Thank you to raymourflanigan.com for kindly sponsoring this post.

The Plan

As we were in the design stages of our home renovation, we made the decision to turn our once formal dining room into a home office. This decision was made solely on the “well, it’s not going to be the playroom” discussion. [Since it’s the first room you see when you walk in.] We finished phase 1 of our renovation as the covid shutdown hit and had no idea how this decision would ultimately benefit our household! As we had so many other finishing touch projects going on in the main part of the house, my poor husband sat in what he called his storage room for almost a year, as the “office” seemed to become a dumping ground for all the things! So, you can imagine our excitement when Raymour & Flanigan mentioned partnering with me to finally complete this space!

Here is what it looked like before and during the process…

The Vision

Since this was a formal dining room, it was a nice size, and while our home is on the larger end, square footage wise, we actually don’t have any spare space! So, my thought was to create a home office/tasteful man cave, so my husband would have a space for himself to truly enjoy. When I think of my husband, I think cognac, leather and bourbon. He tends to be a traditional guy and I’m more modern/rustic, so to fully design a space that tied both together seamlessly and provided that wow factor when you walk in, was definitely not easy! In fact, we had many a debate on the desk, because I wanted a simple console desk that would keep the space open and airy and he wanted the bigger executive desk. Ultimately, he won because he is legitimately working in there for 8+ hours a day and he needed to be comfortable. It also helped that I found the gorgeous Verona Executive Desk from Raymour & Flanigan that included dark board and batten and driftwood tones.

Below are the mood boards I created…

Mood boards are a great way to get a feel for the direction you’re going in because you can see it all laid out right away. I was worried this sideboard wouldn’t go well but once I plugged it into the mood board, I saw that it complimented the brass table and brass hardware from the built ins, keeping cohesiveness throughout the space.

Verona Executive Desk

Bryce Leather Chair

Cold Spring Sideboard

Amelie Area Rug

Hera Round Side Table

Sansevieria with Black Planter

Olive Silk Tree with Vase: Set of 2

The Process

We started designing the room around DIY built ins that we worked on together. I call them our labor of love! We picked a moody blue for the wall and cabinets and didn’t think twice about the gold/brass hardware. This played heavily into the design of my mood board while searching for the perfect pieces at Raymour. I think the leather Bryce Chairs were the first thing we picked out. It was love at first sight and sit! We then argued about the desk for a while until we found the Verona Executive Desk and then we moved onto the Amelie area rug. This beauty is, I think, the showstopper, which is hard to say out loud because each piece is more beautiful than the last! It is bolder than my normal go to neutrals but the warmth of the burnt orange ties in with the cognac and wood accents perfectly and the shades of blue obviously compliment the accent walls. The Cold Spring Sideboard was an easy sell because when I saw it, I had to have it. Period. The lighter, natural wood tone pulls out the brass from the built ins’ hardware and the simplistic and stunning Hera Round Side Table. We knew we were mounting the tv and I didn’t want this black structure against a white wall, so we pulled together a quick accent wall with leftover tongue and groove from our family room ceiling and wallpapered with a navy blue seagrass. This color combo truly makes the warm/rustic sideboard stand out as the focal point of this wall because now, you hardly notice the tv.

We still need to get some shades, custom artwork for the walls and we already swapped out the painting for a round, brass mirror in between the built in shelving.

The Details

Area rugs truly make a space. They can bring warmth and dimension and ultimately tie all of the elements in the room together. Here, I chose a 7×9, leaving a foot on each side. I went smaller because I didn’t want to totally hide our brand new floors that I spent so much time perfecting [stain combo wise] and I also wanted to define this “man cave” space, keeping it separate from the “office”.

Not only does Raymour & Flanigan offer beautiful furniture, but they also have amazing decor, like the faux plants I have in the office! Greenery really adds texture and contrast to a room but I am terrible at keeping plants alive, so I go all in on the faux! This gorgeous snake plant draws your eye up from the floor to the sideboard. It came in a pretty black planter, but I placed it inside this basket to build up a little more depth and add even more texture to the space.

I also placed a variety of other smaller plants around the room, like this silk olive plant on the side table. I placed the other Olive Plant in the bourbon tray, on the sideboard. It adds depth and texture to the otherwise simple, sleek design.

It was such a pleasant experience working with Raymour & Flanigan and I really love that they offer style and budget options for everyone! Plus, they have free shipping (on select items), and they have showrooms scattered around the Northeast.

As always, feel free to comment with any questions you may have! We had so much fun designing this space and couldn’t be happier with the end result!

XOXO

Kel