Etsy’s headquarters is full of design ideas worth bringing home

Hanging wicker swing chairs, a meditation room, vertical gardens and dog beds beneath open-concept desks blur the lines between home and headquarters at Etsy's 200,000-square-foot office space in New York.

The online marketplace for about 2.4 million artists and makers is based in a 1926 industrial building in Brooklyn that once housed Jehovah’s Witness printing presses and still has caution tape on the concrete floors.

It's not your father's cubicle farm.

John Mulling, principal and design director of Gensler, the global architecture, design and planning firm responsible for renovating the workspace in 2016, says a lot of commercial clients are looking for an atmosphere "more like someone's home, because let's face it, everyone is spending a lot more time in the office."

We paid Etsy a visit to find secrets we could steal for our own homes.

“Vision is really discovering and defining,” Mulling says. “It’s about asking, ‘How do you want to feel in the space, how do you want the space to function, and what are the most important things for you in the space?’”

At home: Create a road map to help guide design decisions and prevent becoming overwhelmed. When you’re staring at a wall of paint colors, a room full of area rugs, or shelves full of table lamps, it’s easy to get distracted. Setting a vision will help you stay true to your goals.

“Once you have a good idea of the intention for the space,” Mulling says, “you can draw inspiration from various channels — social media, for example — to create a mood board that aligns with your aesthetic and vision.”

Attach images of colors, patterns and materials that you’re drawn to; graphic images or words that illustrate how you want to feel in the space (meditative, playful, productive, energized); and pictures of dream furniture to help you hunt for something similar.

Handmade pieces go a long way toward making a space feel original. More than half of the Etsy office’s furniture and decor was handmade and sourced from micro-manufacturers.

“They wanted to celebrate what they do,” Mulling says. “They borrowed a lot from makers around Brooklyn to show all that beautiful artwork, that sculpture, and those art installations.”

At home: Shop local, and support artists and makers you find online or at craft events. Create your own art, or display the art and crafts of friends and family.

Etsy had a rule “that wherever you stood, you needed to be able to see a plant or see greenery," Mulling says. "It makes a difference in how you experience your day.”

The company brought in a consultant to select plants and create interior and exterior gardens. It installed a 3,500-gallon rooftop cistern to collect rainwater used for plant irrigation.

Natural materials, colors, textures and imperfections of organic design also create a sense of being surrounded by nature.

At home: Houseplants, natural color palettes (soft blues, greens, earth tones), natural fabrics and organic materials (natural woods, stone, jute, metal, clay) will help bring the outside in.

Sentimental icons from Etsy’s former headquarters found new callings in the updated office space. Quilted logo panels stitched by employees now welcome team members to the “green library,” and architectural felted wool screens that once graced the front lobby were cut into sections and used as room dividers. Wall segments decorated by employees were removed, framed and hung for posterity.

At home: Etsy trend expert Dayna Isom Johnson, who is also a judge on the NBC crafting show Making It, suggests finding ways to incorporate special items from family members.

“For me, I framed my great-aunt’s recipes, and they now hang in my kitchen," she says.

Other ideas: Use a family quilt as wall decor, display childhood art projects under glass cloches, or create a gallery wall of vintage family photographs.

More than 1,500 materials used in the Etsy renovation were checked to make sure they were free from Red List materials, a list of “worst-in-class” chemicals found in building and design products compiled by the International Living Future Institute. The list includes chemicals that the organization says pollute the environment and could harm construction or factory workers; among them are asbestos, cadmium, PVC, halogenated flame retardants, and more.

"We did a lot of solid-surface countertops or wood cabinetry," Mulling says. "Things like concrete and wood, wool, metal, iron and steel were kind of the mainstays."

At home: The free database featuring Declare-labeled products, found at living-future.org/declare, contains materials used mostly in new builds and renovations; however, some materials also apply to those refreshing a space. Think: paint, sealants, carpet, flooring, or insulation.

Repurposing old items is a hallmark of crafting culture, and, not surprisingly, Etsy embraced it. Recycled materials and found objects give a space soul — and are sustainable and thrifty, to boot.

Mulling and his team used reclaimed wood from the building's old water tower to build stairs and feature walls. Desks and dining tables, decorated and personalized by employees at the previous office, found new life as decorative wall art.

At home: “Old window panels can be revived with a fresh coat of paint, a quick addition of cork backing and turned into an organizer board," Isom Johnson says. "Old doors can be quickly transformed into coffee tables with the addition of sturdy legs and a glass top.”

Think before you toss; imperfections can lend character and charm.

Carving out spaces for quiet time and personal interests creates a holistic environment. At Etsy, a meditation/yoga room offers dedicated space for quiet reflection, and an entire floor is a craft area (naturally) — complete with 3-D printers, craft supplies, screen printers, work stations, and more.

At home: For daily meditation, create a nook or corner space using a pile of soft cushions and plants for added greenery. For creatives and makers, Isom Johnson says, “a small workspace can be built in a large closet. Remove the doors, add a desk for sewing or crafting, and deck out the back wall with a peg board for additional storage and inspirational art.”