Project Reveal: Guest Bedroom Doubling As A Home Office.

Project reveals are a bit fewer and far between these days, thanks to the effects of the supply chain challenges. It's not that we are not installing projects, but we are having to install partially finished spaces due to the sheer amount of time products are taking to come in.

We have always pride our practice on giving clients the full experience, along with the beautiful and functional spaces, and part of that experience is the big reveal on one day, where everything is styled to perfection.

We definitely still maintain that as much as possible these days, and why we are doing less installs until things get back to normal one of these days.

Home Office and Guest Bedroom With Murphy Bed. Designed By Veronica Solomon of Casa Vilora Interiors. Photographed By Claudia Casbarian of Julie Soefer Photography

This home office and guest bedroom space we recently installed is super inspiring and nothing short of a dream space.

We were in the process of another major project on the lower level of this home, when my clients announced that they wanted to create a dedicated space for the wife, Amy in one of the guest bedrooms on the second level.

We had big plans for the tiny room - not only did we have a full desk area with storage and display planned, the room needed to retain the function of a guest bedroom. And of course, true to our philosophy of beauty, function and comfort, why not add a comfortable sitting area as well? Our small 11x12 guest bedroom now has three distinct functions.

Here is a quick floor plan we created in Icovia, to show the layout of the room

The back wall is the Murphy bed we design and built on site by our master carpenter Getze.

We discussed a daybed with our clients, but in the end, decided that a Murphy bed is a better option for them. A daybed would have taken up more floor space, and the room is only used a few times a year as a guest bedroom, so the Murphy bed all tucked away was a better choice.

Of course a Murphy bed can be a big sore thumb in a room, so we were charged with making our Murphy bed look like a great architectural element and not a utilitarian piece.

We decided that surrounding the daybed with shelves would create a custom built-in look that would strengthen the room architecturally. We also tied in crown moldings to complete the effect.

Before we get too far down the road here, let's take a look back at where the room started

You can see that my clients love color, so bringing more color in the room was a no-brainer.

Here's our design concept board that we presented to our clients.

This is used to communicate our design ideas and as you can see, some things do change along the way. We will get back to that in a second.

Here you can see our Murphy bed when it is open and ready to use for sleeping. Don't you just love that scrumptious headboard? We found this rich and plush velvet fabric that was the perfect touch for the headboard. We definitely wanted a tufted headboard but only had about 3/4" of depth to create a headboard, so we had to improvise. Instead of the normal way of tufting, our upholstery guy sewed each of the seams to look like tufts and added buttons. The results are amazing! And actually even better in person.

During the planning stage, we had to make sure that there would still be great traffic flow between the bed and the desk area. The desk area was designed to allow for enough walkway.

In a small space like this, every square inch counts. Notice in the before photo how the window is very close to the edge of the wall? This meant that 1, we couldn't do custom draperies, and 2, we would have to stop the built-in Murphy bed area short of the edge of the walls on each side to avoid it overlapping the window, which takes way from the custom look we were going for.

Our solution was to angle the ends of the built-in Murphy bed area and trim them out to look cohesive. This allowed us enough room to not overlap the window with the built-in, and the ability to install our custom draperies, which for us, always completes a room. This room would not be the same without our custom drapery panels.

We also knew that the Murphy bed was going to be up most of the time. Our clients receive guests a few times a year, so the room needed to look and function beautifully when the Murphy bed is not in use. We decided to hang art on the Murphy bed to make it look like just a wall of paneling. This means that the art is installed on the bottom of the bed. We didn't want the clients to have to take the art down and replace them each time, so that meant we had to think about the material of the artwork, as we wanted to permanently attach the art to the Murphy bed.

We found the beautiful diptych made from wood, which allowed us to be able to screw right into them. Our amazing art installer Keith made sure they are well secured, so when the Murphy bed is down, they will stay put.

The desk area was designed with a bit less depth on the left side to allow maximum walkway when the Murphy bed is down. We added glass on top of the desk so the wood will not scratch.

We chose a gorgeous vintage chandelier that we found on 1st Dibs (you can see it in the concept board above). When it arrived from Germany, we found that it was misrepresented online by the seller. It was missing a lot of parts and we had to find something else. In that conversation, our client asked if doing a fan could be an option, but we also wanted to keep a chandelier in the room, so we were challenged to find a fandelier that is good looking and highly functional. That is harder to find than you might think, although the designs of fandeliers have come a long way in recent years. I was super excited when I found this one! It was perfect!

Can we talk about the wallpaper for a second? I mean wow! This is one of the many reasons why I love my clients. They are not afraid to be bold and they trust us to execute their bold visions.

Many people could admire a wallpaper like this and not have the vision of it in their space. My clients were all aboard the Chinoiserie wallpaper train when we introduced it.

The color scheme for the rest of the room was pulled right from the wallpaper, and of course, mixing patterns is one of our strengths, and we did some of that in this room. From the way the rug pattern plays with wallpaper pattern, to the artwork pattern, to the pattern in the drapery fabric, we have a very thoughtful and expert approach to making it all work together without being busy looking.

The neon sign is just a whimsical touch that we love to bring into each room. The process of creating a well-layered design is serious business, but we love to show that it is also fun. Plus our clients are super fun and appreciate a whimsical touch.

Our sitting area chairs and table, do have to be moved out of the room when the Murphy bed is down, but as mentioned, the seating area function is used most of the year and the sleeping function only a few times a year. We kept the furnishings fairly light but sturdy so they can be moved easily.

That about covers our guest bedroom/home office combo.

What is your favorite part?

Let us create one just for you. Whether you love a lot of color and pattern play, or something more calming and neutral, we've got you.

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Wishing You Beauty And Inspiration!

Veronica