divine design intervention

hello world! sorry for the absence over the past couple of days...i was in chicago for a deposition and very much enjoyed my brief jaunt to the windy city. a couple of days in advance, i checked out the proximity of the deposition to the key shopping areas on michigan avenue (only a couple of blocks, very sweet) and had already picked the stores i wanted to hit up. i landed in chicago a few hours before my scheduled deposition, so i had the cab driver take me directly to h&m - which unfortunately was not open as it was only 9am chicago time! i decided to treat myself so i slipped into the ghiardelli's bakery and had a chocolate croissant for breakfast - yummo. i then headed over to filene's basement and scored a cute leopard print scarf and an unbelievable pair of prada sunglasses that are so huge my husband asked me when i got home if i thought the paparazzi was tailing me and i needed to hide out. i then did a nice amount of damage at h&m. i had intended to do more shopping after my deposition, but ended up catching an earlier flight - my wallet was eternally grateful for that decision. all in all, a nice day which included some great deals and an uneventful deposition, plus i made it home in time to tuck my daughter in for the night - always the best part of my day!

i headed downtown this morning to our new office space. our relatively new little firm has been in temporary space for the past month, waiting for our permanent space to open up. we're so happy with it, it's just gorgeous and was worth the wait! now the problem becomes trying to decide how i want to decorate it. in the past, i haven't given much thought to decorating my office, other than to hang my diplomas on the wall so people would know the legal advice i was handing out was legit. this time is different though - this new office deserves a beautiful new look, i'm just not sure what to do with it!

most of our house is somewhat traditional (not queen anne furniture traditional, more along the lines of what you see in southern living - updated traditional, for lack of a better description). i'm wanting to go completely different with my office - something modern (though not **too** modern) and feminine. really, i do not want this office to scream "boring lawyer" - which entails reds and blues, lots of brass and dusty books. as you might have guessed from the title, i'm a big fan of divine design with candice olsen so i'm thinking along those lines.

my office has two huge windows that are almost floor to ceiling, with a dark gray carpet. One of the three walls (the fourth is the wall with the windows) is a deep royal purple - believe it or not, i actually kind of like it and believe i will keep it. the other three walls are a orangish gold - the colors together are pretty bright and not exactly what i had in mind. i'm thinking of painting the yellowish walls a very light gray but am not sold on it just yet. The blonde furniture stays, which i'm actually okay with. While i'm not a big fan of blonde finishes (well, except on my head - my hair dresser can attest to that), this stuff is pretty nicely made as far as office furniture goes. the guest chairs, however, are going to get the boot.

here's some pictures so you can get an idea - any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! oh, and i apologize in advance for the quality of the photos, they were taken with my iphone.

the beautiful double windows looking out over downtown:


the infamous purple wall:


gold meets purple - not a fan:


the desk set-up:


the blank, vast expanse of gold behind my desk:


and lest you forget that big bright spot of purple, here it is again: