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Get the Look: 48 Modern Desks For Your Home Office

I meant to follow up on my last post – Stylish Home Office by Realm Interiors – earlier, but once everyone got back to work after the holidays it was nonstop assignments and deadlines. A recent article relevant to this post is in the current issue of Northshore Home magazine. It’s about creating a home office with advice and examples from Boston area designers; you you can read it here.

Although I don’t work at a desk (I’m currently favoring the Flight recliner), I’m guessing most of you do. I know designers have been inundated with calls from frantic clients since the pandemic began about finding places to tuck in desks, console tables, and such to create discrete home offices so everyone in the family can have a dedicated workspace. Pieces that can do double duty are great for those tight on space.

If you haven’t invested the time to create an efficient work-from-home area for yourself yet, here are suggestions for 48 modern desks for a home office, which can easily be a corner in your living room. I’m starting off with the sculptural beauty in my last post.

Affordable Home Office Style Desks

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

Work From Home Desks Modern Home Office

9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16

Stylish Home Office Modern Desks

17 / 18 / 19 / 20 / 21 / 22 / 23 / 24

Stylish Home Office Modern Desks 25 / 26 / 27 / 28 / 29 / 30 / 31 / 32

Affordable Home Office Style Desks

33 / 34 / 35 / 36 / 37 / 38 / 39 / 40

Work From Home Desks Modern Home Office

41 / 42 / 43 / 44 / 45 / 46 / 47 / 48

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Wanna decorate? Kelly Wearstler can up your design game >

Scheming: Stylish Home Office by Realm Interiors

A separate home office space is probably the most coveted space of 2020. I wrote about this office in the Boston Globe Magazine in the fall. Realm Interiors designed the office for a mom when they re-thought the open layout on the first floor of the family’s Winchester, Massachusetts. home. With three kids and a puppy, she really cherishes this chic space.

Office For a Woman With Writing Desk Photo by Joyelle West / Styling by Kaylei McGaw

The small room off the entry had been an eyesore of a playroom before Liza Kugeler and Laura Ogden of Realm Interiors made it over as a stylish office with dark, saturated walls painted Farrow & Ball Studio Green.

A sculptural, wire-brushed, bleached oak desk from CB2 sits center stage atop a graphic black and white rug, and Serena & Lily’s capiz honeycomb chandelier hangs above. The Serena & Lily woven rattan armchair adds an element of breezy while tongue-in-cheek Kate Moss poster, “Life Is a Joke” by photographer Craig McDean reflects the homeowner’s interest in fashion. She loves that it feels so much like her.

Get the look of this stylish office by Realm Interiors:
Stylish Home Office For Women

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

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Fancy yourself a decorator? Kelly Wearstler can up your game >

Saturday Shelfie: Pale Pink Candleholders

Hawkins New York Blush Candleholder

Photo by Marni Elyse Katz/StyleCarrot

I’ve been piling on the pink to lighten the dark days.

Abstract painting by artist Sarah Lutz from Schoolhouse Gallery in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Blush candleholders by Hawkins New York from Salt in Wellfleet, Massachusetts (sold out, but also available at here). Tapered candlesticks from Danica Design Candles in Rockport, Maine. Ridged porcelain vase available here and pink glass vase available here. The Issey Miyake book is a recent gift and available here.

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Send holiday flowers through UrbanStems >

Design Diary: Bookshelf Styling Tips from Designer Valerie Darden

Designer Valerie Darden of Brexton Cole Interiors solved two issues in her Northern Virginia home with one bank of bookshelves. She and her husband loved every feature in their new home, save for a diagonal wall near the entry, just around the corner from the stairs. Not only was it dead space, the wall had an ugly air vent, a thermostat, and outlet, and light switches. (Scroll down for the before photo.) An investment in custom cabinetry and masterful shelf styling hid the jumble and created a functional and beautiful feature wall.

How To Style Bookshelves

Darden balanced old and new to create an chic mix of art and objects among her collection of design books. “As much as I enjoy new and shiny items, I love to venture to Loudoun County to search for vintage art, books, and decorative objects,” she says. One of her favorite sources is Lucketts Market and Antique Center.

As for new books, Darden tends toward fashion, travel, photography, history, and architecture titles by Assouline. For contrast she adds older books from her thrifting adventures. Here’s a fun pairing: “I’ll place a Chanel book next to a 1950s book about ladies etiquette,” she says.

Here’s a pulled back view for context:

And a before photo from the same perspective:

Careful configuration allowed them to hide the ugly grate behind a cabinet door.

Cabinets That Hide An Air Vent

Then the fun part: Styling the bookshelves.

How to Style Bookshelves

Valerie Darden’s Tips for Perfectly Styled Bookshelves

• For a not-trying-too-hard-to-be-perfect vibe, arrange some books vertically and others horizontally. Also, place larger books with smaller ones.

• Incorporate your favorite candle. Dardens’s favorite candle is Diptyque BAIES. “I love to burn the candle wax to the end, then use the glass as a vase for roses,” she says.

• Pair high and low. Along with that pricey Diptych candle, Darden’s shelves hold a H&M vase and a gold-framed vintage painting scored at a local yard sale for $10.

• Pay attention to scale. A small sculpture in front of a large book draws the eye in. And use mostly odd numbers of things.

• Metallics are a must. “When I began decorating my shelves, they looked bland,” Darden says. “Then I placed a decorative brass paper weight on top of three books and it immediately came to life! “

• Plants too. “Small succulents have done wonders by adding color and a peaceful feeling,” Darden says.

Photos by Valerie Darden

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The Sill delivers plants right to your doorstep. >

ARTmonday: Sarah Meyers Brent’s Flower Paintings at Chase Young Gallery

I first saw Sarah Meyers Brent’s flower paintings about five years ago at an open studios. I was immediately drawn to her large pieces depicting moody florals dripping down the canvas. Her bio says she is attracted to the wilt and decay of dried flowers. I recently read an Instagram post by one of my favorite Boston area floral designers who urged her followers to embrace flowers at every stage. Sarah obviously does. I love that.

I was lucky enough to work with her when we featured a dripping flower painting at the Webster & Company showroom. Some of her work is spare, with a background peeking through, while other paintings are so textured and layered they’re truly three-dimensional. Sarah also does cool fiber sculptures that included upcycled kids clothing; these seem to grow out of the wall.

Sarah Meyers Brent is represented by Kate Kostopoulos at Chase Young Gallery in the SoWa Arts District in Boston. Her solo show “Curious Cultivations” runs through October 31, 2020. You can see it in real life or online. You can also tune into her Zoom talk this Thursday evening.

Zoom Live Artist Talk with Sarah Meyers Brent
Thursday October 8th – 6:00pm – 6:30pm
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/79775104719?pwd=RDVDbzFlRjFQdUhra09xWlFaNWF5QT09

Dripping Flower Paintings Boston Art Gallery