Kate Pearce Vintage | Spring 2020 One Room Challenge | Week 3

Last week I did a run through of the design plan for the bathroom portion of our ORC. Click here to catch up. This week, I want to tackle the design plan for the Office/Guest Room portion of our attic space. Our home currently has three bedrooms and one bathroom for our family of four. It works just fine, but when friends and family come to visit it can be a bit tricky. The other challenge the design of our home presented (which has become even more apparent since COVID quarantine) was the lack of an office space. Currently, I have a little nook in our dining room with a desk and my computer where I attempt to parent and work simultaneously. However, when both Bill and I are working from home it becomes a bit more complex. Bill’s job demands near-constant calls with clients, and having a spot for him to work away from the constant noise was becoming essential.

So, the idea was to make the second half of our attic space a functional office space for the 90% of the time we don’t have overnight guests, but to also make it useable as a guest room for when we do have visitors. The guests would have the privacy of their own floor, with their own bathroom. The next question was this: do we have a bed up there or a sofa with a pull-out bed? Surely, the former is more comfortable for guests, but the latter would be more functional for our family in the 95% of the time we do not have guests in our home. We decided on the latter route.

Joybird was actually the first sponsor we hooked up with for this space. I had previously worked with Joybird and fell HARD for their Briony sofa, so I trusted that their pull-out sofas would not only be beautiful, but also comfortable. I had mentioned earlier that this attic space would have much more white and neutrals than most of my spaces because of the low, slanted ceilings, so I saw the sofa as the perfect opportunity to add a really fun pop of color. I opted for their Briar Sleeper Sofa in Royale Peacock.

After choosing the Briar sofa, I waited for a bit before committing to any other piece for the space. I wasn’t sure how high the ceilings would be in the dormer. I didn’t know how large the windows would be, or how high off of the ground they would be placed. But after all of that was settled, I quickly teamed up with APT2B to bring in a ton of great modern pieces. Their Bardot Floor Lamp was the first piece I just knew I had to use. I loved that it played off of mid-century modern design, and the smoked glass gave it such a cool seventies disco-vibe. Their Midtown Desk played along with this mid-century style, but was the perfect fit for our needs. It offered ample storage space and was large enough to fit a desktop computer, yet small enough to not overwhelm our modestly sized attic space. I also loved that the wood tones of the Midtown Desk would add some warmth to offset the more stark whites in the room, while the black would offer a bit of a bold punch. The last piece I had decided on from APT2B for the office/guest space was their Calder Coffee Table. I held out on choosing a coffee table for a while as I wasn’t sure what shape would suit the space best, but after we decided to put the sofa in the dormered part of the space, the Calder Coffee Table quickly stood out as the funky, rectagonal piece we needed.

The Ehren rug by Loloi pictured in the moodboard above would brighten up the space and set the background for the the pops of color that I would add through vintage pieces. I love the texture and pattern of the Ehren rug, and I am so excited to see it layered over the Adela Oak floors we will be installing by another fabulous sponsor, LIFECORE. We will be highlighting the installation of the LIFECORE floors in next week’s blog. These super fun pillows from SWD Studio (pictured in the moodboard above) will add some fun pattern and color blocks to the chairs and the sofa.

The Guest/Office space will also see a great deal of vintage pieces sourced by both me and some of my favorite vintage shops, including these mid-century marble grapes from Curated Home Decor (not sponsored). The flatlay is styled over the Terra Cotta fabric from Trend by Fabricut, which will be used to reupholster the chair cushions for the space (see rattan chairs in moodboard above). The vintage piece that I am perhaps most excited about for the space is the old Victorian glass doors I was able to source from a Chairish shop. They hail from the early to mid-1800s and were salvaged from a home in Baltimore. They need a lot of love, but we are looking forward to bringing them back to all their glory. The glass doors will be placed between the Guest/Office space and the bathroom.

The overall vision for the space is one that is light and bright and marries the new with the old in a modern, yet cozy way. The nook with the Joybird sofa will also have a FrameTV, which will have a Hudson Valley Lighting Accord Picture Light hanging above it. Functionally, I love the idea of having a TV up in the space for guests and for movie nights. Aesthetically, I hate the idea of an ugly TV on the wall. So the FrameTV + HVLG Picture Light combo will allow the wall to look classy, while still functional.

The last piece of the puzzle for this half of the space is the staircase. We entirely demolished that ugly railing that was there and we needed something new. We are beyond excited to work with L.J. Smith to bring an absolutely stunning railing into the space. I can’t wait to show you more after we install it – a process I am hoping to highlight during Week 6. The walls framing the staircase will be wallpapered with perhaps the brightest pop of color in our entire ORC project. The paper, sponsored by Spoonflower, will let you know that this space is FUN as soon as you open the door leading to the staircase, and then it will serve as a limited, but happy pop of color when viewing from the attic space itself.

I’d like to leave you with a sneak peak at what I will be talking about next week. With the dormers in, the plumbing and electric complete, and the space all ready to be pieced back together, I am hoping to finally be “live” with you all next week. We’ve made great progress since February, and now that I have caught you up on the design plan, I’d like to take you along with us in real time for the remainder of the project. Below is the installation of the final window, which we completed this past weekend. The clawfoot tub will be placed directly in front of it.

Next week, we’ll be chatting about the installation of radiant heat flooring and the stunning Adela Oak LIFECORE floors. And we will certainly be tackling the design challenges of the attic ceilings…and much much more! As always, be sure to keep up with our daily progress on Instagram, where I share video footage and more via Instagram stories (the entire sequence of the Spring 2020 ORC can be found in the highlights tab in my profile).

Be sure to check out the progress from the 19 other fabulous Featured Designers for this Spring 2020 One Room Challenge:

A Glass of Bovino | Beginning in the Middle | Beth Diana Smith | Clark + Aldine | Coco & JackDeeply Southern Home| Design Maze | Dwell by Cheryl | Erika Ward | Home Made by Carmona | House of Hipsters | Hunted Interior | Kandrac & Kole | Kate Pearce | Katrina Blair | Liz Kamarul | Veneer Designs| Rambling Renovators | Renovation Husbands | Studio Plumb | Media BH&G

See yah next week!

XO,