The Yellow Cape Cod: A Home Office That Doubles as a Guest Room

Welcome to Day One of my 31 Days of Design Series (if you missed the introduction to the series please click here). Today, I would like to share a Home Office that we recently designed for a client that also doubles as a guest room...

This room was designed through my Affordable Online Design Service.

Our client wanted to use this space as a stylish home office, but she also wanted it to pull double duty as a cozy guest room. The space had a lot of doors and windows which made incorporating both a bed and a desk a little tricky, but we came up with a solution...

We incorporated a fold out Murphy bed. When the bed is closed, it looks neat, tidy, and pretty. Especially with a nice piece of art and a set of candle lanterns on top. When the bed is open, it features gorgeous bedding and luxurious sheets to welcome guests. Below are two true to scale floor plan illustrations that we created to show how the bed fits into the space when it's closed and when it's open...

We also gave her the option of not including the bed and just using this space as an office. Here is a look at a true to scale floor plan of the space with a bookcase instead of the Murphy bed...

I gave her two options for a new wall color, Naval or Dovetail both by Sherwin Williams. Our clients home is a brand new build that has a ton of thick, custom moldings and gorgeous pine floors that would really pop against a rich wall color.

I created a cozy reading nook with a comfortable arm chair, a rush ottoman, a floor lamp and a character rich teak end table. The chair was available in many upholstery options, I selected this pretty blue stripe fabric.

To ground the furniture arrangement, soften the design and give the room a sense of symmetry, I place a pretty, round rug in the center of the space

To keep the windows light and bright, I selected breezy, white, off the shelf drapery panels with a stunning color block detail at the bottom.

I gave our client a gorgeous desk that has a lot of character. It features an amazing Belgian Oak finish that will look stunning with her pine floors. I selected an upholstered desk chair from Ballard Designs in a pretty white fabric for a crisp, clean look.

Over the desk, I placed a pair of large scale art prints. I knew my client would appreciate the coastal nod these prints lend to the space and I loved the blue and gray color palette. We also gave her cool desk lamp and a few small accessories to dress up the top of the desk, without taking up too much work space.

This space features a floor to ceiling custom built in shelving unit in the corner next to the closet. We selected a series of baskets from Ballard Designs to use in these shelves to store office supplies as well as guest necessities. Chalk tags from Etsy allow my client to label each basket in a very attractive way.