Sheila Bridges On Her Workspace

 

Wall Street Journal, 1998

 

 

Workspaces: Sheila Bridges On Her Workspace
By Ericka BlountWall Street Journal (Eastern Edition). New York, N.Y.:Feb 11, 1998.  p. B12 
 

[A look at the places where businesspeople work]

-- WHO: Sheila Bridges, the 33-year-old chief executive of Sheila Bridges Design Inc., whose residential designs have been featured in House Beautiful, Martha Stewart Living, and House and Garden.

-- WHERE: A home office on Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard in New York's Harlem neighborhood.

-- WHAT YOU SEE: A dining room turned into a decorative home office -- serious enough for work, but spacious enough for her Jack Russell terrier to romp around in. Her building, the historic Graham Court building built in 1901, has been the site for movies such as "New Jack City" and Sharon Stone's upcoming film, "Gloria." Her actual apartment was used in the movie "Jungle Fever" as Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee's home. The room has its original huge windows that let in enough light for her to start her workday at 6 a.m. A lengthy mosaic-tile bronze-based work table -- too large to fit in a traditional office space -- matches the mosaic-tile floor in the entrance and holds fabric samples, lighting and wiring floor plans for an apartment in one of the Trump buildings. Here, too, is an Apple laptop computer, a telephone, and photographs of furniture she wants clients to purchase. A Louis XVI settee upholstered in velvet and ballroom chairs painted gold with rush sit in front of a working fireplace.

-- WHAT SHE SEES: "I am in trouble if my clients don't like dogs. . . . The office is representative of my style, I like things that are timeless -- things that never go out of style. Light colors are key for me. Light colors help to evoke a feeling of calm and serenity. I think that is a necessary component if your job is stressful. My phone rings at all hours -- bankers call me at about 7 o'clock, but entertainers can call me as late as 2 a.m."