Looking for office wall decor ideas to refresh a tired or empty space in your home office? With working from home becoming a fixture in many of our lives, now is the time to rethink how your workspace fits into your home and make it a beautiful, organized, and inspiring place to spend time. Those empty office walls are filled with endless possibilities – and a few stylish wall decorations can make an office feel like a productive space that is also beautiful.
Read on for home office ideas and design tips from interior design experts to make your home office wall art as attractive as the rest of your home – and perfectly functional too.
Office wall decoration ideas
For the past two years, those of us lucky enough to have a special room to lock ourselves in have gratefully recognized the peaceful retreat they provide.
With working from home likely to be the new normal for many of us, we’re rethinking the aesthetics of our office walls. But how do you add beauty to what is ultimately a functional space? It can be done. Here we explore the essential elements of wall decoration ideas for an office space.
1. Add art to office walls
(Image credit: Robert Stilin)
“When introducing art to a modern home office wall, think about the kind of medium, scale and style you want as you move through the space — never decide off-plan,” recommends Camilla Clarke, creative director at Albion Nord .
‘That’s how you feel the natural places for art to be. This can be next to a window or a view through the house. Remember, art doesn’t always have to be centered on the wall; it can rest on desks or be layered next to sculptures or on bookshelves and joinery.’
2. Stack materials
(Image credit: Dan Duchars)
A wall in a home office should be designed as a space to think. Instead of opting for a blank canvas on the walls, add creative inspiration through artwork or patterned wallpaper.
“This year we are embracing combining a wide variety of materials to create a super luxurious and inspiring workspace,” said Martin Waller, founder of design brand Andrew Martin. “From paneling ideas for walls and large-scale artwork, to tapestries and shelving ideas, there’s a plethora of looks to choose from.”
3. Decorate with an energetic color scheme
(Image credit: Katrin Cargill / Jon Day)
Soothing paint colors for the home office, such as green and blue, provide tranquility and that all-important link to the outdoors. While these shades are suitable for south- or west-facing rooms, and even bright north- or east-facing rooms, you may feel that a home office that only receives cool daylight is better suited to warmer colors, as in this home office made for Homes & Gardens by stylist Katrin Cargill.
4. Prioritize storage for your office wall
(Image credit: Jan Baldwin / Future)
There’s little point in envisioning a nice workspace only to find out after a year or two that there’s no place to put things.
As mundane as it may sound, think about home office storage ideas from the start, says interior designer Kate Earle, co-founder of Todhunter Earle. ‘Everyone archives in a different way, but anyway, it takes up a lot of space.’
She prefers built-in joinery on office walls to furniture: ‘It accommodates all cabling and sockets for IT equipment and maximizes available space.
5. Transform a patterned office wall
(Image credit: Matthew Williamson)
We all know the transformative power of color and pattern, and wallpaper is sure to preserve the softness of a space.
For small home office ideas, a combination of wallpaper and wainscoting can be a smart solution; this is visually interesting and also ensures that the room is not overwhelmed by a loud print. If your desk is in the corner of a larger room, paper can be used to mark off the work area.
When it comes to color, choose soothing shades to ground the scheme and encourage thoughtfulness. Blue adjacent to gray are successful: color theories suggest that these shades increase the ability to focus. Dark green is another contender, as it is meant to boost creativity.
6. Use a mood-enhancing green
(Image credit: Davide Lovatti)
According to color psychology, beige green and yellow green are the most stress-reducing shades – so ideal for a home office environment. They also make a good neutral backdrop for displaying art.
7. Install a wall of books
(Image credit: Simon Brown)
Home library ideas are perfect for those who want a scholarly background for online meetings, but they don’t have to be solid in character or gloomy in color. In this example K&H Design (opens in new tab) upscaled the atmosphere by painting the matching joinery a bold blue and lining the mantelpiece with hand-marbled bookbinding paper to add character to your office wall decor ideas.
“As we all spend more and more time in our home offices, they need to be comfortable and visually appealing – you don’t have to choose between practicality and aesthetics,” adds interior decorator and fabric designer Flora Soames. (opens in new tab).
Consider the character of the person who will be using the space and the work they do when deciding on a schedule. Build up the room from there. ‘A clean white space will never work for me; I need to be surrounded by a lot of things to think creatively.”
8. Enjoy the view
(Image credit: Katharine Howard/James Merrell)
Limited office wall space? Don’t worry, just use the view to increase your home office productivity.
If the office layout allows it, it will be much more inspiring to have a home desk facing the outside so that you can look outside or into the room itself than looking at a wall. Hanging lace curtains or installing shutters at the front of the house reduces distractions and obscures the view of passers-by. At the rear you can fully enjoy the view of the garden. Style consultant Katharine Howard’s home office pictured above occupies what was once an unused side-return; the narrow proportions are softened by the glass windows that offer a leaf-filled view, reflected in the green walls.
“I wanted to create a space that wouldn’t affect other rooms in the house. This bit of space worked perfectly, the huge window and skylight created a wonderful sense of openness,” she says. Whether or not you can enjoy the view of a garden, you can still create a visual link to the outdoors by using beautiful biophilic wallpapers and fabrics, like the one featured on the front cover of this month, to bring a garden indoors. magic
9. Use your office wall for advanced storage
(Image credit: Anson Smart)
Your office wall is a great space to create a sense of order, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have to be beautiful or inspiring.
Here, soothing tones combine with a confident touch of metallic glamor to create a sophisticated home office in this design from interior designer Tamsin Johnson. Creating niches for books encourages them to be organized by topic or style.
10. Zone an office with wallpaper
(Image credit: Future Owners)
Wallpaper ideas are a wonderful way to add color, pattern and interest to your office wall decor ideas.
With more and more of us working from home, home offices are becoming much more common. Whether you have a full-fledged study at home or have adapted a corner in another room, there are options for decorating with wallpaper.
Add an elaborate pattern without overwhelming the space by using colors from the same tonal range. Soft, calming colors add a zen feel to the space, while a mural or super-sized repetition will add interest when you look up, but not be distracting due to its size.
How do I decorate my office walls?
Office walls are easier to decorate than you might think. Just because it’s a workspace, don’t take a utilitarian approach to design, recommends interior decorator and fabric designer Flora Soames.
“As we all spend more time in our home office, it should be comfortable and visually appealing – you don’t have to choose between practicality and aesthetics.”
Consider the character of the person who will be using the space and the work they do when deciding on a schedule – then add color, art or storage to your office walls for inspiration. ‘A clean white space will never work for me; I need to be surrounded by a lot of things to think creatively.”
