How to Decorate Your Home Office On a Budget

Creating a calm and organized home office is a must for those working from home full time or part time. Decorating your home office can be challenge when you are on a budget but with a little effort you can carve out a work space that inspires you to create,

There are several do it yourself projects that cost a few dollars and make a high impact in your space. From wall art to creative clipboard filing you will find something to brighten up your home office and the best part is that the cost is low.

Vintage Art by Dee Speed on Flickr, reproduced under Creative Commons license CC BY 2.0

One of the best pieces of advice I can give you about decorating your home office is add your unique personality to your office. You want to be true to who you are and what you like. Creating an office designed for someone else will come across cold and an empty. That is not to say, you need to add a bunch of childhood pictures of yourself all over the walls - but you can if you want. You can keep your office professional by utilizing colors, shapes and patterns you like. Add a picture or two of your family if you want. After all, people's desk are littered with them in the outside workforce.

Look through magazines or the internet and find ideas you like. Give these ideas your own personal spin. Think about how the look was create and what materials you would need to create the look at home. Often you can find a low cost approach to creating designer looks if you think about it.

You can find a few ideas below to help your decorate your home office on a budget.

Image by fotologic on Flickr, reproduced under Creative Commons license CC BY 2.0

Home-office-makeover by love Maegan on Flickr reproduced under Creative Commons license CC BY 2.0.

Tastes vary from person to person and the ideal office can be different things to different people. You want your home office to inspire you to work.

I recently got into decoupage and came across a Mod Podge project for turning boring old clipboard into functional wall art on Martha Stewart.com.

Here is the clipboard I made:

What You Need

Contact paper

Clipboard

Mod Podge

Craft Knife

low grit sandpaper

I used a plain piece of paper to work out the pattern for the clip board. I traced the pattern on to the back of the contact paper and slowly applied it to the plain clipboard. I smoothed the bubbles out out from the middle out. Next I trimmed off the excess paper. I sanded any rough edges off I covered the clipboard with a layer of mod podge. Finally, I sanded lightly and then added another coat of mod podge.

The result, decorated clipboards that add color to the wall and are functional. You can see more clipboard decoupage at Echoes of Laughter.

Find the right Mod Podge to finish off your project.

Artwork does not have to cost a fortune. You can create a high impact look for only a few dollars. If you have a favorite shirt, picture or paper you can apply it to an artist canvas with decoupage. Create interesting one of a kind pieces for your home office that reflects your taste.

Another art project is to frame your diplomas, newspaper articles or magazine blurb on the wall of your home office. Repaint an old frame or buy a new one. To give your framed artwork more professional look try matting your work.

If you are short for ideas on what to frame. You could always browse through an old calender you like and clip out any pictures you like and frame those. Recycling an old calender is cost-effective and a smart way to recycle old products.

Imageby Foxtongue on Flickr reproduced under Creative Commons license CC BY 2.0.

Use box shaped shelves to hold your stapler and hole punches. Buy solid color pens that go with your color theme. This is an inexpensive way to give you room a pop of color while keeping your desk area clean of clutter.

The 6 Piece Purple Crystal Office Supply Set is the an example of a color set of office supplies that can be used in your home office to give it a burst of color.

If you bought your desk at a big box store or picked up a second hand desk a little TLC is all you need to give you a customized desk that will be the envy of your friends. One way to dress up a desk is to give it a color makeover. Just make sure you prep your piece of furniture before begin.

Add character to your desk with wood detail trim. It can be adhered with wood glue and give your desk a more regal look.

You can also decoupage your desk and give it a more unique look.

The easiest way to give your desk a new look is to purchase some new handles or knobs. It's a quick change that can update the style and look of your desk.

DIY Recycled Computer Desk by Hey Paul Studios on Flickr reproduced under Creative Common license CC BY 2.0

This video shows you how to paint furniture step by step from start to finish. You can apply these tips to painting your desk to give it a little bit of character. The woman in the video does use a paint brush but you could use a spray paint to get a smoother finish.

With DIY projects it is easy to get a fabulous looking office for cheap. Second hand office furniture can become diamonds in the ruff. You can usually find a great piece of furniture that needs a little tender lover and care at a thrift store, on online classified sites like kijiji, and at a garage sales. You may need to repaint and sand to get the look you want but the effort is worth while.

Consider using household items in new ways in your home office. You can re-purpose and old glass vase or cookie jar to hold paper clips. Trying filling them with one certain color of paper clips to compliment you design scheme.

Image by Tax Credits on Flickr, reproduced under Creative Common license CC BY 2.0

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