Creating a Multi-functional Office

Recently, my intern, Emma, and I were asked by a lovely client to help her turn her family room into an office that could still function as a guest room when needed.  Here is where we started:

This was a straight redecorating project.  We weren’t painting or adding any new architectural elements.  We needed to create a new floor plan and repurpose as much as we could, including the sofa–which is a sleeper sofa, thus, the guest bed–and Tiffany lamp.  We were also given free reign to borrow from the rest of the house, much like when we stage a home.  So fun!  We were working with a home owner who treasures consignment store and flea market finds so it made it a total blast to pull those things together in the space.  So, here is what we accomplished, brought to you in beautiful images from my Real Estate Photographer, Ashlee Hall of PA Real Estate Photography:

We had old family photos enlarged at a print shop and framed them in frames from Michael’s Craft Store.  This is a great way to use these family photos that may otherwise stay stashed in a box as had been the case with this homeowner.  The desk chair in the foreground was from a consignment store, Phantastic Phinds, outside of Philadelphia.  The homeowner’s family had been a founder of the Barnum and Bailey Circus and it was her great idea to take pages from an old calendar and place them under a plexi blotter on her desk.  The chair in the distance which was the homeowner’s grandmother’s was reupholstered by Paul D’Orazio Custom Upholstery outside of Philadelphia.  And look at how the colorful pillows made by my favorite seamstress, Donna, add life to what, before, had been a pretty lifeless sofa.

This double desk from Ballard Designs allows the homeowner and her children to do their work together.  The lamp base in the foreground–sitting on a HomeGoods table–was found at Phantastic Phinds and a custom shade was added.  It and the tray on the coffee table, pulled the green from the fireplace surround so that it related to the rest of the room.

The gorgeous rug is from HomeGoods as are the accessories on the homeowner’s vintage chest and the pinboards and lamps at the back.  The window panels were placed across an existing rod that to be removed would have required repainting which was not in the budget.  Although they are lower than I would normally place them, they work in this room.

So, how did we do?