Something we noticed from the jump was that our new house is designed for much more efficient living than the Madison house. At Madison, we had three finished levels, plus an unfinished basement where the laundry lived.
My office was on the first level, but we spent a lot of time in our bedroom because it had great natural light, and I often worked up in the loft after we shut down the Airbnb. It was definitely a house that forced you to get your steps in!
Our new house has three levels total, and the main floor is the largest by far. The kitchen and dining rooms are at the center with the other rooms shooting off in all directions. Below you can see a floor plan of our main level:
My office and Larry's office are both on the main floor, though on opposite sides of the house. Mine is just off the dining room, and his is on the back of the house off of the kitchen. It's really a perfect setup for two work-from-home types.
We both love the proximity to the kitchen, and I also like that I can move around from the living room, to dining room, to front porch, to west wing, and still have quick access to my work supplies.
Lauren's Home Studio
Space wise, my office is the smallest room in the house—but, it's the one with the biggest closet! I have one decently sized window on the south wall, so it gets decent natural light, though, not enough for too many house plants.
Over the years, I've really whittled down what I need to have in my home studio. I used to picture having bins and bins of samples, fabric books, wood finishes, tiles, etc., but I realized that didn't align with the way my projects play out.
Now, I have a few baskets of samples that I tend to come back to again and again, I have a few drawers with things like past fabric samples, wallpaper, and window treatment samples, and a basket of recent tile samples that I try to clear out every few projects. The only things that I have way too many of are...can you guess it? RUG SAMPLES. Ha!
Workspace wise, I have the same tall narrow workbench from my previous home office, which is my main work surface, and which also allows me to stand, and a long credenza created out of two file cabinets and a piece of plywood. The swivel stool is the same as our kitchen island stools, so when we have gatherings we tend to pull that out to our kitchen.
Because my desk would face a wall, I opted to hang a mirror to make the space feel bigger and also to allow me to see behind me. I feel like this is good feng shui, though that isn't my area of expertise.
Whenever I'm working on a project, I have lots of inspo and samples pinned up on the cork board, and I try to take everything down as soon as I'm done with the presentation to make room for whatever comes next.
The tall gold bookshelf houses my small collection of samples, and the little chair in the corner is mainly for the moments when Larry pops in to visit me for a few minutes. The cute little lumbar pillow on the chair was one I made by sewing together fabric samples that a new vendor sent me...thought it was kind cute :)
The tall dresser is where I store wallpaper and fabric samples, along with printer paper and the tools that I use most often (I'm not sure how I decided this was the best place for them, but it works!). And the little table beside it was from our entry at the Madison house. I do sort of love how this room feels a little mish-mash...
The rug was a vintage find from my fave Etsy shop, Turkish Rug Empire, and the little tiffany style lamp was one that my mom had in her bedroom for ages, which was made for her by her best friend. I love these two pieces in particular because they feel very feminine and happy. My bedroom growing up was suuuper ruffly and pink and floral, and they both remind me of that very special space.
Lastly, in both my and Larry's offices, I swapped out the old "boob" lights for these brass mini-chandeliers. The feel a little more traditional/timeless, and they put off a softer light, which is great for working.
Larry's Home Office & Piano Studio
Now we head over to Larry's office, which is just off the kitchen. In some of the older photos of the house, this room appeared to be a laundry room / mudroom type setup. It's now technically listed as a bedroom, but it doesn't have a closet, and really feels more like an office—which is ideal!
In his space, we designed some cool custom floating shelves to fit perfectly into a funky nook that had been created by ductwork and an old chimney (thanks to Katt Design for building these for us!). It really makes that space look intentional, and is just what he needed to store all his music books and seminary textbooks.
For his desk, we utilized a massive custom dining table in a dark stained douglas fir (for which I will not share the manufacturer because I had the worst experience EVER with them), and, since his mom works for Herman Miller, we got a great deal on an ergonomic office chair.
We recently moved his stereo equipment into this space as well, and the rug is another vintage find from Turkish Rug Empire.
The sofa was a brand new custom steal-of-a-deal I found on Facebook Marketplace, and ohhhh boy was it tricky to get inside!! We originally tried bringing it in the back door, and almost got it stuck in the doorway.
So instead we brought it through the front, and I had to remove the feet to get it through the interior door. BUT, we made it. WOOP! And it's soooo soft and such a pretty color. This space is also where we keep Ruby when we leave the house, and she is definitely a fan of her new nap spot.
His upright piano also lives in this space, and this is where he teaches piano most often (once in a while he teaches in the West Wing, but this space is better for privacy.
This room desperately needs to be repainted because the walls are soooo dinged up and the color has a weird green/yellow undertone.
I plan to paint it either SW Pearly White (because I still have two brand new four gallon buckets LOL) or possibly SW Greek Villa, which is what I plan to eventually paint the West Wing.
I'd also like to rework the artwork/mirror placement in this space because it was actually all hung when this room was set up in a completely different way, but since I still needed to paint, I haven't gotten to that yet...SO STAY TUNED!!
Work with Lauren Figueroa Interior Design
LFID is a full-service interior design firm serving West and Southeast Michigan known especially for our Designed in a Day service.
We work with clients from Detroit to Novi to Clarkston, and Grand Rapids to Holland to Traverse City—and anywhere in between! We pride ourselves on creating bespoke, people-centered spaces—because after all, people are what this life is all about!
If you have a project on the horizon, get started by telling us about your vision here, and you can view past projects here. Thanks for stopping by!
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