Who says your office space has to be drab and utilitarian? I know that I am always inspired and motivated to get more done in a well designed space. I enjoy spending time in an office space that is comfortable and full of my favorite things.
Your office is one of the spaces you spend a lot of time in, especially if you work from home, so it should be one that represents your style and design sensibilities.
This recently completed office was done for a dear client who I have done lots of other projects for. It is actually located in a commercial space, and it is not a home office. My client is a Doula and she wanted her office space to be inviting, lively and comfortable for her expectant moms. She loves color, and not afraid to show it.
She didn’t need a large desk, since she does most of her work from her laptop, and really only is in the office when she has appointments. She wanted to have a comfortable space that felt more like a living room in a home, versus a commercial office space. So I set to work developing the room and the gorgeous and fun color palette. It is a small space, but we needed to get a lot out of it.
I first found the fabric that we used on the accent chair, and built the rest of the room around it. The fabric is a Chinoiserie cotton print with several colors like fuchsia, orange, kelly green, wisteria and teal. This opened up a lot of possibilities to infuse beautiful color in the space
Because we were using a lot of color in the furnishings, the walls had to remain an off-white to neutralize the space. This much color has to be controlled, and one way to do that is to keep the backgrounds neutral. The carpeted floor is a dark navy, which helps to ground the room. We decided to add off-white roller shades for privacy on the windows, and white semi-sheer linen drapery panels to add some softness. That keeps the background neutral and clean for all the color. I added a trim embellishment to the leading edges of the drapery for some visual interest.Â
The drapery panels were installed from a rod attached to the ceiling, since there wasn’t enough space above the windows. The drapery panels will remain decorative and not functional.
The navy tufted sofa and the navy lacquered chest actually read as a neutral color in the space. The large scale pattern of the rug is a great contrast to all the patterns in the pillows and chair, but still tie into the overall color scheme. That is a great way to mix patterns – keeping the colors consistent, and varying the scale of the patterns.
My client loves fun poppy art in whimsical florals. She loves photography as well, but we decided to take it all the way and go with the bold pops of color in this space. This is a great contrast against the white walls with the white drapery. The art itself has enough white in the background to keep them from being too muchÂ
The dark walnut in the case goods and warm brass sprinkled throughout helps to keep the room grounded.Â
The fuchsia velvet scatter ottomans are my favorite little touches in the room . They are there for comfort in case the expectant moms need to put their feet up, but can easily be moved out of the way for more room. They can even act as a surface for a glass of water if a tray is placed on top.
There is plenty of storage in the closet with the addition of a bookcase (not shown), as well as storage in the navy blue lacquered chest.
This office was so much fun to work on.
Now for a few tips of how you too can achieve an office space that will motivate you to get stuff done.
Think outside of the box. Not because it is an office space doesn’t mean it cannot serve multiple purposes. Consider what your needs are and how you like to use the room. If you love working from a laptop, you may not need a large desk. A writing desk may be plenty
Include a seating area for additional people. It is lonely working from home sometimes, and having a space where others can hang out with you is a nice touchÂ
Storage does not have to be utilitarian looking. It can be stylish too. Here we used the lacquered chest as a file cabinet
Lighting is important. If there is not enough natural light, be sure to add lamps
Bring in your favorite design elements; whether color, patterns, art or fun fabrics
Hope you enjoyed the tour of the beautiful new office space we designed. We are so happy with how it turned out.
If you need help creating an inspiring space in your home, we would love to help. Click here to schedule a consultation
Wishing You beauty And Inspiration!
veronica
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