How to Update your Home Office for Summer

It can be difficult to focus on work in a space that does not embody the environment outside, and with summer quickly approaching, it may be time to consider updating elements of your home office space to prepare for the new season.

Elevating and refreshing your space for the upcoming season will inspire the flow of creativity, promote productivity, and improve your overall happiness. In this guide, we’ll offer some ways you can enhance the décor in your home office to embody the delightful feeling of summer, as well as tips for how to prepare your workspace for the sunny season ahead.  

Add summer colours

Colours that are airy, light, natural, vibrant, or bright are often associated with summertime. To spruce up your home office for the season, adding in these colours will help revive the environment that you work in. Exchange gloomy, dark coloured items and décor for ones that brighten and lift the room.

Bring the feeling of summer inside your home office by introducing splashes of summer shades—this will create an environment that exudes happiness and peace, which increases productivity.

Here are five easy ways you can incorporate summer colours into your home office space.

• Elevate with art – Incorporating colourful artwork and photographs to your office space is a simple way to bring the room’s personality to life. Ideas include framed photos of previous summer memories, abstract artwork, positive and motivational wall art, and images of nature, such as floral landscapes, beach destinations, or your favourite place to travel to in the summer.
• Incorporate desk accessories – Adding stylish and colourful items to your desk brightens up your immediate workspace. Consider enhancing colours on your desk with accessories like writing utensil holders and cups, framed photos, mouse and desk pads, and desk organisers.
• Display your books – Instead of stashing your books away, utilise the different spine colours and display your collection on a shelf. For an extra creative space, try arranging books to optimise the colours, such as organising your collection by shades to show off a rainbow or chromatic display.
• Replace your chair – Coloured desk chairs are popular in home offices. Trading out a dark desk chair for one with colour is an easy way to instantly brighten your space. If a new desk chair is not in your budget, opt for a colourful pillow or throw to place on your existing chair instead.
• Consider your computer screen – A free and effective way to personalise your space with colour is to change your computer background and screen saver to an image that reminds you of summer—like an abstract graphic, a floral pattern, or a personal photo that reminds you of summertime.  

If you have more time and money to spend on refining your office’s appearance this summer, additional ways to incorporate summer colours include adding a rug, painting the walls, switching to a lighter coloured desk, and purchasing colourful accent chairs.

Decorate with plants

Plants provide many benefits to an indoor space, such as improving air quality and reducing noise, but plants can also act as a natural décor element to introduce a visually attractive, summer aesthetic.

Introduce indoor plants such as palms, succulents, or ferns to naturally lighten up your office for summer. Flowers are another option for introducing colour and will make a perfect summer décor addition to your space. Flowers in season for summer include hydrangeas, dahlias, and sunflowers.

If you’re someone who finds it difficult to keep up with the maintenance of indoor plants, opt for artificial plants and flowers. This decorative option allows you to experiment with summer vegetation and integrate a variety of colours, styles, vases, and pots to create a blissful workspace without having to worry about the upkeep.

For more information on incorporating greenery to your home office this summer, visit our ‘How to Decorate an Office with Plants’ guide here.

Bring summer to your office

Make use of the summer’s sunshine by seamlessly blending the warm, sunny season outside your home office window with the inside of your workspace. Replace window coverings with light, flowy curtains to brighten up your space, such as linen curtains.

You can still bring summer to your workspace even if you don’t have a window in your home office. Consider exchanging your office’s lightbulbs with ones that produce a natural white colour to give the room artificial summer sunlight. Lightbulbs with a natural white correlated colour temperature (CCT) are around 4000K-5000K in temperature and are often used in a variety of workplace settings. This natural lightening helps you stay focused, and the blue tones help stimulate the mind.

Adding colour and natural elements to your workspace, such as greenery and sunlight, helps lift your home office’s energy and brings the outside environment to your inside space.

Functional tips

Once you’ve acquired the décor that gives you the summer feeling, here are three more functional tips to help prepare your home office space for the summer.

1. Rearrange – For many people, entering a new season signifies big change. To help revive your home office space from the cold and dark seasons of the past, transform the room by doing some rearranging. In addition, rearranging your home office set-up has many benefits—it can help spark creativity and reduce anxiety. If you decide to rearrange your home office for the new season, don’t forget to consider any potential glare from sunnier days ahead.
2. Avoid the heat – With summertime comes heat. To help curb any distractions associated with a rise in temperature, consider investing in a personal fan for your office space.
3. Spring cleaning – Don’t neglect your home office space during spring cleaning, as a clean workspace helps promote productivity and boost efficiency. Declutter drawers and shelves, clean and dust the room thoroughly, toss out old papers, and donate items that don’t fit the décor theme you desire. Don’t forgot to tidy files and folders on your computer’s desktop and to organise pesky cables. Cleaning your space will help you prepare for the new season.

Updating your office space for the next season doesn’t always have to mean a complete redesign and redecorate. By making subtle changes, you can improve the décor and ambiance to refresh your home office this summer. For more tips on how to update your office on a budget, visit our ‘6 Ways to Update Your Office Space on a Budget’ guide here.