Rental ReStyle: Transforming a Rental Home Loft Space Into a Studio Office

When searching for a place to rent and live back in October, Jeff and I came across some wonderful places... But none of them had this one space that totally drew me in like the place we ultimately chose to rent. Part of the draw was all the natural light, the open space, the rustic wood textured wallpaper and the wood floors. Although I had originally thought we would have brought our white sofa upstairs, we ended up still using it in our new living room area and it still works (because we had to put buying a sectional on hold). Building upstairs though took a little bit of time, but with some savvy thrifting and re-purposing existing pieces, this past weekend I was able to better pull together a functional office studio. It will continue to evolve - switching out some framed prints, adding a bulletin board, maybe painting the area rug with stripes and eventually getting a TV - But for now it's becoming a refreshed blogging & designing think tank. Here's a sneak peek...

 

Love my floor plan plates I picked up in NYC during our September 11 visit.

And here's a peek at a new thrift find: My tuft & stud barrel chair for my desk - only $10. The leopard lumbar pillow my friend Jose made for me when I was leaving South Florida...

 

Hmmm... What do we have here???

 

Finally have a spot to use this Thomas O' Brien Retro desk lamp 

I got on clearance at Target about 5 years ago for only $12.

 

Even little miss Sephora has a chair here - 

the red one back there is hers :)

 

Vertical lines will help give height to the space...

 

 Empty space when we viewed the home October 2011

 

Low ceilings in space allowing me to reuse some old 84" panels I held onto because I love these stripes!

 

As I've done for table styling, I pull together what I already have...

 

And the pic that is inspiring the refreshed look. 

I spotted this photo in my last months issue of  House Beautiful. I LOVE the light, the stripes, the wood, the B&W, that shade of GREEN of the sofa, and the mix of furniture. I don't have a green sofa, but I also don't like to take inspiration so literal all the time. Just as I did painting my thrifted buffet RED, which was inspired by the Crate & Barrel Fall 2011 catalog with their red sofa... I can try to do the same again with the buffet in the space - but maybe this time - not painting it :)



 

Curious??

 

Original plan was to have the desk at one end of the space...

 

But I am better liking it floating in the center of the room.

So many more possibilities!

Stay tuned and thanks for stopping by!