How to decorate a corporate office: a quick guide

Does your corporate office reflect your company’s brand and culture? What’s the first impression your clients get when they step into your work environment – in a nutshell, it should be professional, functional, eye-catching and welcoming.

Before you consider decorating your corporate office…Plan & Prep

Examine the space. What’s the layout, how big it is, what are the good and bad points of it? Look at key areas that will be used – reception, workstations, boardroom, breakout areas, executive offices.

What do you want to achieve with your space? Do you want to increase staff productivity? Boost morale? Impress clients? Push/enhance branding? Simply zhush it up to create a fresh new look?

Set a budget: How much do you have to spend? You’ll need to include costs for new office furniture, artwork, plants, lighting and other decorative elements, like decals or wall art.

Design elements to consider

Colour scheme: Go with colours that echo your company’s brand and suit the tone. If your brand logo is bright and vivid, go with neutral backgrounds to ensure it looks professional and stands out.

Branding: Use custom wall decals to really stamp your company logo and mission statement on and throughout the office. The professional and friendly team at Grafix Wall Art can work closely with you or your interior design team to really make your branding and signage stand out, create maximum impact and be memorable using decals.

Furniture: Go for modern looks that are comfortable, stylish yet functional. Try to ensure the style of furniture pieces are consistent throughout office areas for a cohesive look.

Lighting: Combine natural light with artificial light. Think ambient lighting in common areas, task lighting at workstations and accent lighting to spotlight areas such as your business’ signage/logo (usually on the wall above or behind the reception desk – wherever you place it, be sure it’s in clients’ line of vision as they walk in).

Artwork & decor: Select pieces that reflect your company’s culture and values. Decals are an easy way to display your mission statement throughout the office, for example. Decals are also a fun way to create staff signage – and if you use the right graphics and strategic placement, this may eliminate the need for extra artwork. We would also recommend adding minimalist decor, such as a mushroom lamp, this will bring a modern look and feel to your interior space.

Plants: Greenery not only softens the look of a room but improves air quality. Tip: Choose ones that are low maintenance – think succulents, snake plants and pothos. If you want to go really low maintenance, forget the fresh stuff; strategically placed wall murals of lush gardens or a dense forest could do the trick – visually at least!

Decorating specific office areas

Reception: First impressions count, and when decorating a corporate office you need to create a professional yet welcoming environment to meet and greet your clients in. As well as comfy seating and a sleek reception desk, consider where and how you’ll display your branding/logo/mission statement – after all, you want your clients to know exactly who you are and what you stand for from the moment they step foot into your office. Grafix Wall Art are experts at creating logos and signage for all sorts of businesses and can work with you to create eye-catching wall art and decals that reflect your company.

Workstations: These should be functional yet comfortable for staff to use. Especially in hot desking situations, chairs need to be adjustable, desks spacious and storage adequate.

Break rooms: Your staff work hard. Reward them with a lovely place to have their breaks. Comfortable seating, functional tables (a smart use of decals could mean a table easily transforms into a game of ping pong after lunch, for example) and bright cheerful colours and artwork on the wall will help refresh and revive.

Meeting rooms: Large table, comfy chairs and good, user friendly AV equipment are prerequisites. Consider using a decal of your company’s mission statement or a motivational quote to inspire and add a splash of colour to one of the walls.

Executive offices: Reflect your company’s professionalism with high quality furniture, tasteful art and personal touches that reflect corporate style.

Practical considerations

Storage: Make sure you have plenty of inbuilt storage to keep your corporate office organised and streamlined. Cabinets, shelves, desk organisers – there are many solutions to make sure everything has its place in an office environment.

Acoustics: Opt for sound absorbing materials and designs which will help reduce noise levels, maintain privacy and improve focus. Carpets, acoustic panels and strategic furniture placement are just some ways you can achieve this.

Flexibility and future proofing: Choose versatile furniture and decor that can be easily configured and changed as the company grows or changes. One of the advantages of using wall art from Grafix Wall Art is there’s a wide range of decals to choose from and they can be adapted easily and affordably to suit the changing face of your business. Custom decals can easily be recreated depending on your changing corporate office decor needs.