Hubby Study Flip

My son Ben is almost 24 and headed back to grad school this fall. I decided it was finally time to flip his childhood room into a study for my husband.  We don't have a huge house, and giving Tom a study was a good thing.  This was a very bittersweet flip as it was hard to remove all those traces of Ben's childhood.  It has made a past appearance on my blog many times, like here, here and here.  

Ben's room was bright green (his choice in grade school) and was decorated with a science and quirky theme. When he left for grad school he took some of his furniture and his bed.  His room had become a catch all for my junk.  It was time to reclaim it for Tom.

I was able to reuse some of the treasures from Ben's room into the study.  My husband and Ben have similar interests, so it was fun to be able to recycle some of my vintage finds in this new space.  We also were able to use lots of stuff I just had tucked here and there...lots of shopping within my house.

I wanted to do a mix of wood and industrial for the room.  I had a few pieces of furniture to work with and wanted to buy as little as possible.  I found the long cabinet at a local shop (Sassaffrassity). It is great for storage.  The black chippy metal shelf I found at a vintage store (Grand Marketplace) and was perfect to add some height and some chippy interest. (ignore the glare from the side...it was a really sunny day)

I got to put lots of estate sale finds to use.  These old fitness magazines are perfect to display with my hubby's weightlifting trophies.

Lots of quirky old books collected and put to use.  Some are from my father in law when he was in medical school.  The forestry books are from my grandfather. This pair of "Thin man" charts are from my kids local elementary school.  I cleaned out and organized the basement there years ago and I got to keep them.  They hung in Ben's room for years.  They are awesome.

My Dad gave us this desk to use after the desk we were going to use (which my grandfather had built) turned out to be too large to fit through our doors.  This desk is just as special as my Dad built it.  Tom wanted to "float" the desk in the room so he could look out the window. The fact that my Dad finished off the back of this desk made it perfect to use this way.  I pulled an old medical cabinet in from Kate's room.  I bought it at an estate sale last year.  I am hoping it goes to my someday beach house, but for now it works really well in the study.

We were able to pull some old pharmacy antiques that Tom had in boxes to display in the cabinet. 

The collection of globes used to be in Ben's room, but works perfectly on top of the cabinet. 

I bought a rug and small chair for the corner.  They were both good deals at TJ Maxx.  The tiny side table was in my parent's attic and my Grandfather made it years ago.  It is a tiny size and it was almost as if he made it for this exact spot.

Fun little family touches. The antlers hung in my grandfathers garage forever.  The coon skin cap Ben wore quite a bit when he was younger.  The Blitz hat was Tom's grandfathers. The boxing gloves were Tom's when he was a kid.

I rehung some old science kits that I found at estate sales over the years.  They decorated Ben's rooms and now the study. Ben had this bookshelf in his room.  He was, and still is a huge reader.  I boxed up a bunch of his books, but crammed a lot on this bookcase.

When Ben was in third grade he had a great teacher who challenged the class with bonus spelling words.  I printed some of those words out and inserted them on little guides on this shelf.  The words have been there for years and are a great reminder of a terrific teacher.

I got these little metal shelves on clearance at Crate and Barrel.  I thought they would work really well to showcase some quirky vintage subject/finds on each shelf.

Vintage tiny flashlights.  Tom has an obsession with flashlights.
Vintage space.  Blue plastic astronaut and space giveaway from Swifts.

A cymbal clanging vintage mechanical monkey.  

One of my favorite things in the study is this neon prescription sign.  It was given to Tom by a pharmacist friend who passed away.  It was in Tom's workshop where you really did not see it.  It is front and center now and looks so awesome when it is plugged in.

I am really happy with how the study turned out.  So nice to have a functioning room.  It also gives me something new to hunt down stuff for in estate sale land.  Just last week when I went to an estate sale I hoped to find some interesting can to use as a planter.  Voila...peanuts tin...and my husband's name is Tom.

 Not only is it a functioning room now, but it holds so many wonderful hand me downs and vintage treasures.  My favorite kind of decorating.  Happy Study!

 

Comments

[Patti McCarthy]

THis room looks awesome! I love every single thing in there! Did you do anything to the black metal shelf to keep it from chipping further? I love it! Thanks for posting - I have been missing your posts every day/week!
Patti

[rae]

wow! i love how it turned out! It is so great that your husband shares your quirky taste. I bet he loves his new study!

[mary scott]

What a wonderful room for your deserving husband! Love that he wanted the desk arranged to look out that window, & it worked.

[Su Gardner]

You have such a great eye for whimsy with function. You do need to write a book, your sense of style is so unique, it gives one the courage to let their imagination go roaming off the grid.

[Kathy]

The room looks like a wonderful space for Tom to hang out and I adore all the memories it holds!

[Musings from Kim K.]

Magazine worthy! Every detail is amazing. What s great space. I will be visiting this post over and over. Bravo!!!

[vivian]

Looks great! but where did you put all the other stuff! lol! I need to move my craftroom upstairs and make this room into a little den... sometime before summer.
You have the greatest treasures!
have a great day
xoxo
vivian

[Melissa's Antiques]

Wow - really turned out great!

[Kipper]

That looks terrific !

[Sheryl Remy]

The den turned into a wonderful spot for Tom. It's always great to be able to "shop" your own home. It all looks as if you planned it out for years.

[Patti]

YOU have the touch - that is for sure! I like everything you have done. Wonderful. The science theme is really cool. I love the giant body posters!

[Elizabeth]

This looks awesome! Way to go and thanks for sharing! How fun! Would you believe that every time I see vintage medicine bottles or prescription bottles I think of you and your hubby??!!

[Gayle]

This is such a great transformation. What a perfect office space with just the right amount of vintage goodies. It looks sleek and spacious but at the same time it is filled with so many personal touches and great collections. I love the mix of would and metal. A perfect balance of materials. It turned out awesome. You did an amazing job! A labor of love!

[Alison Z. (alibaba520 on IG)]

Great job Laurie! I love all the stories behind the family pieces. I sure hope Tom has many happy hours in this gorgeous study you've created for him. Thanks so much for always sharing, I gain much inspiration from you.

[Doreen]

Holy Moly! See....told you I needed a pot of coffee!
I need to go back to looking at blogs again. Just the ones that I followed in the beginning. Love how Tom's study turned out. You just have the knack for everything. I've been seeing globes everywhere lately and I'm tempted to buy them but I don't want to be a big copy cat!! Even though one or two or three would look good on my cabinet :-)