House Tour: The Study

One of my favorite types of blog posts is a tour of the blogger's home (or room). Maybe I'm a voyeur, but I love to see how real people decorate and how they work with their own unique space and budget constraints -- it's often very inspiring. In keeping with that, I thought I'd share spaces from my own home -- a 2400 sf. 3 bdrm/2.5 bath patio home located in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston. Montrose is an eclectic neighborhood with a mix of long time residents, yuppies, gays and students (the University of St. Thomas, HCC and Rice are all nearby). I love the neighborhood for its proximity to downtown, relative affordability, trees (!), and its diversity.

First up is my study. I painted the room a vivid orange-red (Benjamin Moore's Moroccan Red) when we first moved in about 2.5 years ago. A red room is something of a tradition in my family -- my parents' house and my mother's parents' house had red spaces -- and painting one of the spare bedrooms in my new house red was a way to make it instantly feel more like home. Decorating it, however, took much longer and I'm only just now getting it to how I want it.

This is the view of the study from the hallway. The daybed is from West Elm and the covers were made by my mom (the multitalented Quotidian Grace) from fabric I found on sale at Pottery Barn (no longer available, alas). I hate the chair for our desk -- it's comfortable, but it's hideous (and doesn't even fit all the way under the desk). I'm hoping to replace it soon. The chubby cat wandering on the floor is Subito (email me for a price...kidding hubby!). I'm also still looking for a nice table lamp (something white? kind of mod?) to go next to the daybed, but so far I haven't come up with anything I just love yet. Suggestions welcome.

The desk was actually an amazing find from the Salvation Army near my house. It's solid wood and has amazing storage capacity. Before I found it back in November, I'd spent months looking for a good looking, practical desk that wouldn't break my budget and couldn't come up with anything. The artwork next to the door is a silhouette of my dachshund Olivia from Miss Crowland, which I matted with a letterpress frame mat from Sycamore Street Press (again, on Etsy).

Another view of the desk. The floor lamp is from West Elm, but I managed to score it for less than half the price at a tag sale (amazing since it's a new product...). The foo dogs on the desk are from an antiques show held biannually in Houston, but CB2 carries something similar. My husband's diplomas hang over the desk and the artwork behind the floor lamp is from ZGallerie.

The chair near the window I got off Craigslist for $20 and refinished and recovered with fabric (now on sale!) from Pottery Barn, but more on this DIY project in a later post.

The orange "Barnyard" pillows are by Thomas Paul (which I got off Ebay actually) and the orange and red color block pillows are from West Elm. The artwork is all from Etsy: "Keep Calm" poster is from 10th Avenue and the kind of trippy pictures on either side are from Art&Ghosts (Parasol and The Somnambulist, respectively). The bulletin board (covered in Christmas cards, which I still haven't taken down) is from Ballard Designs. The closet next to the bulletin board is home to all our files, my wrapping paper (I'm an addict), extra bedding (the daybed doubles as a guest bed) and a host of other things I should probably sort through soon.

So there you have it. I'm sure plenty of folks will think it's way too much red/orange but I love color and with all the light this room gets, I think it works pretty well. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little peak into my home. I'll be back next week with a tour of my bedroom.