Creative Ways to Personalize Your Home Office on a Budget
Your home office should do more than just help you get your work done.
It should also help you connect to what you do. Working in a space that highlights your individuality reduces work-related stress, increases creative thinking, and deepens focus. One cool and relatively inexpensive way to make your home office feel great is with a bit of statement lighting, like neon signs that fit your style. Companies like Yellowpop are creating affordable ways to make your home office visually energetic with customizable signs.
Rearrange and Reimagine What You Already Own
Step back before you start hitting the “purchase” button for new furniture or decor. You want to start your quest to a more personalized office with things you already have in your home. Take a stroll through your living space. What do you already have? What can breathe new life into your working space? The framed prints you haven’t yet mounted in the entryway? The mugs from a family set that would make great office pen holders? It’s literally zero dollars to rethink where you’ve placed the things you already own, and it can be deeply rewarding.
Go Vertical with Style
Got a small space? You can keep things off your home office desk and close at hand by going vertical. A set of bracketed shelves or a pegboard can show off your quirky side and keep your stuff within arm’s reach. Want to go really wild? Paint an accent wall with a washable whiteboard paint and sketch your ideas on the wall behind your desk.
This approach will work beautifully with a bit of custom home office flair in the glow of a neon sign. Wall light art doesn’t take up desk space, freeing you up to work with flexibility.
Personal Touches That Don’t Break the Bank
Home office lighting isn’t the only way to express your inner office spirit. Despite what the Pinterest boards may lead you to believe, it doesn’t need to resemble a spread from Architectural Digest for you to be inspired there. Reflect on elements that make you feel most like yourself and consider incorporating these into your workspace. Whether that’s a pencil holder, photo frame, or home office notebook, keep in mind that it doesn’t have to be much to be just right in the space where you think and work.
Invest in one or two special items that make your heart sing, and build your look around them. A soft, muted desk mat with pastel-colored sticky notes and organizers can bring the look together, even if they all came from a cheap dollar store or a discount outlet.
If you love to DIY, there’s room to get creative in your space. Paint your file cabinet highlighter yellow. Cover plain notebooks with patterned paper. Create a mini bulletin board by making a frame out of cork tiles and swathing it in fabric.
Upgrade Your Workspace with Color and Texture
When you’re choosing your color scheme, know that color has energy and will influence your mood. So, choose your palette with intention. Soft blues and greens can be restful and calming. Oranges, yellows, and corals feel more vibrant and energizing. If you can’t paint the walls in an apartment or rental, you can always add color with fun accessories, such as mouse pads, plant holders, and colorful rugs, or even make a white wall pop with a neon pink design.
Texture is what helps a room read as warm and homey. Mixing metal, wood, glass, and textiles will give the space warmth and living energy, and you’ll want to spend more time there. A woven basket under your table or a soft velvet cushion on your chair makes the room look more exciting.
Let Lighting Lead the Way
Aim to have as much natural light as possible in your workspace — if you can put your desk near a window, amazing! Good artificial light will give your workspace the energy you need to go from good to great. Overhead lighting can feel sterile sometimes, and table lamps on your desk will take valuable surface space.
That’s where a wall-mounted option comes in, that is, if a lot of natural lighting is not feasible. With mounted lighting, you’ll add great light and a cool look to your workspace. Neon is popping right now and works in any room, and most LED neons offer low-energy uses, a lot of color options, and the customizable look you want. Whether you want your name, a giant smiley face, or a lightning bolt, you will find something that works for your office space.
Make It Yours, One Detail at a Time
Personalizing your workspace doesn’t have to break the bank, but it does require some thought and effort. Move furniture around to make your small space work for you, and use some fun elements to add color, design, and good memories. You’ll get the perfect space for Zoom meetings and get your work done on time.
What you want is an ambiance that helps you become more productive, makes you more content with your space, and is tailored to your personal preferences and lifestyle. So, throw on some lights, add a personal touch, and create the best mini workspace in your home.
