Decorating an Office

Creating Inviting, Warm, Interesting Workspaces

Jul 29, 2007

Often we neglect to furnish our offices. We get into the daily grind and forget that our workspace needs to nourish us and feed our creativity.

Decorating an office or cubical can bring a bit of personality to a dry, boring workspace. Choosing accessories and decorations that express your personality will allow your co-workers in to a brief glimpse of who you are outside of work.

Colour Scheme and Feng Shui Tips

Often offices are fairly neutrally furnished and decorated. This allows you to add a punch of one or two complimentary colours to add some life to the space. According to Feng Shui expert Joanna Trevelyan author of Holistic Home (Sterling Publishing Co. New York, NY, 1998, P. 81-84), “Yellow stimulates the intellect and encourages communication” and “blues and greens to decorate an East or South East” office or study and “purple in a South location; and white and grays, with a dash of yellow in a North-west situation”. She also advises to use vertical stripes and introduce water (vases of flowers, aquarium, etc.) as office equipment is drying and so find ways to increase the humidity. As offices tend to use a lot of synthetic materials to furnish and decorate, bring in some natural materials – stone, wood, glass, metal, plants. Choose a desk that is curved or has rounded edges to help the flow of Ch’i (energy) and limit open shelving.

Pictures

Bringing in pictures of family and friends can create a warm and inviting workspace. Frame them in the same frames or frames of the same colour so that they match your colour scheme.

Stress Relievers

Work in a fast-paced environment? Consider having a stress ball or toy that calms people as they sit in your space. Make an executive sand box with fine sand or coloured rice and some interesting tools (funnels, rakes, scoops).

Furniture and Lighting

If you have the opportunity to choose your furniture, try choosing natural materials as much as possible including wooden desks, floors, shelving, filing cabinets and tables. Metal, although natural, can interfere with wireless mice or keyboards (although you may want to choose to use less wireless). Ergonomics are important to your health especially if you plan to sit at your desk for long periods of time. Lighting is also very important especially if you are not near or have any natural light coming into your workspace. Use light bulbs that mimic natural light as much as possible. You may want to turn off your florescent lighting and bring in lamps to create a warmer and inviting lighting scheme.

The copyright of the article Decorating an Office in Training/Professional Development is owned by Joni Rose. Permission to republish Decorating an Office in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.