WORK YOUR CHEST!
Working in Manhattan is challenging and designing an apartment (especially for a Diva) can be a total nightmare. On the west coast everything seems much bigger...houses, back yards, egos, women's breasts...for the most part, plenty of room to do whatever you want. On the tiny island of Manhattan, however, that isn't necessarily the case. Last week, on my way to yet another meeting with Client A to discuss her tight work space high in the sky, the subway came to a screeching halt somewhere under Park Avenue. In the dark, muggy New York afternoon I overheard two girlfriends gossiping about a date one of them had the night before. In the silence of our stalled train one exclaimed, "I gotta work my chest girl!" as the lights flickered back on I came up with an idea for organizing my diva's tiny office space; make her chest work for her!
NICE CHEST!
If yours isn't big enough, stop complaining and make what you have work for you! In the case of my diva and her tight office space on the upper east side (a 10'x10' room better suited for a coat closet), we didn't have room to bring in file cabinets, bulletin boards, etc. so I had to manipulate what she had to give her what she wanted. At first glace I gave the space a double "D" but after I left we gave it an overwhelming A! I took a deep breath and dove into her chest...a shabby-chic piece she purchased for her guest bedroom. I purchased cork board from an office supply store, cut it to size and attached it to the underside of the lid with craft glue. To create a file space I purchased adjustable file folder frames and screwed them into the sides of the chest and, for extra storage for little jewels and Nick-knacks, I added a sliding drawer by attaching pieces of molding with small nails just above the file frames. To find the drawer with a perfect fit, I measured the space between moldings (measuring width and depth), cut a piece of paper to size and took it to Michael's arts and crap store where they sell various sizes of organizational drawers. I laid the drawers on my paper until I found the right fit, painted them to match our piece and in two short hours my diva took a giant step back to admire her gorgeous new chest!
TIME TO COMPLETE TASK: Two hours
COST: Cork board and file frames from Office Depot, molding from Home Depot and organization drawers from Michael's Arts and Crafts: $18.00
STRESS LEVEL: Making a big chest work for my client: LOW
