Design Studio Living Area Reveal
The bonus space in my upstairs loft area was an eyesore with mismatched furniture and no function. Now it’s a beautiful living area that inspires me to create beautiful designs for my clients. This budget friendly space opens up to my office so it is the perfect spot for me to host design client calls, relax and be inspired. The only problem is I now like hanging out in this space more than my own living room, but I guess that just means there are more fun projects to come!
The before!
Yikes! It’s hard to share this, Lord bless this mess! This is my upstairs bonus space. It’s a large room that also contains my home office. This bonus space is actually what attracted me to this home in the first place. I wanted to have the option of a second living space that could be used for roommates, or as a kids’ playroom in the future. This space has never been a priority and has been a space for my old college furniture, my family’s sofa, etc. It’s a hodge-podge of stuff that makes no sense. It’s also where my puppy dog, Nora had her pee pee pads… yup I’m getting that vulnerable.
In short, this space is just builder-grade-blah. The icing on the cake for this bland space has to be the single boob light. While this room is one of the most well-lit in the house with three windows, without any additional lighting this space can stay quite dark. You’ll also notice that attic access door there in the corner… hard to ignore that! The good news is that this space does have good bones, I updated it with a neutral wall color SW Colonnade gray and painted the ceiling white (it used to all be the same beige color). Having a light cream carpet also gives me the option to add some darker furniture without the space feeling dark which i really like!
Living Space Needs & Wants
Where do I begin! The catalyst behind this design is Homzie. As I mentioned, this is a large open space that also houses my home office area. It also has some of the best natural light (most of the time) in the house. This would be an ideal space for me to hold design calls, but having a hodge-podge of furniture and largely unfinished space doesn’t exactly scream confidence in my abilities. I wanted this space to be a “showpiece” for Homzie, almost like a studio set. It would function of course, as a bonus living space, but it would also serve as a background for my design calls and the spot I could quickly grab content in. I knew I wanted the space to be modern classic in style but wanted to have some very “designer-y” aspects as well that could inspire clients as to what they could do in their space. All while being budget conscience! This is a bonus living space after all - used only by me. I love the coastal color scheme and wanted to bring in warm neutrals, gray, green, and blues in a storied & texturally rich way! This Juniper Print Shop print - Hillside was my inspiration for the whole space. Funny enough the artist (who is incredible) went to high school with me!
I tackled this home decorating project using the exact same process I use with my virtual design clients. Using my own unique needs, style, and budget to create a master design plan for my space that I could shop from all online. That’s exactly what I did! Creating a 3D rendering of the space allowed me to get a glimpse of exactly what my selections would look like and I was able to tweak them until the details were just right. I truly believe this is the easiest & most enjoyable way to decorate your home! The hardest part of the whole thing was lugging the furniture upstairs and that was a breeze compared to weeks on end running around to stores trying, buying and returning. I’m always in search of a life hack and this was a big one!
Design Studio Living Area: Mood Board
Below are all of the sources for this space. This post does contain some affiliate links in which I may receive a small commission off of items purchased at no additional cost to you.
Budget-Friendly DIY Hacks!
I wanted to create a high-end look but still keep the entire renovation under $5000 that meant getting a little creative with some of the elements to get there. I’m not typically a DIYer but I did put in a little elbow grease to get that “high-end” designer look for less. In this design are 3 DIY hacks!
Sconces - The wall sconces make this space! They visually extend the size of the wall making it the right scale and focal point of the entire room. I looked into having an electrician wire for sconces and the cost was crazy. So, I faked it! Yup! These are fully functionally sconce lights powered, not by electricity, but by battery-operated tap lights! The tap lights are hot glued inside the shade. To turn it on all I have to do is reach in and tap the light. So I can enjoy the ambient lighting when I want, and still, save so much money!
Wall Art - Oversized wall art can be so expensive we’re talking $500+ and that may not even include a frame! One of my favorite design hacks to use with my clients is digital art prints! You can purchase a digital download and print yourself or buy a paper print for a fraction of the cost! This 40” x 50” print is paper! Yup! High-quality wrinkle-resistant paper. The frame? It’s $29 from IKEA! It was a simple black frame design for this print size that I used my favorite DIY hack product rub-n-buff in European gold to transform. The gold color I think really elevates the look & works well with the wood tones.
Unfinished Furniture - You see that coffee table & side table? Do you see how perfectly the wood tones work with the accent chairs? Well, I purchased them unfinished from Home Depot and stained them with a weathered oak stain to match & sealed it. Easy & done! It took me only a few hours to totally paint and seal. I love this hack! I wanted a very basic-looking coffee/side table - no fancy carving or anything, but I also needed it to coordinate perfectly with the accent chairs. I kept coming up empty until I realized I could easily transform these unfinished tables to be anything I wanted! If you can use a paintbrush you can do this too!
The Design Details
Furniture - I wanted this space to be light, casual, and comfortable. I also love a coastal accent so I wanted to bring in some natural wood texture and elements. The wood armchairs are my favorite! They have a really deep seat you could fold your legs up under in and come with free shipping and free returns! The cane door media cabinet was a must! I keep all of my design fabrics and samples in woven baskets behind the closed cabinetry.
Lighting - If you want to elevate the look of your space, splurge on lighting! By keeping all of my expenses under control I was able to splurge a big on lighting which I believe transformed this space! I wanted to challenge myself and step outside my comfort zone and this large modern black chandelier has done just that! The lighting isn’t only beautiful, it’s functional as well. We’ve added a tone of lighting to this space compared to the one flush mount light (i.e. boob light) we started with!
Rug - This rug was such a win! If I was going to describe the colors in this rug I would say… swamp water, but it is beautiful! It’s very thin and soft and the pattern in it makes it appear vintage although it was well under $200 for a 6 x 9. I love the subtle baby blue that runs throughout this rug - it compliments the wall art so well!
Accent Wall - Originally I was planning on doing a board and batten accent wall but when I decided to tackle this project at the height of the wood shortage in 2020 and the $3,000 price tag made me physically sick I went cheap and decided to just paint. This one wall is SW Alabaster White and the rest of the walls are SW Colonnade Gray. Lightening up just that one wall allows light to bounce around the space much better.
Decor - Do you remember the attic access? It’s still there! I just downplayed it by adding a big faux olive tree in front. An inexpensive way to hide that unsightly door. Aside from the faux tree, I wanted to keep the styling very simple with an asymmetrical pillow arrangement, a stack of decor books with some decorative beads, and a rustic bowl with a pop of greenery. The addition of greenery, even if it is faux, is key to drawing your eye into the space and balancing out the art.
My new favorite spot to design & create!
I’m absolutely in love with my new studio space! It’s comfortable enough for me to sit up there all day on the couch and design or invite friends over to enjoy. Most of all I feel like this space truly captures who I am and my personal designs style. I could have never run around from store to store to try and pull this look together - especially during a pandemic. Creating a design plan and having everything shipped to my house was 10/10 easy! I’m so happy with how everything turned out, I think Nora is too!
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