The Study (Upgraded Formal Living Room)

2.11.2014


We chose to upgrade the formal living room by adding a wall between that room and the dining room and adding a set of french doors to enter the room.  While I really like the idea of a formal sitting area, it had the potential to never be used and we thought a designated office area would be more practical instead of sacrificing one of the upstairs bedrooms.  This room is the only room downstairs we chose to leave carpeted (we would have loved wood but we had to draw the line somewhere as we priced out upgrade options).  The room could also make a great enclosed playroom area.  Here are some pictures from the model:

ryan homes formal living room study upgrade french doors
Ryan Homes Formal Living Room Upgraded to Study Option

ryan homes formal living room study upgrade french doors
Ryan Homes Formal Living Room Upgraded to Study Option





For our layout, the study is immediately to the right of the front door entry, so I hope we can setup a functional but "pretty" office space.  Ryan loves filing cabinets so we will have to find a desk or chest of drawers that will camouflage filing space.

ryan homes formal living room study upgrade french doors
Ryan Homes Formal Living Room Upgraded to Study Option

ryan homes formal living room study upgrade french doors
Ryan Homes Formal Living Room Upgraded to Study Option

Our windows are slightly different (six paneled) due to our elevation but will resemble the above.  This room looks out over the front lawn.

Along the way I've gathered some inspiration for our study.

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 The above is not a Ryan Homes build to my knowledge, but our front door will actually look similar (without the additional windows around) and this picture shows the french doors to the right of the front entry.  I love the light fixture.

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I'd love to somehow center a desk in the middle of the room (although I'm not sure about power cords) and I think a separate sitting area would be great.  We also may be inheriting a piano that we would put in the study.

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Ryan LOVES maps.  Really, he could look at them all day.  I'm sure we will frame some maps for the office.  He mostly works from home, so the office will be in a sense his "man cave."

Would you choose a formal living room or an office/study if you could choose to use one space for either?


4 comments :

  1. most definitely, the office is ideal for many people who are opting to work at home thru their company to save on office space.

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  2. Yes, an office is a much better use of space. We did the same thing here in our home - just wish we had doors on ours. Thanks for featuring my reading nook!

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  3. Love the office/study idea. I was just sitting here looking at my front room thinking of how we could make that into an office. Wish I would have thought about that and perhaps I could have made a non-standard request. Looks like you picked some nice design options.

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  4. I totally agree that the office will be more functional. We have a formal living room that we have used exactly two times since we moved in two years ago.

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