32 interior ideas for your home office

These interior ideas for your home office will help you create a space that will inspire you to work and help you hit your career goals.

While most of us want to make sure that the design of all of our rooms is on point, getting your home office right is particularly important - as it’s likely somewhere where you spend a lot of your time. You want a balance of aesthetic and functional to help you feel motivated and creative.

Whether it’s decorating around a colour scheme or investing in interesting ornaments, here are 32 ideas to help you turn your home office into an inspiring and productive space.

32 interior ideas for your home office

1. Go for a clean and bright design

Working with clutter around can be particularly taxing on the mind and make it harder for you to focus on the work that you need to get done. Design a bright and clean space that can help keep your mind clear and allow you the mental bandwidth to get through your to-do list.

2. Put up some wall art

While it’s important that your home office is a functional space, it can help to add some character to give you something to smile at when it catches your eye throughout the day or even to inspire creativity as you work. Hang some wall art that makes you feel good when you look at it for an inspiring space.

3. Curate nice-looking bookshelves

Store all your books in one place and have them add to the aesthetic design of your office with curated bookshelves. Keep it to books only or split up piles of books with plants and ornaments. And if you have papers that need storing, you could even add a few box files to your shelves too.

4. Create an aesthetic filing system

Most of us will need some sort of filing system in a home office, but they’re not always the most pleasing to look at. Try to create a system that looks nice with the design of your room so that it isn’t such an eyesore to look at. Go for matching colours, sleek furniture and quality boxes and folders.

5. Get some plants

Plants will always brighten up a space and they’re a lovely way to bring the outdoors inside. Add some colour (and extra oxygen) to your office with a selection of pretty plants. You could even make up a watering schedule to stick to the side of your desk for when you want a mindful break from your work.

6. Lay out a rug

Add some warmth and a touch of personality to your home office with a rug that suits your room. Not only will it bring a bit of character to the room and help with your overall design, but it’s also a great addition to any rooms that tend to err on the cold side!

7. Have a colour scheme

While it’s easy to have a colour scheme for most rooms, an office is such a functional place that it might not be something we always think to do for this all-so-important room of the house. Whether it’s a low-key colour scheme that just works with your desk accessories or something you stick to across the room, it can be a really nice way to make it a more aesthetic place to be.

8. Curate a feature wall

A feature wall is a lovely way to always have something to look at that makes you smile - whether it’s a wall full of important and meaningful memories or simply professional photos that make you feel good when you look at them. Plus it adds a touch of character to your space too.

9. Keep it minimalist

Sticking to a minimalist design in an office might give you the mental space to focus more easily on your work and increase your levels of productivity - as without so many things around the room there’s less to distract your eyes and mind while you’re working.

10. Utilise lamps

While overhead lighting can be useful for some types of work, lamp lighting is really useful in creating a soft ambience in the room and a warmer space to be in. This can be particularly useful if you work in a creative field as adding that warmth to the room can help get your juices flowing.

11. Keep a vase of flowers

A vase of flowers helps any space to feel a bit more light, bright and fresh. Go for some soft and pretty eucalyptus if you like a neutral space or something with a pop of colour for something brighter. The ritual of refilling it every week is also likely to help make the space feel fresher and inspire productivity.

12. Stick to wooden accents

Wooden accents create warmth in any room, but for a home office, it’s a really nice way to have a sleek, professional-looking space without the coldness that can come with certain office designs. Pepper the smooth woods with pops of green for a fresh but cosy forest feel.

13. Get a nice-looking desk chair

Most of us will probably be using a boring black desk chair that we either nabbed in a rush when the Covid lockdown work-from-home measures came in or something slightly more sophisticated with some fancy ergonomics. But try opting for something that blends in with your colour scheme for a more aesthetically pleasing space - they even do ones with ergonomics now!

14. Go all-out beige

Beige can sometimes get a bad rap, but it’s a great option for a home office if you want somewhere quite chic and neutral but that still has some warmth to it. Add a coloured mat to your desk or opt for neutral-coloured furniture and ornaments to thread the theme throughout your room.

15. Have an accent wall

If you’re unsure about painting your entire room or are thinking of going for a colour or design that might be a bit overbearing in big doses, an accent wall can be a really good way to get that design out of your system without overdoing it. You could even try something patterned for a touch of fun.

16. Go for a sleek look

Get that fancy New York glass office feel by designing your office around sleek textures and shiny materials that will give it a luxurious and put-together look. Opt for a glass desk, cabinets and tables and metallic accents.

17. Add touches that nod to your passions or hobbies

A home office can be a really fun and personal space to display all of the things you love but that maybe don’t sit quite that well in other rooms of the house. Get out your memorabilia or hang up some prints or posters of your favourite film - or display things that have to do with your go-to hobbies.

18. Opt for colourful furniture

Most of our home offices will probably consist of black, white or maybe beige furniture, but opting for something brighter can be a fun way to get some colour into the room without cluttering it up with lots of other different things. Go for a coloured desk, bright shelves or even a patterned armchair.

19. Nod to your favourite place

Evoke your favourite travel memories by designing your room around your favourite place. It doesn’t have to be too over the top, but go for colours, accents and furniture that either reminds you of the aesthetic of the place or that they would actually use there.

20. Go for a monochrome look

If you want a really sleek and clean home office space, you can’t go wrong with monochrome. While it’s probably not for everyone, it is a good design to opt for if you want a more orderly, professional and perhaps slightly impersonal room to work in.

21. Dot interesting candles around

Create a warm and inviting space by dotting a selection of candles around your home office. Make it more aesthetically interesting by using different candle types and colours. Create height with candlesticks and depth with multi-wick candles - and go for nice-looking designs too.

22. Invest in an aesthetic fan

With so much time spent in there and presumably a lot of tech equipment, a home office can easily get a bit stuffy, especially on those days when it’s a bit warmer outside. If you can, opt for an aesthetic-looking fan to stay in keeping with your room’s design and stop it from getting too cluttered.

23. Choose a nice-looking desk

Most of us have probably opted for a simple white, black or wooden desk for our home offices, but for a really chic-looking space, go for something that suits your room’s design. It can, of course, still be quite simple, but go for something with interesting legs or a sleek glass top for an aesthetic look.

24. Have a nice clock on display

With most of our days filled with meetings and deadlines, it can be useful to have a clock in the office to remind us of the time - especially if we’re not actually behind our computer screen. Pick one that suits your office design for a nice aesthetic touch.

25. Add metallic accents

If you want to elevate the design of your home office without giving it an entire overhaul, adding metallic accents can be an easy way to change up the design for a more sleek and luxury-feeling space. Black metal is especially in vogue at the moment, while gold is perfect for those with maximalist style.

26. Opt for your favourite colour

It’s always nice to be surrounded by our favourite colour - one that makes us feel a certain way, whether that be creative, inspired, comfortable, productive or motivated; or simply one that makes us smile. Design your office around a colour you love to make it a space you won’t want to leave (although you definitely should).

27. Add interesting ornaments

If you want to make your room look and feel a bit more high-end, but still want to keep it quite formal and impersonal, try and find some interesting ornaments that you can dot around the room for something interesting to look at - and some of them might even have a story behind them that you can tell your visitors...

28. Have a display shelf

While a home office needs to be a functional space, it’s always nice to have some sort of display shelf where we can present things that mean a lot to us. Whether it’s an array of work-related awards or mementoes from important moments or even meaningful holidays, it’s always nice to have something that will make us smile.

29. Add a pop of colour

Home offices tend to be made up of quite neutral - or even slightly drab - colours, but adding a pop of colour can immediately brighten up a space and make it look a lot more put together, without having to do much else. It will also probably help to put you in a more positive mood when you need it, as is the power of colour.

30. Put photos up

Most of us probably have personal photos up throughout the house, but we might not always think to add them to our home office. Keeping a few photos around can give us something happy to focus on when we’re feeling particularly stressed during work, or just remind us of our life outside of that bubble.

31. Put up some string lights

Most of us tend to stick to overhead or even lamp lighting for a home office, but adding something a bit more fun to your room can make you feel more creative and inspired. String lights will add warmth to your space and make it feel a bit more cosy to work in.

32. Try dark colours

If you want to make a cosy but expensive-looking little cave for yourself, flood your home office in dark colours like navy, chestnut brown, forest green or even black. Add a sharp and woody candle to really evoke a cosy feel that will help you feel a bit closer to nature.