New Business!

Something new and exciting has happened…. my husband bought a  psychology business.  He’s had his Ph.D. for less than two years and spent most of his working life in law enforcement so it is a big change for him to own a business.  I’ve been busy putting together his office.  What fun it has been for me! 

When he bought this business  we both knew immediately what part of the name of this business would be…. PPI.   My husband came up with what the letters stand for....instead of coming up with a business name and shortening it to initials, he started with the initials and found words that worked with PPI.  The name of the business is really special to me because it is in remembrance of  my dad.   Our last name is long and ends with the letters ppi.   Whenever my family would visit my parents, my dad would exclaim “The PPIs are here!”  My dad passed away over nine years ago but in my mind I can hear the happiness in his voice as he said “The PPIs are here!”  It’s funny how certain things stick with you.

The office that my husband rented is small but functional.   It was a long path for my husband to get his doctorate;  I wanted his office to look professional and work well for him.   And because I’m cheap fiscally responsible, I was determined to furnish his office without hawking the silver (just kidding – I don’t have silver – nor do I have boatloads of money laying around.)

This is a small two room office.  This is the front room “before.”  He’ll have people complete assessment testing in this room.


This is the back room “before.”  This is where he will interview people.  The view of the trees is one reason he so liked this office space.


This is a “before” chair.   We purchased three of these at a consignment store.  They are incredibly sturdy!  I also found that maple is really nice to paint because the grain is so fine. 


One issue we had is that we needed to get the office put together in about a week.   That may sound like plenty of time but it’s really not a lot of time when you are looking for bargains.

The after… 
Entry in front room.  I think the mirror frame doesn’t go well because it’s too fancy but it was sitting in our basement so it works for now.  Probably nobody but me will be bothered by a too fancy mirror frame.  If they are they will just have to get over it.


This is the opposite side of the room and is the area where clients will do testing.   Look at those consignment store chairs; they look great with new fabric and paint.    The countertop is mounted to the wall.  


The interview area is so beautiful.   We found a fabulous deal on an ultra small leather loveseat.  It was the first thing we bought.   We purchased the chairs on-line.   The glass tables are from a consignment store.  The curtains were ordered from JC Penney on-line.  They had to be extra long.  They were on clearance – I looked for fabric to make curtains but there was no way I could buy fabric for the price of these panels.   My husband made the curtain rods from electrical conduit and we put a fancy knob in the end for a finial.  My wine drinking came in handy because a cork was pushed into the end of the conduit and we screwed the knob into the cork for the finial.   Curtain rods and hardware are so expensive – these were not – and they look great.


Looking back toward the front room there is a  a desk and cabinet for coffee and supplies.   My husband picked up the silver wallpaper with black and white birch trees on clearance at Lowes.  It was the second thing we bought and it really defined the office theme.   I had not put up wall paper for over twenty years… sticky job for an amateur.


The “desk” is a small table we picked up at a consignment store.  It was already black so I didn’t have to paint it. 



We stuck with the black, grey and silver theme, metal accents, and repeated the tree branch motif a number of times. 

I think it looks great.  It’s very different from anything in our home.  My husband says it feels masculine.  It feels really comfortable to me.     My job with the new business is done.  I’ll let him take it from here.