Dark office now bright, cheery

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By Stephanie De Pasquale | Thursday, May 31, 2007 12:16 AM CDT | () comments

Contributed photo Bonnie Sparks-Gray wanted a meeting area that was separate from her work area. (Edit)

A cheerful loveseat provides a place for meetings.

By Stephanie De Pasquale

BETTENDORF NEWS

When Bonnie Sparks-Gray took over as president of the real estate brokerage division at Mel Foster Co. Inc. in Davenport, she inherited a very nice office — a very nice office that was perfectly decorated for a man.

Sparks-Gray called Teri Lindsay at State Street Interiors to put some bright colors and a woman’s touch into her new office.

“The office décor was masculine and was very nicely done; dark greens and browns, high-backed chairs, antique desk, backside table, lots of pictures and lots of awards, things like that,” Sparks-Gray said. “(It was) a very nice office, but it wasn’t me.”

Bonnie Sparks-Gray:

Q: Did you have an idea of what you wanted?

A: I said ‘Teri, here’s what it needs to be: It needs to be inviting and welcoming; it needs to be pleasant; it needs to be cheerful; and it needs to be a place where younger agents would feel comfortable coming to discuss issues.’ I wanted an open-door policy. Amazingly, when people come in, the words I hear are, ‘Oh, it’s so cheerful. It’s so nice and bright in here. Wow, this is so pleasant,’ I mean, all the words that I told her I wanted are the words that keep coming back from people that come into my office. So, I guess I did it.”

Q: Beyond a cheerful office, did you want anything specific as far as colors, or did you just let the designer do her thing?

A: I really like teal and brown, and I really like primary colors. So she came back with like three different choices, and one was in teal and brown, and I thought, ‘Oh no, that’s just way too drab.’ And the one of these colors was one of the choices she brought back, and my eye just went to it. You know it’s like this is exactly what I’m looking for.”

Q: Did she bring mockups of what it would look like?

A: “Well, I kind of told her how I wanted it laid out, that I wanted a seating area at this end where people could comfortably discuss, and I wanted my office part at this end where I could actually get my own work done. So from there, we decided on a two-seater couch and a chair and so then she did the mockup after I kind of told her how I wanted things laid out. She did it to scale at that point and she brought all the pieces. ... I remember being in the training room when she spread it all out. I just thought, ‘How did anybody put all this together so perfectly?’ because it’s exactly what I was looking for. So then of course when my new husband and I built our house last year, I had her decorate the whole thing. Everybody loves it.”

Q: What is your favorite feature about your office?

A: “I guess I feel that it’s kind of a sanctuary. I mean, it’s calming, the colors are bright and all that, but with my live plants in here, it’s what I was envisioning as an office. I find it a very calming place to work when I’m in here alone getting some work done.”

The business

State Street Interiors

Phone number: 359-1655

Services offered: Interior design, furniture and accessory sales.

About the project: Teri Lindsay, an interior designer at State Street Interiors, made scale mockups of different color combinations complete with samples of wallpaper, carpet, curtains, and fabric for the chairs and couch. Once Bonnie Sparks-Gray saw the mockup of her initial idea to have a brown and teal office, she decided the design wouldn’t be cheerful enough and chose Lindsay’s bright design for her office.

“It just seemed to fit the bill so much better and with Bonnie’s personality, she’s so outgoing, it just fit,” said Lindsay, who would rather have her designs reflect her client’s personalities than look like she designed it.

Contact the Bettendorf News at (563) 383-2396 or bettnews@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at www.qctimes.com.