When it comes to home office decor themes I discovered that have my preferences.
I don’t like the cold, stark, hard surfaces office look. It might seem futuristic (very 21st century to us Baby-boomers). But those images used to be the standard result of search for office decor or desk style as far back into the early 2000’s. It felt boyish, channeling teenage son lone woolf, building code and gaming in their bedroom and I just couldn’t relate.
To the other extreme I do not like the overtly feminine big frilly country kitchen table, make shift office desk and ramshackle bookshelf disorganised recipe books; propped up iPad against tiny metal pots of lavender look. That was a trend for a while, fitting in with a cottage core or rustic chic.
There is also the girl boss look, I see with some YouTubers which is less chintzy but has neon name signs on white walls and lots of fluffy textures incorporated whether the a macrame wall hanging or stringy plants dangling from shelves or wall (for the backdrop). These are combined with sheepskin covered chairs or armrests. It does give off a dreamy fantasy of what a girl’s world of business could be like (pink fluffy and pretty). It seems to be playing at being in business and those of us women working in corporate or refugees from freelancing know that, it sure ain’t no game. However I get the need to convey the light ethereal fantastical vision contrasting the hard realities of our capitalist system.
Instead, I like a style that that emanates wisdom, elegance and being grounded. The moody and cozy home office style is indeed a theme on Pinterest. When you look at those images you see a bold cohesive comfortable and elegant look.
The cozy home office
Be mindful, though. This look isn’t that shining high polished look that you might find in Dubai, Knightsbridge or Belgravia show houses where our top interior professionals produce. Perhaps akin to what you see in TV show Buying London (Netflix 2024). No, this cozy home office look is somewhere that you and I will feel comfortable doing everyday business because it is as if our friend down the road was the cabinet maker and our interior design pal (old friend from local comprehensive/ grammar school) helped with sourcing of fabrics for the wall and space planning of our furniture.
How to create a cozy (cosy) home office
- Do some careful space planning of the office, desk, guest chairs and shelves.
- Play with planning the symmetry of items like furniture and lighting to an arrangement that feels comfortable when seated at your desk and talking to office guests whether online or in person
- Experiment with a considered asymmetric style in the layout of floor lights and artwork. There is a critique of design by numbers so having something a bit off grid helps the arrangement feel more natural though you want to avoid the higgledy piggaldy (cluttered) look
- Deeply consider the treatment of the office walls. For a cosy look we see them often covered with plain textured fabric for a more subtle feature wall
- Get a tradesperson in or carpenter to show their excellence on the cabinetry by them helping to make shelves where you want them to go and at the height and depth that suits your plans for shelf styling and how you want to be seen in meetings. Remember that if you turn your camera off in the office these days (WFH) its easy to be hidden and that is ruining promotion prospects for many.
- Ask the carpenter what they can do that’s unique about trimmings and edgings to show that extra bit of crafting innovation
- Use flowers that are fresh in or good value in the local florist or supermarket. The fresher flowers seem to come across better on camera in online meetings
- You can even be as bold as showing how you still see the beauty of the best plumes from your treasured bunch that was gifted to you three weeks ago
- Cozy up the shelves by playing with shelf styling. Use the rules that window dressers and display and merchandising professionals use to dress up your shelves for your on screen appeal. Look at some of the pictures in my shop for some examples of shelf styling, I learned from an interior stylist for magazines.
The moody home office
The moody home office look comes from the colours of the furnishings, textures of the fabrics and woodwork. To echo the intensive working in a home office, the woodwork colours are intense in pigment but on the darker side of the spectrum so they sit proudly but in quiet support of our industrious work life at home. Yes the look might not have enough neutrals to be deemed tasteful by the elite. And of course there might be a handful of design mistakes. But this is the space where we do our work. It’s not just a pretty picture it is live-able, looks lived in and still pleasing to the eye. Like a good therapy session, the room can contain a couple of weeks of not being tidied up or dusted by the cleaner (or indeed the self).
How to create the moody home office
- Soften up your hard surfaces. If you cannot put fabric on the walls, choose wall decor panels that feature great sheaths or folds of fabric.
- Use colour schemes in intense blues and green or dark reds. I quite like the darks in the Mylar paint range they’ve got consideration of paint pigment down to an art. Nice to deal with too.
- Turn all those storage bins made of plastic into softer fabric versions.
- Personalise your lighting, lampshades office chair cushions using upholstery fabrics that you love
- upholstered and fabric storage bins that feature your favourite fabric pattern.
- Style shelf and backdrop with custom fabric storage. To do that get someone on Etsy (say) to make a set of custom designer fabric storage for you. See my example I did for a customer’s lake house in USA, see image below
- Style desks with fabric version of business card holders, see image below
- Decorate shelves with notepads, calendars and even lighting with marbled look (new range coming soon)
- If you don’t like dark walls try intensively coloured shelf art (see links below)
In conclusion, the accessories we have in our moody and cosy room represents us. It is the mood in our voice rather than us with the colour rinsed out to a crowd pleasing neutral where our voice fights to be seen and heard. It is what we feel cosy with. In an era where workers are encouraged to bring their whole selves to work and the risk of being hidden from promotion in online meetings it is even more important to put your stamp on the mood and tone of your home office imagery as well as making the space being uniquely yours and cozy.
Where to buy moody and cozy accessories for the home office
I do like Heels for original items and loved the shop Made before it closed down. Habitat has been my favourite for a decades. But if you want to buy some artwork with intensive colours and style your shelves with coordinating foliage and harmonising book take a look at how I style the paintings and artwork I sell in my shop. Here is the link to my product showcase
You can also see a wide array of intensive colours and shelf styling to create a moody and cozy office vibe.
Look out for future blog posts about tips for styling the shelves.
What other things do you do to get a moody and cozy home office?
Home Office Charm 