Interior Design Style and Use of Color for the Home Office (3 of 4)
There are two ways to choose the overall decoration of the home office: follow the style that prevails in the rest of the house or treat the office as an individual space. Choosing which way to go is a simple task that requires answers to just a few questions.
> Has your home been decorated in a style that is visible everywhere?
> Is your office easily visible from other rooms/areas of your home?
> Does your work suggest a style of its own?
Based on the questions above, here are some simple ways to help you easily achieve a nice decoration in your home office.
If you are going to treat your office like a part of your home, using the same decor and style, your work is already half done. But remember, you don’t have to use the exact color scheme or mood. You can modify what you see outside of your office so it blends in seamlessly. For example, you can invert the main and accent colors; you can use the same colors but in different proportions; or a different level of formality. Because you’re decorating an office, you probably want to treat the style differently than it appears in other areas of your home, and this is normal. Don’t be afraid to create a variation in the atmosphere; it’s just the overall style you’re trying to respect.
For a home office that’s open within one area of your home, you’ll need to be a little more cautious. In this case, you should respect the style that is seen around your office, but at the same time you should definitely try to create a sense of separation between your work space and your living space. Visual separation does not mean building a wall; it means creating a new environment within the existing one. Some ways to create visual separation include changes in ceiling height and/or floor level (a step up or down); a room divider placed to appear decorative rather than limiting; color changes, such as reversing the main and accent paint colors used on the walls; and placement of furniture.
Arranging furniture so that the layout separates the space is simple enough, but don’t forget to play with your ideas on graph paper first or else you may still have to rearrange when it should already be on your desk. Consider using a large bookcase or storage cabinet as a room divider; the back can be decorated with fabric, paint, a collage… or place the furniture back to back to create the feeling of two separate areas. Keep in mind as you work on the design that you don’t want to feel like your office is, for example, in the back of your base — is made the back of the base. Just as you can play with words, you can also play with space.
A home office that is going to be given its own style is a fun thing to do. You should try to have a bit of who you are visible in the decor, while creating a visual sense of what you do. This is not a cubicle in a large office complex, this is its office. If you love bold prints, classic cars, angels… incorporate them into the decoration even if they have nothing to do with what you are going to do in your office. At the same time, your office should say more about why it does the “I work at a desk” thing. What are you doing at that desk? If you’re in the computer business, have things around that suggest that, like a framed, enlarged comic strip that has something to do with computers. If your office is really more of a workshop and you do alterations, incorporate your supplies into your décor: display spools of thread in a rainbow-like pattern, run a rod a few inches from a wall, and cover with some fabric for a ever-changing backdrop. If you work in the travel industry, hang a model airplane and display items or images that symbolize some of your favorite destinations; If it doesn’t get in your way, keep a beach ball in your office or make a “sandbox” to hang on the wall by gluing sand to the back of a shadow box and gluing small shells into the sand.
When choosing colors for your office, there are a few basic points to consider. Yellows, reds, and other very warm colors in large quantities can make you thirsty. Blue is very relaxing, but be careful not to choose a soft grayish blue that can actually lead to tiredness or restlessness. The best way to choose colors for your office is to choose three colors; use one as the main color (for example, on the walls), another as the main accent color (visible in a pattern on a rug, curtains, desk accessories…), and the third as an accent color that appears only on splashes here and there (like flowers in a vase, a couple of photo frames…). At this point, your color scheme is set, and all you have to do is keep in mind a few basics of color psychology. A dark ceiling will feel very low; mirrors and reflective materials make a space feel larger; too many colors, especially bright ones, can cause a cluttered feel even if there aren’t any.
One final point on the subject of color and style: Materials like wood, stone, and metal can be incorporated into any color scheme, although they may affect the style, they won’t clash. A natural pine desk will certainly give a different look than a mahogany one, but either one will go with any color scheme; the same goes for stainless steel and brass, and marble and concrete.
Look for the final article in this 4-part home office series: Lighting and Window Treatments for the Home Office.