For many industries, working from home has become the norm and the need to create a productive work environment is at the forefront of the minds of young professionals.
What better way to increase productivity than to outfit the perfect office space! Design professionals at Home Design Ideas have found some of the best and easiest ways to help you find your office style, so that the real work can follow. Whether you’ve got an entire room or just a tiny corner, this list should help spark the imagination!
Minimalism
Minimalism has been a consistent trend that works its way into many highly sourced styles, from Hygge to Transitional. For offices in particular, minimalism is key as it wards against clutter and helps promote a clear mind.
To keep your desk clutter-free, add in simple furniture and some shelving. Embrace a neutral color palette to really showcase the minimalist in yourself, and if you need to warm things up to avoid getting too stale, incorporate a touch of green with a plant or pieces of art.
This is the better way to keep it simple, clean, and perfectly in order.
Photo courtesy Pixabay.
Black Goes with Everything
Much like its effect on wearable fashion, black happens to go with almost anything, from brass accents on black furniture to gray-black paint as an accent wall.
Using black is an easy, yet stylish method of design for those who want their office style to look effortless (because it was!). There are tons of ways you implement black color, including the utilization of fun prints.
“To totally transport yourself somewhere way more exciting than your work, try an exotic pattern, like the black-and-white zebra motif. A rattan chandelier adds texture and personality to the space,” according to Home Design Ideas.
Photo courtesy Pixabay.
Boho a Go-Go
Bohemian, like other classic styles, is one that is timeless and free spirited in nature — a perfect setting to give your mind a rest after the work is done.
Embrace your inner free spirit and decorate your office with anything that tells a story, has sentimental value to you, or that you picked up on your travels.
Often times these pieces are little motivational tokens, a reminder of what success and productivity lead to.
Add in a bold, patterned rug, color on color, and some plants to add to this overall energy.
For other tips, visit Home Design Ideas post here!
Photo courtesy Daria Shevtsova.
Tropical decor is a bold statement that can be difficult to balance. Avoid over-the-top details and learn how to embrace muted accents and elements that elevate a space without making it too whimsical.
If tropical brings to mind luxurious retreats and dream vacations, you may want to incorporate the look into your home. Here are a few tips for bringing tropical to a high-end level that you’ll love throughout the seasons.
Photo courtesy of English Blinds
Bold Wallpaper
Most tropical decor involves a playful wallpaper or large piece of art. There are a variety of quality wallpaper brands that can help create an oasis of color and charm for your space. Have fun with your wallpaper, there are many to choose from and it is the quickest way to transform a space.
Photo courtesy of Wallsauce.com
Add Foliage
Tropical prints are just the beginning. If you are looking for an authentic feel and want to avoid a staged look, incorporate real tropical greenery that will play off accents, prints and other details in your decor. A snake plant or peace lily truly capture the tropical feel, yet they are low maintenance and easy to care for. Greenery can also bring out muted tones that might appear in prints.
Photo courtesy of Mindthegap
Try Traditional
Fun details can be luxurious. Black and white, monochromatic, or muted prints can still embrace tropical imagery. A palm tree wallpaper or a pink flamingo statute can be toned down in terms of color, allowing more flexibility in your decor. Don’t shy away from traditional items but the balance between just enough and too much is delicate.
Photo courtesy of Brabbu Design Forces
Keep it Neutral
Neutral tones help to balance bright colors and bold shapes that appear in tropical wallpapers and prints. If you’ve decided on a statement wallpaper and you’re worried about overwhelming your senses, it helps to choose natural accents such as wood furniture and flooring. Light grays and white also tone down the intensity of a space.
Photo courtesy of Essential Home
Mix and Match
If you want to truly embrace the tropical sentiment, be bold and confident with your choices. For an earthy tropical feel, mixing a variety of prints that play off of each other with color palettes that work together will bring your space to life. Mixing and matching prints, designs and elements can come together to create a luxurious balance.
Photo courtesy of Essential Home
Check out these articles with simialr content; Bold Wallpaper, Wallpaper That Will Stick Around, How To Weather The Decor Dilemmas of Modern Farmhouse, Tropical Modernism Makes a Comeback in Hawaii.
Slanted ceilings have made their way outside of the attic, now in living, dining and bedrooms. Designing under these slopes can be tricky, but there are ways to get around it — and even use them to make the room more elegant and spacious. Here’s how:
1. Light and Airy
Whenever you’re tight on space, adding a coat of white paint to the ceilings and walls can make all the difference. Not only does it add a simple and natural tone, but it’s malleable to design the room to your style.
Photo courtesy of English Blinds
Photo courtesy of Oak Furnitureland
The blank canvas that comes with white walls and ceilings allows for limitless creativity. Create a nautical look for a more relaxed vibe, or add bold colors to make the space stand out. With a white canvas, slanted ceilings can do no harm.
Photo courtesy of Melody Maison
2. Lighting the Room
Lighting a room can be the most difficult challenge when designing a space under slanted ceilings. Many don’t think they can use any overhead lighting, since the ceiling is on a slope. In reality, however, it isn’t impossible — it’s all a matter of picking the right light fixtures.
This is a simple yet elegant style for light fixtures that work perfectly on slanted ceilings. The wires can slightly slightly bend, so that they hang naturally.
Another great way to add natural light under slanted ceilings is with skylights. They flood the room with natural light in the daytime and add a unique and stylish look to the space.
3. A More Natural Look
Sometimes, however, it’s better to let the slanted ceilings add a unique design to the room, rather than hide them with an all-white hue. Adding wooden beams can do just the trick. When the ceilings aren’t too low, wooden beams won’t emphasize the height, but add a beautiful finish to the room instead. Light or dark browns for the wooden beams create a beautiful, natural look that goes with any style.
Photo courtesy of Covet Valley
Photo courtesy of Covet Valley
Adding yellow accents to a room can be tricky: while it can transform a dull design to a bright and airy space, anything too harsh can cause the opposite effect. Luckily, there’s a foolproof way to designing a space with the color, and it can be a breath of fresh air whenever you walk into the room.
Photo courtesy of The French Bedroom Co.
Photo courtesy of The French Bedroom Co.
When it comes to bedrooms, it can be difficult to choose the palette. While yellow walls may be too overbearing, yellow anywhere else may not be enough to do the trick. That’s why these two bedrooms have designed their spaces with two main categories: a bright yellow and a neutral color, such as grey, white or brown. They both balance each other out perfectly, with the yellow still adding that pop without being too harsh. The combination of hues adds to the comfortable and stylish decor, creating a space that’ll both brighten you up in the morning and be a calm retreat at the end of the day.
Photo courtesy of DelightFULL
Creating a living room with just a hint of yellow can add the perfect accent. This room that’s almost completely blue has a beautiful addition found with the bright yellow chair. It creates the perfect balance between the colors, creating a space with a unique and alluring charm.
The main trick with designing a room around the color yellow is to pick the right tones. The yellows shouldn’t be too harsh or overbearing, otherwise it will bring an unappealing style to the space. Meanwhile, the main colors of the room should be more neutral yet distinct from the yellow. Clear whites and dark browns and neutral grays play well here.
Photo courtesy of English Blinds
Photo courtesy of Orchid Furniture
Incorporate fresh plants to add another hint of color without making the space look disorganized or messy, and you’re on your way to creating the perfect space that’ll brighten up your day the moment you walk in.
Photo courtesy Lights4fun.
As the summer passes and transitions to fall, there are several ways you can incorporate fun, easy changes to your home style to showcase a sleek, sophisticated style that flows perfectly with the season. Rebecca Snowden, Interior Style Advisor at Furniture Choice Limited, shares three key décor tips to style a cozy home for Autumn 2019.
Jewel Tones and Inviting Textures
This autumn, let rich jewel tones like deep mauve, sapphire blue and dust pink take center stage. “Embrace the sophistication of the season in all its moody glamour,” says Snowden.
A lush black velvet bed instantly adds elegance to a bedroom and sets a luxurious base to build upon. Layer deep, rich tones via opulent textures like velvet and faux fur to create a lavish, comfortable setting.
Light up the space with distinctive fixtures to enhance the overall ambiance. “Individual pendant bulbs give off a modern, almost industrial feel while sleek, standing lamps are practical and stylish,” Snowden notes. Display fresh flowers for a burst of life or dramatic floral artwork with contemporary charm as final touches.
Photo courtesy LUXXU Home.
Black and Yellow – A Perfect Pair
On a brighter note, pairing black and yellow results in a lighter, modern take on autumn décor. One part dark, one part festive, and altogether stylish. Choose a dark yellow like mustard, in homage to autumn’s signature leaves.
“This trendy color contrasts nicely with a sleek black leather sofa to produce an edgy and seasonal-appropriate palette,” says Snowden. Go bold with a mustard feature wall or start small with yellow cushions, rugs and planters.
With this style choice, Snowden also recommends keeping the rest of the room simple and opt for pieces with clean lines to prevent overwhelming the senses. Add warmth with a soothing accent color like forest green, achieved through incorporating dark green, leafy plants. These not only bring in life but also a sense of freshness, all while contributing to the overall style.
Photo courtesy DelightFULL.
Accessorize
In the spirit of transitioning into the season, get crafty and DIY some autumn-themed accessories. “Metallic accessories are a simple and effective way to add a pinch of glamour and light to any space,” Snowden advises.
Photos courtesy Lights4fun.
When designing a child’s bedroom, the typical idea is to create a space with a bright, happy atmosphere. Finding the line between fun and playful to childish and unfashionable can be a thin one. It’s important to keep this space clean and stylish, without making it too modern or uncomfortable. Here are a few ways to find the perfect balance:
Photo courtesy of Noa and Nani
1. Storage Space
The many toys and games a child has creates the need for just as much storage space to organize it all. To keep the clutter away, choose a bed frame that includes built-in storage underneath. The mess that’s usually found under a child’s bed is now tucked neatly away in drawers, to create a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere.
2. A Colorful Canvas
The key to decorating a child’s bedroom is balancing the tones and color schemes, in order to create a happy childlike atmosphere. Look toward colorful pieces to balance out more subtle tones. This way, the space will look warm and inviting while not feeling cluttered and chaotic. A bright, colorful rug like the one below can add a fun, youthful piece to an otherwise modern room. Shelving is also a great way to add color to a child’s room. While not too overbearing in its appearance, the bright color is a modern and stylish way to keep a kid’s room on trend.
Photo courtesy of Go Modern
Photo courtesy of 111 Leroy
Photo courtesy of The Alyn
3. Balance Between Modern and Warm
Designing a child’s room is also finding a balance between modern and functional while creating a warm and welcoming space. The goal is to avoid scattered and outdated designs. A designer’s trick is to use both warm and colorful tones with function in mind. Deep greens, browns, reds, and blues create a sanctuary that’s both stylish and comfortable. In this bedroom at the Alyn, shown below, a neutral color palette alongside other playful elements to maintain the balance.
Photo courtesy of 100 Barclay
Over the past few years, stained glass has gone from a dusty antique item in an old home to modern works of art. With the industry making a comeback into the luxury scene, interior designers are challenging themselves to design a space around the ornate glass. Here are a few different ideas:
Photo courtesy of Bespoke Glass
Photo courtesy of Florence Broadhurst Fabrics
Stained glass can add a pop of color and make your space feel both cozy and modern. The green colors on this partition add a bright finish to the room, making it the centerpiece for all the other furniture to gather around it. While still looking modern, it brings back an old-school style to provide a sense of comfort as well. Nowadays, adding a piece of stained glass to a home brings a unique style unlike any other — one that brings you back in time, while also staying ahead of the times, too.
Located in New Haven, Connecticut, the Blake Hotel adds a unique style to the space by featuring the work of Bespoke Glass, a studio-based business in Brooklyn, New York. The different shades of blue colors and the glimmer of the glass adding a retro look that transports you to a different time in the past, while also staying current and on-trend. The placement of the blue pieces adds an edgy and one-of-a-kind appearance. Not only is it a partition, but it’s a work of art in its own right.
Photo courtesy of Reed McKendree
Photo courtesy of Bespoke Glass
By changing the designs stained glass was normally confined to in the past, studios and interior designers around the globe are beginning to take out the dusty antiques from their storage bins and create works of art instead. With so many different styles and colors, the possibilities are endless.
No matter the lifestyle, wellness and the pursuit to live better has been a rising trend in today’s world. In 2018, Pinterest reported that searches for “self care” were up 140 percent year-over-year, with no mention of stopping. Recently surveyed by national paint brand Sherwin-Williams, homeowners and professional interior designers have also noticed this uptick in wellness and how it affects modern home design and décor. Looking to make your spaces “healthier”? Check out these recent trends to see how you can incorporate wellness into your home styling.
Self-Caring for Your Space
People are taking self-care beyond their body and into interiors. According to the survey, nearly 42 percent of designers say they have been asked to incorporate self-care into their designs. Twenty-nine percent of homeowners also take self-care into consideration when decorating their home.
The most popular way to bring wellness into a space also happens to be one of the easiest — natural light. Eighty-seven percent of designers use natural light to effortlessly reflect wellness.
Photo by Daria Shevtsova
Breathe It In
Improving indoor air quality is key for homeowners and designers looking to make changes. Over 54 percent of homeowners cite air quality as away they bring wellness into their homes, and 58 percent of designers use it as a tool to incorporate wellness.
Limiting volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, that are released through building materials is one of the best ways to improve air quality. This is done by using lower-VOC paints and other home improvement products that are sustainably sourced and have a low-carbon footprint.
Photo by Anamul Rezwan.
Color
When it comes to color, designers and homeowners do not see eye to eye on their top color choice that represents or stimulates wellness. Nearly 41 percent of designers say that green associates the most with wellness, whereas 34 percent of homeowners believe this color to be blue. Another popular color is white/gray, which 11 percent of designers and 18 percent of homeowners associate with the trend.
The color least likely to be associated with wellness? Red. Not a single designer and only 1 percent of homeowners reported that they associate this hue with wellness.
Photo by Pixabay.
Total Zen
In regard to specific spaces that are designed to promote wellness, homeowners different on their choice of which space was the best to achieve “total zen.” The top choices included a gym/fitness room (41 percent), a reading room (41 percent), and a greenhouse (38 percent). These choices differed from designers, who say that the most popular wellness rooms they’ve been asked to design in the past year include a reading room, a sauna/spa, a gym/fitness room, or a meditation room.
No matter the space, these insights into the wellness trends of today may better help you to find the wellness you crave from the comfort of your own home.
Photo by KatjaFiona.
KB Home Design Studio is known for working with customers as they are building a new home to help them personalize the space for their individual needs.
“Because each customer is unique with different tastes, we must be able to include choices that reflect many design aesthetics,” says Gena Kirk, Vice President of Design at KB Home.
This method comes readily at hand with a market that is continually evolving, with millennials currently making up the largest share of homebuyers in today’s market. We spoke with Kirk to learn more about how designers and brands like KB Home are staying on the pulse of emerging design trends and what millennials are really desiring in their homes.
What tools outside of work help inspire you while you work?
These are some of the mediums that aid me in selecting the best choices for our KB Home Design Studio customer. In addition to the usual interior design outlets that inspire me, I am also inspired by our supplier partner’s innovative products and consumer research such as Moen’s Magnetix Handheld Shower and Shaw’s Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring.
We’re accommodating a wide variety of customers who are looking to personalize their home at an affordable price so the more information we have about the products being developed and available the better we can provide value products to our KB customer.
Gena Kirk, Vice President of Design
KB Home
Are there some that don’t inspire but help you get away from work?
I am personally inspired by such mediums as home design shows, decorating magazines, Houzz, Pinterest, Apartment Therapy, decorating blogs and following retail furniture trends.
What kind of styles/trends are most prevalent in millennial-bought homes today, and why?
In millennial-built homes, we’re seeing from the KB Home Design studio a few things. For example, they’re prioritizing things such as flexible spaces within the home, an eye towards health and wellness, an interest in technology and a minimalist design. KB Home tracks these interests to make sure we’re offering our millennial buyer what they’re expecting and what they want to make their homes their own.
Millennials are purchasing only the square footage they need verses the biggest home they can afford. This makes flexible spaces very important to these buyers and they want to make best use of that space.
Millennials also have an interest in the home as a source of health and wellness. They have an interest in things like door fixtures that are antibacterial, or no-touch have become popular, as well as Energy Star HVAC that helps not only cut down on utility costs, but also provides clean indoor air.
Lastly, millennials are looking to a minimalist design aesthetic. This also helps maximize their living space and provide a clean, modern look. They will use neutral paint colors, like greige, to warm the space.
What has been your favorite project to work on at KB Home?
My favorite and most rewarding project to work on was designing, creating and building the new KB Design Studio. KB Home was able to highlight our personalization options in beautiful design studios across the company. Our suppliers have their product on display and are uniquely merchandised to promote customer interaction and product sales. Additionally, our customers love the interactive displays and organized choice making the selection process easy and fun!
Was there anything that inspired you specifically?
Designing the KB Home Studio was more challenging than designing a room. I considered the warm and welcoming feeling that I wanted the space to convey, as well as the idea that the KB Home studio needed to inspire our customers and provide them with a creative space to fully personalize and envision their new home.
KB Home Studio. All photos courtesy KB Home.
While dark-colored walls can add a depth to a room, it can sometimes be tricky to style around them. Every dark-colored wall brings a heavy tone with it, and it’s important to know how to design the space so has a balanced tone. While it’s a designer’s challenge, here are different rooms that prove it can be done:
Photo courtesy of Brabbu Design Forces
Photo courtesy of AUDENZA
1. Brighter Colors, Warmer Tones
When designing any room, it’s crucial to look at the colors you’ll be using and make sure they balance each other out. This is especially so for rooms with dark-colored walls. While they add a great tone to the space, too many darker tones can make a room feel cold and uninviting.
The perfect balance of colors involves a mixture of both darker and lighter colors, such as this bright red chair in front of a dark green backdrop. The chair adds a pop of color, making the dark colored walls feel warm and inviting.
1. Light versus Dark
Balancing the lighter and darker tones can be a challenge, since having too much of one can overwhelm and wash out the other. These baths represent the perfect balance of tones. The darker walls counteract against the polished bathtubs and light fixtures. This not only adds a great balance, but brings a rich and inviting depth of color to the room.
Photo courtesy of Garden Trading
Photo courtesy of Original Style
Photo courtesy of Original Style
3. Allowing Tones to Stand Out
When it comes to dark-colored walls, an immediate response may be to counteract the heavier tones with lighter statement pieces. While this can create a beautiful design, it’s important to allow the rich, dark colors to stand out. In this kitchen, there are minimal pieces that are lighter in color, allowing the walls to be full in color and provide a warm and cozy atmosphere.