I have a thing with Secretary Desks. My grandmother had one in the guest room where I stayed when I would visit her in Memphis as a child, and I was obsessed with it. All those little compartments and drawers! So exciting for a young girl who loved organizing.

Fast forward many years, and now that secretary desk lives with me in San Francisco. It has served me well for over 15 years, but I am most pleased with its current function, which is inside of my walk-in closet. The drawers offer clothing storage and I use the top surface for jewelry, a small lamp, and a vase of flowers.  When I open the drop-down leaf, I have a quiet place to work… or (gasp!) write an old-fashioned letter on stationery. During the WFH period of the COVID pandemic, I took several Zoom calls at my little secretary desk in my noise-insulated closet.

It turns out that I have good company with my attachment to my inherited secretary desk. Several clients have asked us to find ways to integrate a secretary desk into a new design. Recently we completed a project for the grandson of Sister Parish, an iconic American interior designer who practiced from the 1930s through the 1990s. Among the pieces that our clients had inherited was a classic secretary desk that had presided over the living room in wood tones and rose-painted accents. After much debate, we decided that Sister would approve of having the desk painted a soothing shade of green, and we moved it up to a bright stair landing where it is used to store linens and as an occasional place to sit with a laptop or pen and paper.

At our West Clay Project, our clients’ secretary desk found its home in the dining room. Most of the time, it is kept in the closed position, but when the clients entertain, it is transformed into a drink station. I suspect this is not the first time that spirits have been tucked away in a secretary. My personal preference is to keep a chocolate stash in one of the compartments!

 

Another project that I reference frequently is the Modern Craftsman Home by Andrew Mann Architecture. Using a hutch on top of a secretary desk could feel a little imposing; but against these quietly neutral walls, it feels gracefully at home and beautifully paired with a series of serene landscape paintings.