Here's our second instalment of advice from the wonderful Rachel Smith, from Clutter is the enemy.
Ditch the greige
Colour is life and is key to making an environment feel both comfortable and inspiring. And that is the opposite of grey walls and sticking rigidly to your brand colours. There will be several accent colours that actually help your brand colours sing and, more importantly, will encourage different behaviours in your staff. If your people need to focus then blues are great for that. Work in the wellbeing sector? Then greens are your friend. Want to encourage conversation and collaboration then splashes of yellow and orange will do the trick. Colour psychology is well worth looking into as colour can subconsciously help shape certain behaviours, but most of all it just creates a nicer place to be. And please remember that office chairs come in many colours, so don’t just choose blue or black because that’s what everyone else does, just check out Workspace Furniture and Design’s many colour swatches!
Fill in the blanks
Empty walls do not inspire so why not support local artists and fill your walls with colour, vibrancy, personality, and meaning? Everything that is usually missing in an office environment. There may be budding artists or photographers in your team so why not give them a chance to shine? Or maybe organise a creative workshop for your staff and put the resulting works of art on the wall. Art can create an uplifting and positive environment and can be a source of inspiration – it has even been proven in several studies that people thrive in an aesthetically pleasing space so why wouldn’t you just take a bit of time to think about it? Pictures can create a talking point and encourage social interaction, and the University of Exeter even found that having art on the walls can improve productivity by 17%! It’s got to be worth a shot, hasn’t it?
Give them the feels
If we’re not careful, an office quickly becomes a place full of hard lines and man-made fibres. So try introducing curved edges instead of straight lines, rugs, cushions and PLANTS (real ones if possible, but if not then you get a lot of the same benefits from good quality artificial ones). Not only do these things add texture, pattern, colour, and a link to nature, but they soak up noise, something that’s really important if your office space is mainly open plan. We spend more time at work than anywhere else so why shouldn’t your office feel like home? If you want to bring out the best in your staff then help them to feel good at work.
So you see in 2025 the word office should be more synonymous with the word ‘home’ than anything else. To bring the best out in your people you need to listen to them, support them, and nurture them, and you need to provide an environment where they can grow and flourish and be the best version of themselves. Have a look around you. How homely is your workspace and how does it make you feel? And more importantly, how does it make your people feel? Have you ever asked them?
