In this post
- How to get office decor right
- Choose the right colors
- Pick a ceiling
- Pick a color scheme
- Comfortable furniture
- Things other than decor
It is no surprise that for most working professionals your office becomes your second home. If you calculate how you spend your 24 hours each day, you’ll notice that most of it is not spent at home. In recent years, owing to increased competition and higher demands for employee productivity, there has been an increased need to make office spaces much more comfortable so all employees can spend their time productively. But there are many ways you can get your office decor wrong, and there are numerous other ways to get it right! This blog is your guide to office decor.
How To Get Office Decor Right
An increasing number of employees now believe that they do consider an office’s outlook before deciding on whether or not they want to work there. It also goes without saying that the kind of workspace reflects on the employers as well, whether or not they put the well-being of their employees at the forefront. For this very reason, you need to follow these simple steps and make your workplace seem inviting:
ChooseThe Right Colors:
Use lighter shades for your interiors. It will give the impression of open space. While nudes are all the rage these days, there is such a thing as too white. You don’t need this. Your office space should seem warm and comforting, and for this, you don’t need a color that makes your room seem like a whiteboard. Use creamier shades of white.
Pick A Ceiling:
Yes, you do need to pick a ceiling. Choose one that encloses a space. If you have darker walls (well, you shouldn’t), then pick a lighter ceiling color and vice versa. Light walls with darker ceilings work best.
Also, you need a place that’s very well-lit and so you need to work on your lighting fixtures as well. These have to be installed on the ceilings to ensure maximum visibility. For lights, don’t pick white lights for the entire office. You can layer your lighting by adding white in corridors and lobby areas, whereas using warmer lighting for the main office area. Even on workstations, you can use a mesh of both, but in this case it has to be properly layered so your employees’ visibility isn’t disturbed.
Work On Your Color Scheme:
If you want your official branding to be reflected in the office theme, ensure the colors aren’t too dark or too bright. If the colors don’t work, you can pick areas where you would want your brand’s colors to be used, such as the cafeteria or the lobby.
Do not go overboard with using monograms everywhere, especially on furniture, however, glass doors are okay to be tempered with. But this too should be done in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Other than branding, pick colors that are light and appealing. The same applies to furniture as well.
Choose Comfortable Furniture
While most people believe modern furniture is the way to go about, you should also realize that not all modern furniture is comfortable. If your employees are going to be working longer than five hours each day, they need chairs that support their back and desks that are perfectly aligned to their height. The former can be solved easily, but the latter is a bit tricker, however, modern innovative furniture now includes adjustable desks and chairs so your employees can quickly turn their desks to standing desks and continue their work. These are still costly options, however, have proven to be beneficial.
Incorporating functionality in decor is a great way to go about office decor in 2021. For colors, you need to pick a neutral color. Always choose faux leather for office chairs as they can be easily cleaned. Your desks can be white but not the chairs.
In lobby areas and corridors, you should go for sofas or sofa chairs. These days it’s all about sleek furniture. For lobby area furniture, it is best to pick darker colors as well as lighter tones get dirty quite easily and then leave a bad impression on any guests who might visit the office. You also need a good coffee table in the lobby area, but not for corridors. This is because you want your lobby to appear as a formal place for guests, but the corridors are for employees, and you can put smaller, side tables here.
Also, you need to create an open sitting area. This can be taken as an extension of the cafeteria or be a separate place where your employees can unwind. For furniture here, pick sofa chairs and a coffee table. It’s best to keep this portion far from the main working space and meeting rooms.
Apart from decor, there are numerous other ways of ensuring a good environment for your employees to work in. Read our guide on contemporary office decor that enables high levels of productivity amongs your employees to get more ideas.
Things To Do Other Than Office Decor
- Introduce open spaces: Open floors are all the rage these days, and rightly so as they give off a feeling of openness. However, the coronavirus pandemic has made many people wary of this, but in the post-pandemic world, open workplaces will still be welcomed. Remove any unnecessary dividers and install spacious workstations.
However, do not go overboard with making the entire space open, your meeting rooms should be separate to allow for privacy. If you are still going for glassdoors to continue the open floor theme, make sure to add blinds as an added option. For more information about designs, read our blog on popular office layout ideas.
Install desk dividers between workstations so your employees can use this space for post-it notes or customizing the area as per their needs.
- Declutter: Long gone are those times when people would work in cluttered spaces and find their way around it each day. A decluttered space ensures a decluttered mind. If you have any stacks of paper lying around, you need to scan and store them right away.
Most office spaces also have wires oozing from computers or ceilings and you need to address them first. Apart from being a safety hazard, these also give the impression that the place is well kept and organized.
Install drawer cabinets per employee that can be locked for safety.
Also, bid farewell to notice boards, as everything has now been shifted to emails, and nobody wants to see a cluttered board with messages that are sure to get lost.
- Ensure ventilation: This you can easily do by letting your employees open windows once a while. Open glass facades work best if your windows are sealed shut. If you have open corridors, it’s best to install windows that allow light to enter, this will ensure your office appears as ventilated and open.
If you liked this piece, please make sure to check out the following links:
- Space-Saving Organisation Hacks for Your Home Office
- Best Areas in Karachi to Set Up Your Office
- How to Keep Your Office Corona-Free?
Do you have any insights on office decor? Write to us at blog@zameen.com. Also, keep checking Pakistan’s largest property blog, Zameen Blog for more updates.
