Fool-Proof Ways To Decorate Your Office Space

Fool-Proof Ways To Decorate Your Office Space

Your office should speak to you are as a professional and – to a lesser degree – as a person. After all, unlike decorating your home, where an artistic painting on you and your partner naked on horseback is totally permissible, this choice piece of decor is not cool in your office. That’s why professionalism reigns supreme. This said you can still showcase some of your personality in your workspace. It all comes down to leading with your expert image and then adding hints of your inner persona.

Sound complicated? It’s really not. Here’s how you can do it. The fool-proof ways to decorate your office space:

Keep it Clean

One of the easiest ways to avoid crossing the line is to keep the line in clear sight, and one of the easiest ways to do this is to keep your office clean and free of clutter. These two terms may seem like the same thing, but they aren’t: you can have an office that is very hygienically clean, but also quite cluttered. Likewise, you can have an office that is free of piles of papers and stacks of books but is dirty and dusty.

To many people, keeping your office clean may seem like an obvious decor basic. However, when we spend every day in the same place, it is often easy to lose perspective on what our space looks like to others. Try your best to view it with fresh eyes. If your more and more knick-knacks and accessories start creeping their way into your area, making it begin to resemble a dorm room more than a professional workspace, it’s time to clean up.

Keep the Personal, Professional

There’s nothing wrong with having your degree or diploma hanging on your office wall: that’s a personal achievement that’s professional. In most cases, there’s also nothing wrong with having a framed picture or two of family members or a painted vase that your kid made you. However, these more personal touches need to be kept to a minimum. Think one or two, max — and the one or two items must be work appropriate, so no framed picture of you and your Mom earning your beads at Mardi Gras, and if your best friend crafted you a decorative bong out of scrap metal, save it for home.

Let Colour Speak

You can still add plenty of personality to your workspace with some colour. No, your office shouldn’t look like a carnival, but a pop or two of colour can go a long way to speak volumes about your personality. Even the most stogy workplace can tolerate a hint of rich red, or deep, melting purple. A simple accessory like a picture frame, or pen container or kleenex box cover or flower pot can achieve this.

Another thing to keep in mind when you’re thinking about colour is your company’s brand colours. If you work for a company whose colours are red and gold, and the major competition is blue and silver, having a silver vase filled with blue flowers could send the wrong message.

Furniture Inspiration

You don’t have to get your office furniture from an office store. There are plenty of places that sell affordable, attractive furniture that is perfectly suited to professional environments. In fact, hand-picking furniture that takes a subtle, but inspired step away from boring old traditional office desks, tables and chairs is a great way to let your personality and/or your company’s unique brand shine through.

Add Some Life

We can’t all own or lease offices with ocean views, or allow you to gaze pristine urban greenspace. Sometimes, you’re stuck with looking out at the parking lot, or directly at the brick wall of another building. It happens, and when it does happen, seriously consider adding some life to your office with plants. Again, don’t overdo it, but choose a low-maintenance, preferably scent-free plant to infuse your office space with a sense of tranquillity and relaxation. Some great options include snake plants, bromeliads, jade and philodendron.

Bonus: plants also improve the air quality of your area!

See? That wasn’t so hard. You still have plenty of room to be yourself when you decorate your office space: just a more professional version of yourself.