You know the old story about how the shoe cobbler’s children have no shoes?  That often times happens to designers.  You get so busy helping other people, you find it hard to decorate your own home.

My husband’s office was stuck in this situation.  It was a total hodge-podge of furniture from previous homes that didn’t fit anywhere else.  It was such a sorry room, this is the only photo I can find.

Before:

Thank goodness we finally decorated it, you will see a lot of it if you tune into TLC’s Four Houses on Monday to see our home (and me) on the TV program.  Unfortunately, Scott’s new desk didn’t make it in time, but everything else did.

After:

I am taking some of the responsibility for the delay in decorating, but not all.  Scott asked me several times to decorate his office and my first question, just like with clients, was always “What is your budget”.  The answer was always, “I don’t have one.  Do you think we could reuse my desk and bookcase and rug and, and, and?”.  At this point (this happened on more than one occasion), I simply said, “Let me know when you’ve decided what you want to spend and I will decorate your office.”  Unfortunately, nothing in life is free!

We finally came to an agreement and the design process was underway.   Scott’s personal style is much more organic and rustic than mine, so I kept that in mind as I did the design plan.

One of our key inspiration points was from this room, designed by my friend, Denise McGaha (who is a very accomplished designer in Dallas).  Scott loved the reclaimed wood wall so we decided to incorporate that into the design.

Denise McGaha Interiors

Luckily, we were able to ‘reclaim’ our own wood from an old barn at my parent’s ranch.

We spent a day pulling off old boards and Scott actually laid them out and nail gunned them to his office wall himself!  What a great way to add character at almost no cost.  And, it has sentimental value, too.

Scott loves winter scenes and aspen trees, so I tried really hard to find some unique art that would reflect that.  Believe me, it is a challenge to find winter aspen scenes in Texas.

We chose these two pieces from Ben Hamm Photography.  They are hung against the reclaimed wood and really pop off the wall, as you can see here:

We ordered a pair of rich, chocolate velvet chairs to make a nice seating area next to the window with cream linen drapery panels.  The new Antelope rug added to the rustic look Scott wanted, but was sophisticated enough for me to like it in my home (always a tough line to walk in any marriage, am I right?).

Scott’s new desk, which unfortunately took 7 months to arrive, was the perfect finishing touch.  It didn’t make it into my photo or the TV show, but this is what it looks like:

Shiny, chrome legs and a reclaimed wood top.  It looks fantastic in his office.  The perfect touch.  Again, rustic but sophisticated. It is available for purchase through Heather Scott Home & Design, I promise it is worth the wait!

I hope you can tune in on Monday, August 6th, to see the room for yourself on TLC’s Four Houses.  If nothing else, the show is sure to be very interesting….All I can say is that is was a really unique experience and I laughed a lot.

I hope you liked getting a sneak peak into one of the rooms in our home, specifically one that was not designed as a main living space or to my design style.  But, as you can see, it is possible to compromise and still achieve a successful design!