Take a Tour of the Mindy Gayer Design Co. HQ in Costa Mesa, CA

Home Tours / September 10, 2020

Take a Tour of the Mindy Gayer Design Co. HQ in Costa Mesa, CA

“The exterior is clad with classic industrial corrugated metal. We loved the look of the metal itself, but wanted to update the facade and curb appeal a bit, so we painted the entire exterior black, tore out all of the old landscaping and replaced it with layers of greenery: little ollies, westringia, star jasmine, a climbing rose, and succulents. We removed an old stained-glass window that used to sit along the front of the building (and dated it terribly), and replaced the old solid wood front door with a new steel dutch door to let in that California sunshine. A local lettering artist then hand painted our building signage in a crisp white paint to juxtapose the black exterior facade, and we added new gooseneck lighting for a little extra charm.”

“This is where the heart of MGD resides – we each have our own workstations back here, and work in a very collaborative office environment. As a full-service residential design studio, much of what we do on a daily basis is paired alongside one another’s tasks and deadlines, so it’s helpful to work in an open space that encourages creativity, collaboration and camaraderie.”

“In an effort to keep the remodel expenses down, we sanded and repolished the existing concrete floors, added plywood to all of the walls (in lieu of costly drywall) and painted the plywood white to give the open office a bright backdrop, added insulation to the exposed ceilings to help with extreme temps that are common in these very old buildings that don’t have HVAC, and added a full-height dividing wall to create a back storage room (not pictured), which houses endless samples, materials, client bins, backstock, inventory, etc.”

“The open floor plan concept made the most sense for us when we moved in because it gave us a lot of flexibility to grow our team and thus add additional desks. Our design, project management and marketing teams all office together, and I love getting to see everyone everyday (before Work from Home was a thing!).”

“We had custom pegboards made by a vendor we found on Etsy, and hung those to add a bit of contrast to an otherwise white palette.”

“This room was completely gutted at the get go: the original orange/green/blue checkered floors were removed, roofing samples and millwork-clad walls were demo’ed, and everything was reimagined to be a big, open, airy showroom that now houses a variety of upholstered furniture pieces that we use in each of our projects, accent tables and chairs, fabrics, artwork and accessories.”

“There are 3 large windows that also bring in the best natural light, and we often find ourselves working in here when we need to get into the ‘creative zone.’ We added drywall to the walls to finish the space off a bit more, kept the industrial ceilings exposed to highlight the character of the building, painted everything white, and added engineered wide plank oak wood flooring from Warren Christopher to the showroom to better create a residential feel, like many of our projects.”

“We have one tiny little bathroom that packs a lot of punch for such a small space. The original plumbing in the building made it very tricky to do much with the bathroom itself, so we repurposed the existing trough sink and had it painted white. I love the nod it gives to the original bones of the building, and love that we were able to salvage it.”

“We swapped out the faucet for a new wall-mount faucet, and added a hand-laid custom patterned Carrara marble floor, wallpaper and accessories to bring the bathroom current. It’s the cutest little space.”

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Copy: Kelli Lamb

Interior Design: Mindy Gayer

Photography: Vanessa Lentine

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Located in Westside Costa Mesa, CA and about a 10 minute drive to the beach, this former roofing showroom has received new life: designer Mindy Gayer transformed it into her showroom, creative design studio, and office space. “It’s in a neighborhood I grew up close to, and one that has experienced a ton of re-development in the last decade or so with many industrial spaces morphing into newly imagined design studios, retail stores, coffee shops, and creative work spaces,” she shares.

The transformation of the space serves as a great representation of her company in general. “When I first started my company in 2014 and it was just me working day in and day out, I rented a small workspace in a friend’s large warehouse in Costa Mesa and co-officed with a few other creative friends,” Mindy recalls. “As my business grew, and as our team expanded, we outgrew our office space and knew we needed to find a larger home. We looked all over Orange County for months, hoping to find a space that could transition into a cool design studio, but truthfully, we couldn’t find anything that worked well for us. It was either too expensive or too small or too run down or just not the right fit.”

Mindy and her team knew if they wanted to take on a new space and everything that goes with it, they needed to find a diamond in the rough. “Flash forward a few months… that diamond just so happened to pop up right next door to our old office space, and it was newly vacant,” she exclaims. “It was formerly an old roofing showroom that had been there for what looked like an eternity, and it was very run down.” Mindy and her close friend, Kayla Adams, decided to take over the space together and co-office. “It was a big leap for us, and having a partner to do it with made it a little less scary from a financial standpoint,” the designer says. “Around the same time, we co-founded a furniture company, Hati Home, together alongside our friends who were living in Bali, so our new studio space quickly turned into a multipurpose destination that housed all of our creative endeavors.”

For the first year, they all shared the space together, but soon Mindy’s growing businesses called for more space. They took over the entire building and began a major remodel — admittedly tackling the property as if it was their own building or home. Next to nothing stayed in its original form and everything was addressed, from the flooring and finishes, to space plans and drywall, to insulation and lighting. Mindy says the beauty of finding an old, rundown building like this one is that the design possibilities are limitless. She muses, “Because of that, we had the freedom to reimagine the space to be what we needed most.”

Of course, the biggest challenge was working with such an old property. “For as much charm as is intrinsic to the space, it presented a lot of obstacles that kept us scratching our heads,” she recalls. “We didn’t have a T.I. budget from our landlord either, so every dollar we put into the building had to have purpose, function and form because it was coming out of our own pocket and ultimately serves as a reflection of our company. It forced us to get very resourceful, determine where to splurge a bit and where to get creative, and how to plan for a workspace that could transform right alongside us each year as our business continues to grow and evolve.”

In the slideshow, Mindy shares a bit about the transformation of each area of the building, from the creative studio to the showroom. Though Covid-19 has shifted the “typical work day” a little bit, Mindy Gayer Design Co. is still thriving. “I love having a studio space that feels like a reprieve in the midst of very busy schedules for all of us. It makes such a big difference to work alongside people you love and respect, and because we work together so closely every single day, it’s really important to me that we have a work space where we all enjoy being, and one where we feel we can be creative and productive,” she smiles. “Our studio days look a little different now with more scattered schedules, and when we’re not in the studio together, I miss the faces, the convos, and the rapport that comes from all being together under one roof. I’ve never been more thankful for our design studio than I have this year – I love being there and I love that it’s a safe-haven in the midst of our current crazy world.”

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Take a Tour of the Mindy Gayer Design Co. HQ in Costa Mesa, CA

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