When Semihandmade’s Director of Brand Marketing Samantha Cuello hired interior designer Jacklyn Maietta, founder of Jacklyn Faust Interiors, to transform her home’s makeshift office, they both had one thing in mind: functionality. “She had very specific requests for how she wanted this space to function, needing it to serve as an office with more than one workstation, a crafting area, and doubling as a guest room for the occasional overnight visitor,” Maietta says of the space, which pre the re-design partly functioned as “a catch-all for furniture that didn’t have a place to live anywhere else in the house”. 

Laying It Out

To begin, Maietta focused on creating a layout that would make the most of the room. “Ample workspace was a top priority, so I started by finding the perfect size desks and positioning the workstations,” says the designer.  

The next step was finding furniture pieces that could function in a variety of ways. “Every piece of furniture was strategically chosen to serve more than one purpose. L-shaped desks added enough extra surface space to provide room for the occasional craft project, or for Cuello’s two young children for homework time. “The sofa is a pullout that easily transitions into a queen-size bed when a guest room is needed,” Maietta adds. 

Functional And Beautiful

Additionally, she focused on making it beautiful. “I believe that practicality and beauty are not mutually exclusive,” she says. “I love a good multipurpose room that is well thought out and functional, but still gives you that picture-perfect visual every time you walk in.” 

Through mixing patterns that were in the same color family, such as the light leopard rug by nuLOOM and wallpaper from RoomMates Decor, it creates a layered, intentional look. “The patterns don’t fight each other because their colors are similar, and the scale of each pattern varies for visual balance,” she says. 

Bring in Nature

The design was inspired by the natural beauty of the home’s Hudson River Valley location. It only made sense to incorporate a touch of bright airiness to complement the exterior world. Maietta’s advice for accomplishing this is to find balance in the palette. “Black and gray are not typically what you would associate with being light and airy, however, if the color balance is right it is absolutely achievable,” she says. 

A Family-Focused Design

“In addition to working from home full-time, Cuello has two kids, so the space had to feel kid-friendly as well, for those sometimes unavoidable times when work and parenting overlap,” she says.  For example, the poufs were added to double as durable and moveable seating, and the Ikea Besta cabinets, featuring Semihandmade fronts in Impression Beach, store more than just office supplies “They hold everything from a printer and standard office supplies, to craft supplies and crayons,” she says. 

Save With Semihandmade

In the end, the biggest challenge was creating a sense of symmetry when it came to the storage side of the room. Custom cabinetry was too pricey, so the designer scoured stores for stock cabinetry that came in differing sizes. “This was a nearly impossible feat. Every time I thought I had found something that would work there was an issue,” she says. 

The Besta cabinets with Semihandmade fronts “offered the perfect door style and color to complete the vision,” Maietta says. In the end, the room is symmetrical, with complementary patterns, and functions in a variety of ways to please everyone in the family.