TURN YOUR HOME OFFICE INTO A PRODUCTIVE WORKSPACE
If you have the privilege of working from home over this trying period, ensuring that you have a comfortable and stylish workspace can really help improve both your productivity and your mood.
To help make your home office more stimulating, streamlined and inspiring, Paint Club have put together some workspace essentials that can help boost your productivity. From fabulous colour choices, specific task lighting to luscious house plants, we’ve covered all the touch-points to transform your home office into the stylish and savvy space it deserves to be.
WALL COLOUR
We’ve listed the top three colours you should consider using to improve concentration and productivity, based on colour psychology.
GREEN SHADES
Greens are amongst the most restful shades and offer the cheerful qualities of yellow and the refreshing abilities of blue. Green is ideal for almost every part of the house but is especially effective in home offices and study rooms. It has a calming effect, as it’s associated with the colour of nature. It promotes security and relieves stress, allowing you to relax and think from a better perspective.
BLUE SHADES
Blues encourage better mind flow and performance. Blues help lower blood pressure and slows down the heart rate, promoting a relaxing atmosphere to study or work in. It stimulates a better state of mind, so you can keep the ideas flowing continuously. Stronger shades of blue support the brain’s thought processes, while lighter shades help improve concentration.
ORANGE SHADES
Orange promotes better focus, concentration, and creativity. It encourages you to keep the room organised as well, so you’re motivated to study or work anytime. Be careful when choosing the brightness, though. A strong and bright intensity can stimulate but can be distracting as well. Orange is the ideal colour for energy, so it’s best to use the right hue for good results.
For further colour inspiration, read our recent article on Choosing the Best Paint Colour Combinations For Your Home
POT PLANTS
Plants can transform your workspace into a more peaceful, tranquil and engaging place. Choose some of these air-cleaning (some plants can absorb airborne pollutants), mood-boosting varieties that are also nearly impossible to kill, to bring nature into your space and help improve your productivity.
DEVIL’S IVY
Devil’s Ivy (Epipremnum aureum) is a type of evergreen vine. The leaves are large and sometimes heart-shaped and come in a wide variety of light and dark colors.
This species adapts well to a variety of office conditions, from low light levels to brighter ones. This easy-to-care-for plant with heart-shaped, white-splotched leaves makes a lovely addition sitting on a desk, shelf or table, or in hanging baskets. Larger specimens, trained around a pole or cane, look great in big pots on the floor.
AGLAONEMA
Aglaonema, or Chinese Evergreens, are popular because of the color of the leaves. While many develop deep green leaves, they can also have traces of silver or red, bringing colour to your home office.
PHILODENDRON
The Philodendron Imperial has large, lush leaves with a glossy coating and can maintain this sleek appearance in the shade.
Preferring low humidity and temperatures 20 degrees, they are ideal for your home office and can be used as part of a large display, giving your office a lush, tropical feel.
PEACE LILY
Peace Lilies (Spathiphyllum) have very wide, broad, deep green leaves and grow beautiful white flowers that have given them their common name. They are popular because they don’t need a lot of light, plus, they are also forgiving of occasional over-watering.
Peace lily plants are also known for cleaning the air, helping to remove toxins and create a nicer environment in which to work. It’s tolerant of low light and a vigorous grower too.
LIGHTING
Lighting plays a pivotal role in defining every room of the house, and it becomes even more important in spaces like the home office, where functionality is far more important than mere aesthetics. A poorly lit home office can be demoralizing and can affect your mood and hurt your vision in the long run.
We highly recommend letting in as much natural light as possible, but if you are not blessed with ample natural light in your chosen space, then artificial lights become twice as important, as you will be using them even during the day. Overhead lighting forms the most basic part of ambient lighting, but here is where many homeowners make the mistake of sticking with what they have. The existing ambient lighting was not designed to serve a home office. So think about additional sources of illumination to add to the ambient light. Look at investing in some trendy modern lamps or wall sconces to improve overall lighting in your home office.
WALL DECOR
Art is so personal, and your home office should be not different. Curate your own mood board, hang a colorful piece of artwork by your favourite artist, position a chic mirror, or install shelving to hold decorative items, decorating the area around your desk with stylish décor is an easy way to elevate your workspace and stay inspired throughout the day.
HYDRATE!
Being even mildly dehydrated can affect your mental performance. Signs of mild dehydration are really subtle and tend to manifest as moodiness and brain fog. In other words, you might just think you’re tired when all you really need is a glass of water.
Get ahead of this problem by starting your work session off with a large glass of water standing right in front of you on your desk. Try and make it as appealing as possible – include slices of fresh lemon and a few mint leaves and ice cubes. Make a point of sipping the glass as you work.
For more pointers on how to decorate your home, you can read our blog DIY Painting 101: Paint Club’s Guide