This Home Office is a Little Bit Rock and Roll
October 17, 2023
A spare room transforms into a space that bridges quiet conversation with rollicking jam sessions.
Text by Robert Kiener   Photography by Jane Beiles
![CTFAL23_Roughan Interiors_Seating Area Home office with gray walls and blue velvet upholstered pieces](https://i0.wp.com/nehomemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/CTFAL23_Roughan-Interiors_Seating-Area.jpg?w=365&h=487&ssl=1)
âIt was a big white box, a big white boring box.â Thatâs how interior designer Christina Roughan describes the home office her New Canaan client asked her to transform into a multipurpose room. He wanted a combination office and sitting room that would be more comfortable and reflect his myriad interests and tastes. âIt needed some personality and that was a challenge that excited both of us,â remembers Roughan, who had completed several other interior design projects at the clientâs traditional Georgian home.
Where to start? âThe first thing I noticed in his office was a collection of exquisite guitars that were stacked up against a wall,â says Roughan. âWhen I asked him if he played, his eyes lit up, and he told me he did. Then he added that heâd even been in a rock and roll band years ago. Bingo! I had my design theme.â
After agreeing on a color palette of cozy, rich, deep grays, blues, and tans, Roughan suggested that the formerly empty walls be covered with a selection of black-and-white photographs of musicians that appealed to her client. âHe loved the idea,â says Roughan, who also boasts musical roots: she sang with the New York City-based funk-rock band Swelter in the 1990s.
Roughan sent the homeowner loads of portraits to choose from, and he settled on a whoâs who of rock and roll legends, from Keith Richards and Slash to Freddie Mercury, Elton John, and, in pride of place over the new Saint Laurent honed-marble fireplace, Debbie Harry. âI told him, âYou have to have at least one woman in here,â â says Roughan, her green eyes twinkling.
To make the room more than an office, Roughan chose all new furniture, including a pair of midcentury modern chairs to create a cozy seating area by the renovated fireplace and low-back couches that donât block the windows. âItâs really become a multipurpose room,â says the designer. âItâs his office, a place for guests to enjoy a quiet drink during parties, and a room where he can shut the door, pick up one of his guitars, kick back, and wail away.â
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