Working from home in style! Ohio property investor builds stunning $210,000 library inside his house – featuring $72,000 of wood paneling, a $68,000 writing desk and a $47,000 chandelier

An Ohio real estate investor discovered the key to a successful work-from-home environment, and it will only cost you $210,000.

The homeowner of a beautiful lakefront property in Akron, Ohio, worked with some brilliant interior designers to bring his ’20s-meets-Mad Men’ vision for the home to life.

The real estate investor, now in his 60s, bought the house in 2006 for $450,000 as a “weekend getaway” location.

The Ohio native didn’t want to spend too much money fixing up the property at the time, but in 2019 he decided it was time to fix it up and make it his primary residence.

One room in the house that needed extra attention was the library, which he said had outdated wall-to-wall carpeting and filthy plaster walls. So along with his interior design team, they spent a total of $210,000 on the space to make it feel “inviting and comfortable.”

His library renovations were inspired by a ’20s-meets-Mad Men’ aesthetic – and the interior designers he worked with focused on “making it feel inviting and comfortable.”

The property is a beautiful lake house in Akron, Ohio, which the homeowner purchased in 2006 for $450,000 as a ‘weekend getaway’ location

Interior designers Tanner Morgan and Jennifer Laouari of the firm Morgan Madison Design told The Wall Street Journal, “The goal for the room, as for the entire house, was to create an environment that felt original to the structure.”

The experts completely stripped the library and played with proportions and angles to create a new feeling for the space, like a ‘jewel box’.

“Although this room houses many important pieces, we wanted to make it feel inviting and comfortable,” Morgan said.

One of the pieces specially chosen by the interior designers together with the homeowner was a beautiful chandelier from Bella Figura, a London-based lighting company inspired by Italian influences.

The chandelier — a custom Villanova recessed fixture — cost $46,900 and was chosen to add a touch of old-world glamor to realize the 1920s homeowner’s vision for the room.

The owner, now in his sixties, initially did not want to spend too much money on his weekend home, but in 2019 he decided to renovate the house and make it his main residence. The beautiful kitchen seen here uniquely combines marble surfaces with matching walls, contrasting the white material with gold and wooden finishes

The kitchen’s color palette and patterns are inspired by the same 1920s Mad Men mash-up that fueled the creativity behind the office renovations. The designers say the waterworks cabinets, appliances and ceiling tiles are all the same custom color, giving the space an ‘airy’ feel

The owner worked with interior designers Tanner Morgan and Jennifer Laouari of the firm Morgan Madison Design, who said the goal for the entire house was to create an environment that felt original to the structure. Pictured here is the home’s living room – which exudes elegance yet remains comfortable and homely

A new carpet was laid on the wooden floors to replace the old carpet that had been rotting in the library since at least 2006.

A jute carpet – a natural, renewable resource that is both environmentally friendly and sustainable – from Patterson Flynn acted as a soft top layer for the hard floor.

The rug – which cost $18,000 – contrasted with the jewel-toned antique rug on top.

There is a beautiful desk in the middle of the room. Charles Paris’ Pieds Palme writing desk is worth a whopping $68,000.

The elegant piece of furniture is crafted in bronze and glass – with breathtaking details on the curved legs and velvet-lined glass drawers under the beautiful glass table.

Behind the beautiful table is a plush vintage chair valued at $10,500. This is a Wormley for Dunbar ‘In Clover’ 932 Executive chair from around 1960.

The beautiful chair has a lush gray frame with cushions on a solid walnut base.

‘We needed something tangible to soften the desk vignette. The chair had to have its own character to withstand the visual weight of the writing table,” says Laouari.

The interior designers specifically chose pieces to add a touch of old-world glamor to the lakeside property – which was reflected in individual pieces such as the painting hanging here

Bold patterns have been added throughout the home – in the wallpaper choices, curtains, cushions and the floor, as seen in this room. The designers chose to offset the hardness of the black-and-white patterned floor with a naturally shaped animal skin rug in the same color palette. Designer Laouari said: ‘We wanted to create that timeless feeling of a more historic home’

According to the designers, the striking green cabinet was inspired by their customer’s first car: a 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass in the original Pinehurst Green color, which he still owns.

In the first bedroom, a saffron velvet curved Donghia sofa offers an “invigorating shock of color” that the designers say resembles a “bold red lipstick”

In the corner of the ultra-modern office sits an ottoman – the ‘A Lana’ ottoman from textile company Donghia, upholstered in a Pierre-Frey cut velvet fabric.

The beautiful stool reflects the earthy and vintage color scheme of the room – and the pattern adds a surprising, but not out of place element to the room. It’s worth $5,250.

Custom wood walnut paneling was installed throughout the library – brand new and fabricated specifically for the room at a cost of $72,000.

The homeowner wanted to remain anonymous.