filing cabinet” I decided I needed to pare down my paper files and class them up a bit. We get a lot of furniture left overs when other businesses move out of our building. I snagged this guy and found some boxes that fit perfectly. I am pretty sure they fit because it’s all Ikea stuff and it’s supposed too.  You can’t look a gift horse in the mouth!

Oh, this is a close up of my paining. It’s really good to stare at while you are trying to solve a problem. I am pretty sure it has magical powers. I don’t know how it got them, but it’s REALLY good for solving problems. And sometimes crimes.

This is a detail of the legs on my desk.  The sides of my desk are rubbed graphite. The legs are  old 4x4’s that we used to build the bar in the SFIFF55 Festival Lounge. I sanded them down and then rubbed graphite on them as well. I am a sucker for wood grain so I wanted to make sure some of that shone through. I think they turned out pretty sexy. Sexy legs!

This is the standing portion of my desk. I have it set up so I can either sit and work or stand when my butt starts going numb. I am hoping it will keep me from shrinking. I put some hooks on there (inspired by every bar in SF) so I could hang my coat and bag.  I can jam music out of my speakers or listen to headphones. Music is also key for concentrating. Especially when I’m doing spreadsheet stuff. My chiropractor (yes I am serious about not wanting to shrink) said my monitor should be at eye level, so I asked my friend to keep his eyes peeled for a wooden wine box (he buys all the wine for A16) my laptop is now the perfect height.

There is a maybe crack house across the street from me. They are all very nice, but they are definitely not sober.  This was on the sidewalk in front of their house with a creepy seat cushion and a broken bottom half. I sanded the paint off, replaced the seat and other broken parts, gave it a paint job and made a new cushion for it.  The cushion is filled with barley husks. Its not the most comfortable, but your spine can thank me later!

Here is another chair detail. It’s a really cool design. I just couldn’t let it get smashed by drunks on their way home from the bar. I made the cushion out of this super cool vinyl so it would be easy to clean. I got to put this to the test when my cat barfed on it immediately after completion.

This is a detail of my back wall sculpture (lol). These steel frames were actually the under carriage of the countertops used to make my desk. We pried those out with a crow bar and they have been sitting in my studio ever since. I’ve been daydreaming about what to do with them and had to clean my studio out so I figured I could turn them into a decorative element until I know what I want to make with them.  There’s just enough space between them and the wall that I can put one of my staff in “jail” if they are misbehaving. 

Well, you’ve got the prison to the left there. On top is my gym bag. A good buddy of mine has been “simplifying his life.”  He asked if I wanted this bag, and since I am the youngest of 5 and have survived on hand-me-downs my entire life, I of course said YES! Now, if I ever DO make it down to the gym on my lunch break, I’m already packed and ready to go. Underneath it are all my potions. I am trying to trick myself into not drinking coffee by having tons of tea on hand. It’s only kind of working.

Also of note on that shelf is my vitamin D so I don’t go bonkers in the basement. I keep a bottle of apple cider vinegar to mix with sparkling water to make the poor mans kombucha. It’s a nice punch in the face in the morning. The box underneath has all my office supplies so I can use my desk for important things like creating floor plans for events! Below that is all of the contracts and official paperwork needed to do my job. It looks a hell of a lot better than having three ring binders all over the place.