cs03a.jpgName: Michael Chua, art director
Location: Toronto, Canada
Size: 110 Square feet

Tell us a bit about chair*stalker: chair*stalker is all about my admiration and fascination for chairs, specifically Scandinavian and mid-century modern icons and classics, and the often inspiring environments and spaces they populate. chair*stalker is an image archive, collected and curated generally from my daily blog-roll read.

cs01a.jpgHow would you describe your office? My home workspace is set in the spare bedroom of our home and shared with my wife. It's fairly sparse, a large wooden table dominates the majority of the space and serves various duties - from default computer desk to a table my wife uses with her sewing machine. Keeping the surface clutter free allows us to quickly adapt the table for other needs. Removing the keyboard and mouse, and pushing a few things to the side quickly clears the surface for other tasks.

cs04a.jpgIn terms of layout and organization of your work space, what are specific details that you're particularly proud of? Our workspace was never really strategically planned and purchased. For the most part it has been formed from repurposing furniture from other rooms. Our desk was our dining table previously. Repurposing it as a desk has been a joy. It's quite large and deep in comparison to a traditional desk, and provides ample desktop real estate.

cs04bii.jpgWhat's on your desk/computer desktop at this moment? Actual: Coffee and picture of our son. Virtual: Pictures of our son.

cs02a.jpgAny tips or advice about office décor, layout or organization? Encouraging a paperless environment has really been an easy solution for us in maintaining order on the desktop, and avoiding what is normally really easy to accumulate. We haven't had a printer at home for years now. Most documentation is made and shared easily across all our mobile devices. We receive statements online whenever possible. Magazines are relics with so many great blogs out there!

cs05bchua1.jpgResources:
The majority of both furniture and tech have had previous lives, acquired mostly from Craigslist, Kijiji, or eBay. Our desk is a dining table from Ikea.

Chairs

  • Arne Jacobsen 3103 Chair found on Craigslist.
    • "It's a vintage sample in teak. When I acquired this, the original owner had sprayed the legs white. I still have a horrible memory of scraping away the spray paint."
  • Eames Walnut Stool picked up on eBay from Studio Pazo: studiopazo.com
  • Eames Aluminum Group Chair - Craigslist
    • "Fell for this chair as soon as I saw the color. I say it's turquoise, my wife says it's teal. It dates back having the early 4 star base. Small world, the seller happened to be a friend of my brother."
  • Arne Jacobsen Stool - Craigslist
    • "The Arne Jacobsen stool is quite old as well having the original 3 leg base. If I remember correctly, the modification to 4 legs was made in 70's. This would likely be one of the oldest pieces we own. I purchased the stools as a set of 4, though 3 need some work."
  • Eames Wire Chair - eBay
  • Knitted Pouf - CB2

    • 102011-monster.jpgTech

  • Monster PowerProtect AV 600 color-coded power strip
    • "The power strip also came with colored labels that are to be fixed to the plugs/chords, to better help identify which device is associated with the plug/outlet. A nice feature, though I never got around to actually using the colored labels."
  • Mac Mini found on Kijiji (Canadian free local classifieds)
  • Belkin USB hub found on eBay
  • External Hard Drive from CanadaComputers.com
    • "What looks like an Airport is actually an older Mac Mini. It's stacked on a USB hub and external hard drive that share the same footprint as the Mini."
  • JBL iPod/iPhone dock - Best Buy
  • Mac mouse and keyboard were part of the Kijiji buy when Chua scored the Mac Mini.
  • Samsung monitor from Best Buy.

    • cs06bii.jpgArt

  • Teak Monkeys from Craigslist.
    • "I was lucky to purchase the vintage teak monkeys as one lot. Inspired by Kay Bojesen's monkey, they were collected/belonged to the grandmother of the seller."
  • Tree of Life (print)

    • The rest

    • Round teak tray from eBay
    • White picture frames from IKEA
    • Desk from IKEA
    • Planter found on eBay

    Other Behind the Blog features:

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