My Best Friend's Study Reveal!

This fall, I was given the opportunity to begin a new room makeover and work with some amazing brands while doing so. I asked my best friend, Tiffany, if she would allow me to do this in her new home that she and her husband just bought. She said yes – thus began my best friend’s study makeover!

This home was built in the 1970’s and has some really cool features. I knew that this would be an opportunity to lean into more of a mid-century design to honor the home’s style! Not to mention…the property that this house is on is INCREDIBLE! It is surrounded by tall trees and has a beautiful view of the water. This made my design wheels start turning in the direction of cozy-cabin-vibes, which I LOVE!

Let’s dig in to some before photos of this space!

Previously, the room was a functionless space with some random pieces of furniture (plus some toys and a cool slide). At the time, Tiffany and her husband, David, used this room for hanging out in. Tiffany also would play the piano. Since they had other plans for storing their daughter Charlee’s toys, we knew that this room would not need and toy storage. They had a vision for this to be a gathering room with multi-purposes. Somewhere to read, play the piano, play a game of chess, have a drink with friends, enjoy the fire, and to celebrate Christmas with family.

My vision for my best friend’s study came together very quickly. I wanted this room to feel cozy and not too formal. I centered the design around this green velvet sofa from Interior Define.

Flooring

To begin the renovation, we removed the carpet and installed my FAVORITE floors. This is Cali Floor’s new line of LVP in Laguna Sand. Perfectly warm and subtle. It is such beautiful flooring! Plus, this LVP is as durable as is gets.

The Fireplace

The next project to tackle was this fireplace, which has some very interesting texture to work with. I thought that simply filling in the harsh grout lines and giving it an over-grouted look would be a great option for this. However, once we tried that we realized that the texture was still too much. After trying out a warm grey paint color, we landed on Swiss Coffee Masonry paint over it to minimize the texture. To complete the fireplace, I built a simple wood mantle using cedar boards. I attached the mantle box to some wood corbels and mounted it to the fireplace. I also created this large scale “faux vintage” art (tutorial here) to place here along with a small abstract piece that I created using leftover paint/materials.

We also removed the wood paneling on the fireplace walls, as this felt like it was competing with the overwhelming texture of the fireplace. We installed fresh drywall once the paneling was removed, and painted all of the walls Swiss Coffee by Behr.

Lights & Shelves

I installed this perfect chandelier that I found on Amazon, which was an almost identical dupe of a $600 West Elm chandelier! Additionally, I found these modern bookcases which were a very similar dupe to the CB2 Stairway Ladder Bookcase which I had envisioned in this space. They did come with wood shelves, but I painted those black before installing for a more modern look.

Decor

Using my favorite Ikea Curtain Hacks, we hung double wide curtains on the sliding door. We also painted the sliding door and window frames black for a more modern and updated look.

I found an old round table on Facebook Marketplace that I turned into a Chess Table using leftover marble tile pieces! You can find that tutorial here. This was a great way to optimize unused space in the corner of the room, and also gave David and Tiffany a place to play chess, which they love.

Gallery Wall

Using some thrifted frames, we created a gallery wall behind the chess table and around the air return vent to make it disappear a bit more into the wall. We also created a simple vent cover by building a wood frame and attaching decorative aluminum to the back.

We removed the previous balusters on the stair landing since they were a bit outdated. I replaced them with some square balusters that rested directly under the rail. Then, I painted this white for a modern look that felt cohesive with the wall.

I found this beautiful Drexel Bar Cabinet on Facebook Marketplace. Instantly I knew that it would be perfect for this space. The tall floor mirror balances the height of the gallery wall, and the record player/bar tray serves functionally for this gathering room.