Designing your office…at home... at work

 

Designing Your Office Space With Personality

Interior design is a crucial component in the office to ignite your senses. Whether your workplace is at home or in a business setting it is essential to tap into your creativity to promote productivity. Your space should be a delight to be in…with lots of stimulation surrounding you. The office is a place for brainstorming where decisions are born.

It is your own personal retreat filled with the energy that fuels you everyday. Every component in this room must be at an optimum function to allow you to be your very best. Yet the visual sensation you feel in this space must also invigorate your inner being.

 

Color You Can Work With

The atmosphere of your office subliminally determines how you function in that space. This is where the office design process begins…nothing brings forth that perception more than starting off with the right color palette chosen just for you. If your office is away from home have a friendly conversation with your property manager about changes to the office. If you are lucky they may let you redo some things at your expense, well worth your healthy state of mind if you will be leasing for a few years.

When choosing paint colors…look at it as a discovery process to find what colors really move you. Realize that there are no rules to hold you back from the “Cherry Berry or Dusky Moon” walls you always found so alluring. Paint some samples of the colors that you are drawn to on the wall and notice how each color affects your mood, your productivity level, is it soothing or stimulating? Indulge your senses with color.

If you property manager insists on a softer palette or leaving the walls white office use bolder accent colors in the artwork and furnishings, this will boost your energy level and prevent the space from looking too sublime.

 

Lighting is Everything

Designing with lighting in your office several factors to consider are the aesthetic qualities and providing adequate lighting. Your choices can mean the difference between feeling fatigued or energized while working. The daylight and artificial lighting in your office needs to be controlled at all hours of the day and night. A sun drenched space may emulate a welcoming cozy feeling, but can also become quite intense.

Diffusing bright window light should be aesthetically pleasing, roller shades, panel tracks and shutters are an alternative to the typical mini or vertical blinds. Choose a window treatment that blends with the rooms color palette, hang natural materials like grass cloth or bamboo which always adds earthy warmth. Solar shades now come in a range of colors, perfect for a simple contemporary office setting. Changing out the “cool white” fluorescent light fixtures on the ceiling is a must! Plead with the property manager and replace them with daylight color tubes instead, these casts a pure warm light in the room making you look better too!

Create a “homey” personal touch to any office by adding lamps. These too should have the a warm cast, the energy saving bulbs are looking more and more like incadescent lighting. The more natural the lighting that more it will  boost your productivity level. Pendant fixtures over your desk are an excellent source of task lighting while showing off your flair for style.

 

The Whole Matching Set

This is a big NO! NO!…to fill the room with the typical office furniture. This is possibly the biggest law in interior design that is broken!  Unfortunatey, this is what consumers are accustomed to seeing in stores.  Resist this impulse…it is mundane in styling and leaves you with a space with very little creative stimulation. The choices for furniture are limitless as with any room in your home. Once you figure out how your office needs to function for you choose pieces accordingly. A classic buffet can be repurposed for a credenza, you will have just as much storage. Client seating for your office… the sky is the limit, wooden chairs, upholstered dining chairs or antiques chairs are a classic alternative to office chairs.

Designing an office is all about maximizing storage while not sacrificing the aesthetic integrity of the room. Stacking or turn shelving on their sideways creates a unique and different configuration for storage and displays. Simple inexpensive bookcases painted the same color as the walls will look built-in creating more space. For those of you that want a more traditional office setting consider a European china cabinet instead of a bookcase. You will have the benefit of the cabinet space with a dust free display case for your books. When shopping for office furniture always think eclectic… the blending of styles will show off your true character and interior design flair.

 

Show Off Your Character

Surrounding yourself with objects that fulfill a purpose as well as adding your personal touch is another component to productivity in your workspace. Again, the art of interior design is to resist the typical office accessories… in and out bins, trash cans and pen & pencil containers from an office supply store that leave nothing to the imagination.

Instead… amuse yourself with pieces that are whimsy yet practical. Glass kitchen trays for papers, an old enamel bucket used for trash, an array of brightly colored jars or antique vases filled with pens and pencils. Intrigue your clients and show off your interior design  touches throughout your office with sentimental stories, a baseball card collection mounted in a Plexiglas frame, a series of old camera and radios on a shelf. Your personal workspace should look like you have been collecting all your life.

Compartmentalize your supplies in old and new leather boxes, an empty classic wooded drawer can be mixed in and filled with supplies. Suspend a metal cable from corner to corner attaching it to the wall with toggle bolts provides an interesting way to clip notes or hang magazines from. Start to look at everything with a dual purpose in mind, be clever when accessorizing your office.

 

You’re Looking Good

The office desk is the one piece that says the most about the person behind it.  What does yours portray about you? In interior design every room must have a focal point, in an office setting it’s you behind the desk. Let it feature you in style yet it must function for all your office needs. Decide the performance of your desk, then think design…think eclectic. For those whose desk needs to be more of a work surface consider an old library table or an exotic modern dining table. Furniture with drawers or filing cabinets on rollers can be pushed underneath the table to provide added storage.  A clutter free desk allows your energy to flow freely… make sure “there’s a place for everything… and everything in its place.”  You will find yourself beginning each day with a refreshed outlook and an impressive office.