Do you have a home office? If you do, you have probably struggled with how much time and money to invest in it. Even if you work from home, it can be hard to see spending money on your decorating your home office as an investment rather than just an expense.
Here’s a look at five frugal home office decorating ideas that can have you working more efficiently with a very small investment:
Create the Mood
The mood of your home office is very important because you’ll be spending a lot of time there! To help you get started, create a mood board based on what you do most often in the office.
For example, an office in which you write a lot has different needs than high-detail hand illustration. Your first step is to collect images that speak to what you intend to do in this office. Pinterest is a great place to assemble these images and find inspiration from your network.
Choose Light Bulbs Intentionally
Efficient workspace lighting is very important. Make sure you’re using the right bulbs depending on the tasks you perform most often. Not sure where to start? Separate your needs into mood lighting, task lighting, and balancing lighting.
Mood lighting should be more dim and in a softer shade of yellow. Task lighting should be bright and white. Balancing lighting refers to balancing out the other lights in the room, like having a soft glowing light while you use the computer so that your eyes are not too strained.
(Note from Daisy: Lighting can do a lot for mood, Sarah is right. That’s why retailers use lighting to manipulate the shopping environment!)
Be An Artist
Art is expensive, but not if you DIY! Once you figure out the appropriate color for your office using your mood board, purchase a large canvas and paint from an art store and create your own abstract painting. It will add color and mood to the office without costing an arm and a leg. This is a home office decorating idea that will make your office more personalized.
Use Free Apps
The app market is exploding for Android and Apple phones. Investigate free and low cost productivity apps to help you stay on track throughout your workday. For to do lists, check out Teux Deux, Evernote, and Todoist. For productivity tools, try Pocket, Dunno, and the Pomodoro Timer Lite. For collaborating, check out Skype, Toodledo, and Workflowy.
Depending on how much time you spend in your home office, the decor and organization can have a huge impact on your productivity and comfort levels. Investing time and just a little bit of money into it will pay you back in the form of increased productivity and desire to be in your office, working hard!
How do you stay organized and focused in your home office?
We have a couple of those plastic stackable shelves, plus my bookcase to keep everything organized. For wall art, we mostly have movie posters that we were able to get for free when promotions ended, plus my one roommate is an art major and has a bunch of charcoal prints hanging up in there. When the local Blockbuster went out of business, we got a 20% discount on a nice mounted Doctor Who poster.
Ooh, nice strategy! And I think that having those personal connections also makes the room decor more meaningful in the end.
Great post! I’ve been slowly redecorating my study over the years and still have some progress to make. My favorite piece is a bulletin board my mom made with scraps of leather and tile. I also love my chair — being comfortable and well supported is so important when you’re sitting in front of a desk for hours! Keeping shelves and bookshelves tidy is also important because clutter tends to distract me.
Yes, indeed — the right chair makes all the difference!
I think one of the keys to creating your home office is to give the space a different vibe than your bedroom (even if it’s in the same room). If it’s too relaxing, I’ll just wind up crawling back into bed.
Oh, what a great point! When you work at home, anything you can do to mentally separate that space is really helpful.
I love looking at design magazines for ideas and just to see how creative some people are, especially with small spaces. HGTV is one of my favorite channels for getting inspiration as well. Lots of things we can do for cheap!
Yes – I love photos of small spaces. It’s almost like the smaller it is, the more detailed and exact you need to be when designing and furnishing!
don’t forget room arrangement. sometimes where you put your desk can have a big impact!
Definitely! And the most surprisingly arrangements can have a dramatic effect on the room!
Creating your space on purpose can make a huge difference, especially if you are just starting to work at home. Doing so can cause you to look at it as a space for doing work, as opposed to just another part of your home.
To every room, a purpose! 🙂
I painted my office orange because for some reason I feel nice and productive with that color. I also bought a cheap desk, and some craigslisted filing cabinets to save money. There’s also a craigslist chair and a cheap lamp in there too. Now if only I could actually get to my nice space through the piles of paper and junk that have collected in there :p
Hah! Organization is always the first step 🙂
I get pleasure from DIY projects that beautify my workspace.I purchased products to hold contents neatly and maintain a tidy look.I love to work in a properly accessorized space. I like being surrounded by things I love, that are pretty, and that just make me happy.
I completely agree — it’s got to have a good vibe if you’re to get anything done!