Tips on Decorating Your Office

We all know that your office is your home away from home. Forty hours at the minimum, at least one meal there and countless business and social interactions. Maybe you have a cubicle, a reception desk, or even a corner office high in the sky. Regardless, you naturally want to transform your office space into a friendly and comfortable area. Not just for you, but for your co-workers and potential clients that you need to interact with every day. Here’s a few tips to make your office the most inviting and happy place to spend your daily Monday through Friday.

Color Me Calm

Office spaces that are primarily white, gray and beige can feel cold, sterile and unwelcoming to you and anyone else who comes around. Conversely, there’s a few colors that psychologists and business experts believe can increase productivity, relaxation, and generally positive feelings. Maybe you subscribe to these findings, maybe you don’t, but tasteful decoration never hurts. Let’s check out what a few colors signify:

• Red: Physical, stimulating, exciting. Used best in a workspace where physical and manual activity and performance are emphasized.
• Blue: Intellectual, logical, efficient. Try various hues of blue to elicit concentration, focus, and communication in conference rooms.
• Yellow: Emotional, confident, creative. Yellow can encourage and reinforce progressive ideas and lend confidence and high self-esteem to workers to try new things.
• Green: Balance, calm, equilibrium. In an environment where stress is the norm, try using green in common areas and break rooms to restore harmony and refresh a stressed-out employee. Green is unique as it is a naturally effortless color to visually absorb, giving one the ability to relax and find harmony with all the various issues that a work day brings.

Now, it might not be wise to immediately repaint and decorate your office according to these ideas. But maybe gradually incorporating these colors via accent walls, plants, art, or carpeting with this psychology in mind will produce great results!

One With Nature

Longing to connect with nature is a basic human need. We do it at home, visit parks and take weekends and vacations to travel into the calm and wonder of our natural surroundings because it connects and rejuvenates us. It only makes sense to have that in our workplace as well. Many studies show having plants and natural elements around promotes calm, relaxation and productivity…all of which are good for business. Welcome your employees and clients with these bits of the outdoors in your office space:

• The sight and sound of cascading water falling is soothing and a treat to the eyes and ears. There are lots of incredible tabletop and wall-hung fountains and installations that could greet your guests or perfectly accent your office or conference room.
• Landscape art can bring the majesty and beauty of outdoor scenes near and far into your workspace. Various paintings and photographs with tasteful frames can inspire contemplative and creative energies, whether it’s your local landscape or a mountain range on the other side of the world.
• Plants promote well-being, reduce stress and can increase productivity. Applicants, clients and employees alike will feel welcome and relaxed when they are greeted with lush plants, bright flowers and gorgeous trees. Problem is, many offices are climate-controlled and lack significant natural light. Live succulents and low-light plants are an option. Better yet, look into high-quality artificial plants and flowers to decorate and accent all areas of your office. Think trees in corners to fill vertical space, cheerful bouquet arrangements at your reception desk, and ivy cascading down from the tops of cabinets and recessed shelving. Best of all, no watering or maintenance, so you have time to let all that production flourish.

Personal and thoughtful touches around the workspace go a long way to give anybody who spends time there a comfortable and inspiring place to spend their work week. It’s an investment in your business…we all want a space to be productive and creative, and, after all, that’s what we’re all here for.

What are your tips for decorating an office space? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below!