Before & After: A Modern, Masculine Home Office & Lounge
Nicole and Nate needed this room off of their Chicago kitchen to do it all: function as a home office, be comfortable enough to lounge in, and also be flexible enough to fit in the occasional overnight guest. Here’s how it looks now:
Nicole and Nate enlisted the help of online design service Havenly to create this triple-duty room. Since Nate is the one who works from home more often, it needed to retain a masculine vibe and avoid anything overly trendy — no “gilded artichokes,” as Nicole described it.
Working around a bold print of New York and a Room & Board bookcase the couple already had, the rest of the room came together with pieces mostly from West Elm and CB2. The tufted leather sofa — a specific request not easily accommodated in a $5,000 total budget — was a lucky Overstock find for a steal (and Nicole confirms is exceptionally comfortable).
To keep the office functional yet out of the way, Shelby Girard, Havenly’s Director of Design Operations, decided to keep the desk in this former closet, but add some additional style and storage.
“By mounting wall cabinets above the desk, we were able to include valuable storage space they needed for office supplies and paperwork without it taking up too much space in the room,” she says.
With the office tucked away, that also leaves less clutter in the room, so it’s easy to make room for an air mattress when guests are in town.
So did they get the warm and inviting, clean-lined and masculine office/lounge/guest room that they wanted? “The final space is perfect,” Nicole says.
Thank you Nicole, Nate & Havenly!