ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
A very nice place to get some work done.
A small, intentionally shared office for designers, architects, photographers, writers, freelancers, and other reasonably pleasant self-directed humans.
Dedicated desk: $350/month, all-in
Occasional workspace: $150/month, all-in
1807 W. Sunnyside Ave. · Ravenswood
3-minute walk from the Montrose Brown Line
Your kitchen table has done enough.
Room for Improvement is a comfortable, quiet, decidedly non-corporate office in a cool old concrete loft building in Ravenswood.
It has big sidewalk-level windows, lots of natural light, good furniture, and places to spread out. Not to mention an astonishingly entertaining view of people walking by, dogs, and small children who are absolutely delighted that there's a window they can look into.
I have more office than I need, so I'm looking for a few good people to share it with.
Not 40 people. Not an entire coworking operation. Just a small group of people who would like somewhere pleasant to go to work and perhaps another human being to say hello to when they arrive.
The desks.
Your own desk · $350/month
This is an actual dedicated workspace. It is yours.
Each desk is a generously sized modern wood desk with a good leather task chair, coordinating rolling file storage, leather desk blotter, desk lamp, and the various other things that make a workspace feel finished rather than like someone unfolded a card table for you.
You can leave your monitor and everyday work things here.
WiFi, electricity, heat, air conditioning, coffee, and use of the common spaces are included. $350 means $350.
The arrangement is month-to-month.
Two of you? That can work, too.
The room was intentionally designed to be flexible. If you're a small team of two and can comfortably share a dedicated workspace, we can probably make that work for around $500/month for both of you.
Come see the space and we'll figure out what makes sense.
Don't need an office every day? · $150/month
I'm also considering a couple of spots for people who just need to escape the house periodically.
For $150/month, you'd have access to one of our available workstations on designated days rather than your own permanent desk. Good chair, proper work surface, WiFi, and all the common areas included.
Think of it as having an office without pretending you're going to use an office five days a week.
Co-working, but minus the co-working.
I like the idea of coworking.
You get out of the house. You have somewhere to go in the morning. Other humans exist nearby. Someone says hello. Occasionally you get lunch together.
I am less interested in the part where it becomes adult summer camp.
So, a modest manifesto:
No forced fun.
There will be no mandatory networking, Margarita Mondays, inspirational programming, name tags, or organized opportunities to "connect."
But humans are nice.
We're not trying to create a room full of people wearing noise-canceling headphones and pretending nobody else exists. Say hello. Chat for two minutes. Get lunch. Ask someone's opinion. Then go back to work.
We're adults with actual things to do.
This is not an incubator, accelerator, mastermind, collective, or community of disruptors. It is an office.
The room matters.
Things here were chosen intentionally. The chairs are comfortable. The lamps are good. The furniture coordinates. The space should feel nice when you walk through the door.
You are absolutely allowed to have a personality.
Interesting people doing interesting things are very welcome.
Just don't make everyone else experience your personality for eight consecutive hours.
Which brings us to...
Calls, zoom, and that odd boomer in the corner.
This is a shared, open studio, not a library.
Normal phone calls, conversations, and Zoom meetings are completely fine. If your work involves spending six consecutive hours presenting quarterly earnings to Omaha, however, this probably isn't the ideal setup.
Headphones are appreciated. The hallway also works well when you need to wander around on a longer call.
The basic rule is simply: don't become the 60-year-old man in the corner playing online bingo at full volume.
What’s here.
Besides your workspace, everyone shares a large table for 16 that works beautifully for meetings and spreading things out, a round marble table for lunch, and a lounge for reading, talking, working somewhere other than your desk.
There's a Keurig and mini fridge. Maybe next year a kitchenette and a little more space.
The internet is Verizon Business wireless service and has been perfectly capable of handling what we throw at it. The office is also now wired with the backbone for a more elaborate Ubiquity network if we eventually need it.
You're welcome to have a client or colleague stop by for a meeting. You can receive mail and packages here and use the office as your professional business address.
There is limited first-come, first-served parking at the building, particularly helpful if you plan to arrive before 8:30AM or after 4 PM.
There are seven steps into the building, so unfortunately the space is not completely step-free.
The important furniture policy.
Can I bring my own desk or chair?
No.
Absolutely not.
I spent an unreasonable amount of time making everything coordinate, and Room for Improvement must remain, well, nice to be in.
Your workspace comes furnished for precisely this reason.
This is not a dictatorship, so you may bring a coffee mug of your choosing. Maybe a pencil cup or coaster.
Who cooked up this mess?
Room for Improvement is home base for Good Wanderings, a small Chicago hospitality company started by David Hopkins that operates a collection of highly designed short-term rentals around the city.
That means the work happening here tends to be an odd mixture of design, hospitality, logistics, purchasing, operations, problem-solving, and occasionally trying to determine why someone has moved a nightstand into a completely different room.
I'm the owner and am here most days, although frequently in and out. My amazing assistant works here as well.
There are three additional dedicated desk spaces, which is why I'm looking for a few people who would enjoy being part of the place.
Another designer, architect, photographer, writer, consultant, creative freelancer, or similarly independent person seems like a natural fit, but I'm much more interested in the person than the job title.
The goal is an intentional little group of people who like having an office and like having other people around, without requiring either of those things to become their entire personality.
Occasionally the room has its own social life.
Room for Improvement is also available for small meetings, shoots, and gatherings through Peerspace.
Right now those bookings are limited to weekends and happen roughly once a month. If that changes or something will affect normal access to your workspace, you'll know well in advance.
And I promise you will not arrive on a random Tuesday morning to discover an OnlyFans shoot happening on your desk.
It seemed worth establishing that in writing.
The neighborhood.
This is one of the particularly convenient bits of Ravenswood.
1807 W. Sunnyside Ave.
The Montrose Brown Line is about a three-minute walk away. Starbucks is about three minutes in the other direction, and there are a pile of restaurants, coffee shops, bars, and useful things within a few blocks.
So you can get here easily, disappear for lunch, meet someone nearby, or finish work and immediately find a drink.
This might be your kind of place if...
You work fairly independently but are tired of working alone.
You care what the room you're sitting in looks like.
You want a real desk where you can leave your things.
You'd enjoy recognizing the people you work around.
You occasionally want to bring a client in without apologizing for your dining room table.
You are reasonably pleasant.
…that last one is probably the most important qualification.
Come take a look.
If this sounds like your kind of thing, send me a note.
Tell me a little about yourself, what you do, how often you imagine using the space, and if your career has managed to live up to the expectations you set in 4th grade.
Dedicated desk: $350/month
Two-person shared setup: approximately $500/month
Occasional workspace: $150/month
Everything is month-to-month.
Email is best.
One warning: I'm running a business and am spectacularly busy at the moment, so I am sometimes dreadful at responding quickly. If you don't hear back, a polite second poke is not only acceptable, it's probably useful.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
1807 W. Sunnyside Ave, ground floor.
Chicago, IL 60640
