Congratulations! You’ve landed the perfect job, complete with your own office. Now what? Of course, you’ll be spending time mastering the ins and outs of your new position. And you’ll be moving into you new office. You will, no doubt, have the requisite desk, file drawers and bookshelves. But what can you do to make your office truly yours? With just these few office decorating tips, you’ll be on your way to having an office of which you can be proud.

First, determine how much space is available within your office for your decor. Take some pictures of the office you’ve been assigned. Look at where the window(s), door, electrical outlets and computer jacks are situated. These will determine the possible furniture layouts. You may even want to draw up a scale floor plan with like-scale furniture. You can then try several arrangements to see which one you prefer – without hurting your back!

Once you have your furniture in place, your files in the file drawers, and your books and manuals on the shelves, you will see exactly how much wall, shelf, and floor space you have available for your personal touch.

Second, choose the correct type of image. If you are employed by a conservative company, you’ll want your office to portray a more conservative image. Conversely, if you work for a vibrant, innovative company, your office should communicate that same feeling.

Third, while keeping within the proper company image, be sure to include your personality in your choice of décor. Are you an avid sports fan? Do you spend your free time in the woods? Do you love to travel? Any of these, or many other, interests can be easily incorporated into your office decorating scheme.

Now that you’ve determined the space you have available for your personalized office décor, you’ve chosen the type of image that would work best with your company, and you’ve chosen the aspect of your personality that you would like to portray, it’s time to get busy selecting the actual items to include in your office.

A great place to begin is at a wall mural website, such as muralsyourway.com. You will find, literally, hundreds of ideas to suit your personality. If you are lucky enough to have a wall unobstructed by a window, door, or bookshelves, you may want to include one of their full-size murals in your decorating scheme. The murals also come in smaller sizes, which can be used as is or hung in a frame. Once you have a mural theme as your starting point, choose plants, vases, sculptures, picture frames, and other decorative items that coordinate with the theme and colors of the mural. Let’s look at a couple of possibilities – one with a conservative image and another with an innovative approach.

For a person working at a conservative company, with an interest in travel, imagine an office with a world map mural on the wall. Hung from the appropriate location on the mural are small framed photographs of the employee’s travels. On the bookshelves are items purchased during his/her world travels. There are several plants arranged in a group, each in a vase purchased at a different travel destination. This employee has succeeded in decorating the office to suit his/her personality while keeping within the conservative framework of his company.

This same person, working at an innovative company, could choose a full wall mural that consists of a backdrop of his/her favorite destination, perhaps a tropical beach. Décor would consist, in part, of family photos at beach destinations. Groups of tropical plants in vases covered in shells collected at various beach destinations would be grouped in various areas throughout the office. Window coverings would be constructed from a tropical print fabric – or even beach towels. Bookshelves, again, would contain tropical items purchased at various destinations. As in the case above, the employee has succeeded in decorating the office to suit his/her personality, with the added joy of feeling as if one is truly in the tropics!

As you can see, using just these few decorating tips, you too can have an office that fits your personality while keeping within the bounds of your company’s culture. Enjoy your decorating adventure!


Denyce Rusch has 25 years experience as a designer, graphic and fine artist. Visit her blog http://www.framedartdecor.com/decorating for home and office decorating ideas.
   

            
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