This room. It’s supposed to be a den, but currently we have three giant wine fridges for Marcello’s work, a twin bed, the odd pieces of furniture I’m not sure what to do with, missing drywall, and missing flooring from a previous mold spot. It doesn’t make one feel at home, that’s for sure!

These fridges. I like the wine they hold, but I don’t love their beastly aesthetic. Well, at least they’re not in my living room anymore.

And the room also boasts this:

I have more thoughts on that fan here.

With all these things going on, we’re not sure how this room should function. We don’t even know what to call it. The den? The guest room? The wine room? The office? It changes every time because “the den guest wine office room” is not convenient to say.

But today is the day when I had a moment of clarity. You know, the moment when a room clicks for you and you finally know what to do! It all happened thanks to our neighbor, Jim.

Last weekend, Marcello walked in the house and said our neighbor (Jim) was getting rid of a desk. Do we want it? My initial reaction is no. What are the chances the neighbors are getting rid of a desk that would work in our house? I’m sort of a picky pants, you know?

We have a home office/playroom with plenty of desk space I use every day, but Marcello is in need of a space with a door so he could take a phone call away from our boys, who’ve never actually heard silence. So, in fact, a desk for this room isn’t a bad idea, but …

And then he shows me a picture. “Um. That’s sort of perfect,” I say in shock. He goes outside and comes back with the desk on a dolly in a matter of minutes. He’s so excited to have a wooden man desk. It’s pretty darn cute to see him put his things in it.

Not bad, right? So that got my wheels turning. And turning. So I went to homestyler.com (be careful, it’s addicting) to figure out a floor plan.

Before we moved in, we thought this room could be used solely as Marcello’s office. This was the plan I came up when we were waiting impatiently to close on the house. Kind of uncanny how similar the top of this desk is to the one our neighbor gave us, no?

We even had plans of grandeur, putting in wine shelves. But after living here six months or so, we know that it needs to have a bed. (Marcello’s parents visit from Italy for a month at a time, for one example.) So I needed to reconfigure the floor plan with a bed (and without expensive wine shelves).

I tried this first, but Marcello said he’d rather not stare at the wall while sitting at the desk. Valid point.

So I tried this instead and was able to keep a dresser in the room — nice to have for guests (plus I have no idea where to put it otherwise!). Marcello likes it too. It’s a winner! (By the way, the desk we have isn’t quite as big as the one in the floor plan, so we should have a little more wiggle room behind the chair.)

I was so encouraged with the desk and floor plan that I grabbed my navy blue paint (Benjamin Moore Hale Navy) left from this stenciling project and slathered some of it on the walls. Yes, this will do nicely. This large sea and sky canvas I have will look great on the navy wall, as well!

After my day of brainstorming, I think I finally have a better idea of what I want for this space: a moody, masculine guest bedroom (I think that’s the official new name) with dark wood and gold finishes. Something along these the lines of these beauties.

Here’s my new inspiration board:

Bed  |  Throw  |  Lamp  | Wood  |  Frame  |  Pillow  (affiliate links)

Now I must endure the waiting (and penny saving) before everything can come together. Feels good to have a plan though!