Paint is one of the easiest ways to update your home office.

How would you describe your home office? Does it look a bit rough around the edges? Clients may not see your home office but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a nice, comfortable and even stylish place to work.  There are a few cheap ways to give your home office a facelift.

• Paint your walls and don’t be afraid of color.  Start with your rug, a piece of art or any furniture that’s in your home office and then match it.  It doesn’t have to be a perfect match (that’s boring). If you can’t find a color you like, make up your own color.  I created “Working Naked Gold” for my home office.

• Add window treatments.  Shades, valances and drapery can add color, pattern and interest to your home office. In the design industry, custom = costly. Fortunately there are some great ready-made window treatment options available from high-end stores to discount stores.  A few places to shop for reasonably-priced window treatments are The Great Indoors, Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Tuesday Morning and even (believe it or not) Lowe’s.

• Use homemade accessories. What better way to get art for free than from your kids? Instead of tossing your child’s wobbly clay pot or pitching a vase, display it. My sons’ works of art (from a few years ago) fill my home office bookcases. They’re colorful and they have sentimental value.  Do you have a clay sculpture of a lion holding a penguin or a mouse surrounded by cheese and cooking utensils?  I didn’t think so.

• Create cheap (yet stylish) art. Enlarge your favorite photo, add a mat and frame, and then hang it. Or buy a book of reproductions, clip a few pages, slip them into frames and enjoy your new masterpieces. Frames are cheap and sometimes even expensive frames go on sale.

The quality of home office furniture continues to improve.

• High-end or premium furniture uses various woods including oak, maple, pine and mahogany. You’ll find dovetail drawer construction (rather than drawer-fronts glued or nailed to the drawer), a latching keyboard pullout—you can use it instead as a drawer—and high-quality ball bearings. High-end desks often are made out of high-quality wood—kiln-dried is the best—or hardwoods with a higher-end veneer. Sligh, Paoli and Hooker Furniture make quality high-end desks and you’ll find other options at Design Within Reach and Desk by Design.

• Mid-range furniture offers some of the same benefits of high-end pieces but is more affordable. The drawers have either dovetail construction or fronts nailed to the drawer, nice finishes and even come in a variety of colors. Mid-range furniture uses a combination of wood and MDF (medium density fiberboard). Look for mid-range home office furniture at various retailers including Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Ballard Designs and Computer Furniture Direct. Also check with furniture dealers in your area and check out one of my favorite manufacturers, Aspen Home.

• Economy furniture, mostly RTA (ready-to-assemble), is designed to function at a low price and often is made from less expensive particleboard or from MDF that’s rated lower than what’s used on mid-range furniture. On the surface of RTA furniture is laminate, melamine or some other type of veneer that changes the look of the furniture and gives the surface added protection. Sometimes plastic is used on metal glide systems on RTA to save money. RTA lines are available at various office supply superstores and discount stores including Office Depot, Staples, Office Max, Target, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and Costco.