How To Decorate A Home Office That Works With Your Home

If you work from home, you’ll know how easy it is to blur the lines between work life and home life, but when it comes to design, that’s actually a good thing.

Gone are the days when working from home was a rarity and, thankfully, the windowless basement office is not as common as it once was. Today many new homes come with small offices or libraries that are bright and part of the flow of the overall home.

One trend we see often is to use your spare room as a home office – especially once the kids move out –  and with all the new home accessories on the market, it’s easy to furnish a home office that’s professional enough to accommodate client meetings, yet personable enough to accommodate overnight guests.

 

Home Office Tip #1: Bring An Element Of Your Home Into Your Office.

If you read our recent blog about creating ‘flow’ throughout your home, you’ll be familiar with the concept of repeating certain elements. For example, your hall may feature a slate rug, your living room a dark grey bench and accent pillows, and your dining room a slate accent wall.

Our recommendation is to include your home office in the mix.

This means carrying your favorite element (a color, texture or style) through to your office, and the specific items you chose should be able to perform double-duty. They must be utilitarian yet conform with the look and feel of the rest of your home.

For example, if your home is very rustic and country (either Americana or French county), then incorporating a piece like the Jaydo cabinet makes perfect sense. The Jaydo is sturdy, rustic and has drawers and adjustable inner shelves for storing paper, supplies or trade secrets!

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The Jaydo collection from !nspire also includes a side table and console table, but our thoughts are that, unless you have a massive home office (lucky you!), it’d be overwhelming to go with more than one accent piece of this weight.

 

Home Office Tip #2: Choose Your Accent Chairs Carefully

If you meet with your clients in your home office, appearances are everything, and the best way to keep it professional is to invest in a pair of sturdy but stylish accent chairs.

Ideally the accent chairs you choose should be comfortable and affordable. We mention the latter because these chairs will probably see a lot of use and may need replacing every few years.

Again, choose your colors or prints based on what’s going on in the rest of your home, or, if you’re starting from the home office, extend the look outwards.

For example, first you could furnish your office with a pair of Valentina accent chairs. We love these chairs because the acrylic arm rests and legs add a level of sophistication and tone down the bold print creating a daring but professional look.

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Next, you include the Valentina ottoman in a visible corner of your living room, so that when clients come and go, while they may not enter your personal areas, they will still notice the ottoman and sense the cohesion between both rooms.

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Home Office Tip #3:  Choose Home Accents That Can Play Double Duty

In this era of small spaces, a lot of home offices double for spare rooms. Of course, the last thing you want in a home office is a big rollaway bed/couch that’s cumbersome, dated and eats up way too much space.

Our advice is investing in a professional looking Klik Klak/futon couch. We know what you’re thinking and, let us be the first ones to assure you: Things have changed since your college days when everyone had the same black saggy futon!

Today’s styles are sleek and professional and don’t look a thing like they did 20 years ago. We promise, your clients won’t have any idea that the streamlined couch upon which they’re perched is really a bed!

Take the Loft Klik Klak sofa. It comes in white or black faux leather, is tufted (but not over the top), and has chrome feet to sleek it up. Add a few small lumbar pillows and push it up against a wall of book shelves or an accent wall when you’re meeting clients.

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When overnight company comes, add some sheets, a blanket and a few pillows and your guest has his or her refuge for the night.

WHi has a large collection of Klik Klak sofas and they are all polished enough to be included in a home office setting.

Do you work out of a home office? If so, how do you combine your home office décor with your home décor? We’d love to hear your tips and tricks in the comments below…