WAS THE NEWSLETTER #61

sooooo we got an office? and a storefront!?

Maren Loveland
January 24, 2025

#61

I’m Paige Wassel. WAS the Newsletter is your weekly dose of design inspiration, where we convert vision to venture.

THE FIRST TO KNOW

Was renting real estate on our 2025 bucket list? No. But sometimes opportunity knocks. Last month, Kate and I were doing some vintage shopping and we got to talking with the shop’s owners. Out of nowhere, they said, “Hey, we’re vacating this space if you guys are interested in renting it.”

Random?

We walked out and then we looked at each other, like, “Wait, why wouldn’t we contemplate renting it if it made sense?” We went back inside just to find out a few more details, never imagining the price would be right. Even if it were, what would we do with it?

Well, the price was right. And it made sense.

And the second that space fell into place, our wheels began to turn. The question morphed from “what could we do with an office space/storefront?” to “what couldn’t we do with an office space/storefront?”

It’s like that old adage where you take the leap and the net appears. We quickly figured out what we want to do with this spot. Our place will have three primary functions:

First, it’s a brick and mortar for WAS the Store, where I will sell pieces from previous launches. It’s also going to be the home of WAS Design Studio, as I have been doing more interior design work and excited to do MORE.
This spot will also be the home base of Studio Leonard, where Kate will be offering her interior decor and paint consultations, plus selling her vintage framed art.
Most exciting is whenever we combine forces, so this storefront will house our new vintage business called Office Supplies, as it takes its inspiration from old Herman Miller design. You can shop directly on our IG so give it a follow. Inventory launching on there soon!

The storefront won’t be open daily—instead, we’ll announce shopping days as we’ll also be using it as our office, which is kind of a step-up from working in the garage. (Although let’s note that Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Nike began in the founders’ garages, so… ya know.) So…….. we are basically Google.

What’s most exciting is the design process in bringing this place together. Let’s just say the sweat equity here has been sweating. When we shopped in here we didn’t notice—how do I say this nicely—exactly how gross the space was underneath all their cool stuff.

The floor tile was vile, so we tore that right TF out. The worst of it was that the ancient glue underneath was still wet, despite having been there for years. Ugh. Our friend Chuey who I met at Joybird eight years ago helped us with this project. We vastly improved the floor by sanding the cement and layering it with striking red paint and sealant.

The bathroom was… wow. The opposite of pleasant. We’ve been working on making it pretty and functional by installing a cool blue sink and toilet and pouring literal gallons of bleach on everything.

The good news is, at least the walls weren’t disgusting. Ha! Kidding. They totally were. While we don’t have the budget for new drywall, we’ve instead worked on hiding the imperfections and putting in red baseboards which we love.

We’re starting to load in some vintage and fabric, and we’ve already installed our amazing worktable. Plus we’ve got power and WiFi, so we are l-i-v-i-n-g.

As we work and hone, I’ll be sharing all the sneak previews here and on my YouTube. I can’t wait to see how it all comes together.

There’s so much possibility that we’re just beside ourselves with excitement.

But what was really cool is that in having this space, we had a staging ground to aid our community over the past couple of weeks with donations. I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that some lost everything, and anything we can do to help them furnish their homes and reclaim their lives just feels like the biggest bonus.