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.

• Find furniture that fits. Before I moved into my new home office, I measured the dimensions of the room and figured out how big my desk should be. (My former home office had built-ins). I found a medium-sized desk and return with tongue-in-groove detailing. (It’s better to have a desk with drawer fronts that aren’t glued or nailed onto the drawer). The L-shape desk fits in my office and I still have room for a chair and two bookcases.
  

  Knowing how to hang art is an art in itself

• Use rugs to absorb sound. The hand-scraped, hardwood floors in my home office get an “A” for beauty and an “F” for soundproofing ability. Before I placed a rug in my office, people kept asking me if I was calling from a cave. So after my desk was in place, I measured how much space I had for a rug and found one with colors that were consistent with the rest of my home. I prefer wool rugs over synthetic (Olefin) because they have a richer look and feel better. Two of my favorite places to find wool rugs are Marshall’s and Tuesday Morning. You can go to home furnishing stores and find a better selection and higher prices, but the price and quality of the Marshall’s and Tuesday Morning rugs fit most home office budgets.

• Add window treatments. Aside from providing color and pattern in a home office, window treatments can add additional soundproofing. An added bonus is if you’re naked while working naked, your neighbors will appreciate your window treatments too.

• Plan before you hang artwork. Hanging artwork can be tricky. Designer Melinda Miles suggests placing the center of the artwork or grouping at eye level. (Take into account whether people will be standing or sitting in that area. Is it a hallway? or a family room?) And remember, artwork should relate to the surrounding furniture in weight, scale, and line.