I love the revitalization that is happening right now in Downtown Wichita so when a local bank asked me to design and decorate their new downtown space I jumped at the opportunity. This space has been many things… a store, graphic design office, and now a bank. But…. not just any bank. This is a local bank’s commercial lending office. They wanted it to be a downtown meeting space for all their commercial lending clients that can transform into an event space in the evenings. Lets look at the before…
The bones of this place were good. The front of the space is the space that opens up to Douglas Avenue. This is the meeting and event space. There is a ton of space in here but we didn’t want it to feel like a bank waiting room.
It already had a ton of character with the concrete floors, brick wall and wood ceiling. The trick was how to create little meeting nooks that could transform to a larger event. My inspiration for the front room was a hotel lobby. Think about it, hotel lobbies have tons of moveable hang out spaces that fit into a larger space.
Source List: Middle Rug, Pub Table, Stools (re-upholstered by me)
I created a focal seating area with four smaller conversation areas. The goal was to make a space where the furniture can move around if a conversation area needed to be bigger.
I wanted the room to feel collected while still feeling cohesive. So I had to sets of similar seating on opposite corners of the room. Do you love the print of downtown Wichita? It’s from a Wichita photographer, Dorrell Tibbs from Unsplash.
Source List: Rug, stools, faux leather loveseat, Gold Side Table, White Side Table
I love the stools. Stools are so great for movable seating in a party. They are also a great place to put a lap top during a meeting.
My favorite part of the design just might be these cane chairs.
I needed something in the middle that didn’t feel bulky. They needed to have presence but you needed to see through them…. if that was even possible. The cane chairs made it possible.
Source List: Sofa, Coffee table, Pillows (mixture of local storebought and handmade)
This sofa is the most affordable stylish sofa. It is from Wayfair and its comfortable and… under $1000!
Source List: Cane Chairs; Pillows
The blue color is a theme. The local bank’s branding is blue. I didn’t want to make it super over the top but every sitting area has a splash of blue…
The large art is a mixture of local photography found on Unsplash and iStock photos. The rest are vintage photos from the local bank that is over 100 years old!
Source List: Blue Chairs (similar), Cane Cabinet, Coffee Table
I also repeated the cane theme in this old down town building. It gives a softer vibe to the industrial brick and concrete.
Its hard to look past those cane chairs but if you do, you will see a pub table with stools. There is one on each side and you can easily pull them out and have a bar area… or put the two together and have a larger pub table seating area.
Let’s go back to the before pictures. Here is the conference room before.
One of my favorite stores used to be in this space. It was a design and home decor store. They painted the walls this color and it was amazing because it was styled with lights and lamps and all sorts of things. It was actually one of my favorite parts of the store. The next tenet changed the lighting and it made this room way too dark.
Source List: Sconces, Ceiling Light, Metal Cabinet, Rug
We simply put a new light fixture and painted the room bright white. Of course we added some blue. The opposite side of the conference room is one of my favorite nooks.
Source List: Bar Cabinet, Bar Cart
I created a movable bar cart. During the day its the nook for coffee and drinks. For an event you can move the bar cart out to the seating area. The photos are actually a Wichita building and plane. They are pictures taken from another great photographer, Andrew Cruz, on Unsplash.
Okay the back of the office was turned into three offices. They wanted a back meeting area as well. Here is what it looked like before.
Pretty confusing layout before
The back entrance is smaller than the front but still needed more seating areas.
Source List: Sofa; Coffee Table (similar); Side Table (local), Lamp (local vintage), Wichita Print, Pillows (local)
I loved the sofa up front so much I bought it in blue for the back.
Source List: Chairs, Plants, Baskets; Prints
The Rugs are from Jabara Carpet outlet. I loved them so much that I bought another for the dining room in my home!
The offices windows got a little branding for privacy and I think the subtle frost makes it unique.
Source List: Table (similar), chairs, Rug, Print
I love this table from Walmart. That’s right… Walmart! Sadly its no longer in stock. The cane chairs bring the black and cane vibe from the front to the back.
What a fun space to design and fully finish. Downtown Wichita is getting better every year and it was fun to put some life back into one of its spaces.
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