If you are just starting out with your office at home, you need to consider the right color for your work environment. If you choose a color that is too bright, it can affect your eyesight and give you eye fatigue, which can result in headaches and eyestrain.

A calming neutral is perfect for home offices. The color should complement the rest of the home if it is open to those areas. Keeping clutter to a minimum makes a working environment efficient and productive. Task lighting is important especially if there is no natural light available. The lighting should not be so bright that it causes a glare, but light enough to easily view reading material.

Your office environment should reflect your product or your service. If you are a designer, a trendy office is essential, especially if you have clients visit your office. Keeping work materials hidden in cabinets streamlines your office for a clean look.

Seating for visitors should be comfortable and suitable for an office. Appropriate furniture placement allows for conversation and work space for both you and your clients.

If you need to add color to your office, avoid accent walls and put the color into chairs or accessories. A bright wall can be distracting in a work area but a small accent can add interest to a neutral space.

Give your office personality with exhibits of your product or service. Use either actual product or photographs on the walls that feature your product in a flattering way. A wall of colorful samples is always beautiful and interesting and can look like art while offering a practical solution to displaying your product.

Whatever your product is, your office should reflect your style and taste and be an enjoyable workspace.  This can be achieved by the proper use of color, light and design.

If early humans expressed themselves and their surroundings by scratching out stories and illustrations, does that differ from modern day graffiti?

First of all, the choice of surfaces and use of new materials gives us much brighter interpretations of contemporary life. Both the wall paintings and the current graffiti are expressed in understandable graphics. Everyday images and communication tools are common elements found in these two mediums.

Graffiti can be taken from the streets and translated into wall accents for media rooms, kid’s rooms or almost any area of the home.

They don’t need to be complex designs, but can be simple shapes and patterns. An example is this organic figure above.

If you are not artistic you can use stencils to create your own modern graffiti.

We have come a long way since the cave dwelling days. Today’s quality paints and tools make it easy to create your own statements on your environment and surroundings while expressing your feelings and ideals of a modern time.

Do you have a floor that needs a punch of excitement to make a room pop? If you do not want to invest in new carpeting, tile or hardwood or have a floor that needs help, here are some ideas.

Wood floors do not have to be stained in just one color; this floor has excitement and interest with multicolored stained blocks. It is rich and glamorous without the cost of inlaying many different kinds of wood. Mark off areas with painters tape and select stains that are contrasting in value or hue. Patterns can be achieved just as you would on walls, with tape and imagination.

Floors can be painted to look old and distressed by applying thin coats of paint with a semi dry brush. This can make an interesting and unique pattern.

Paint the floor a bright blue and then stencil a pattern like this one using white paint. If you use floor enamel you will not have to seal the surface to keep it clean.

A look like this can be achieved by marking off squares with painters tape and can be done in paint or stain. Remember to paint only one color, remove the tape and then tape it for the second color. Make sure the first coat is dry before applying the tape for the second color.

Painting Tile

Did you know that you can paint tile? Just make sure you have a good primer such as Kilz.

This is an inset in my kitchen tile floor. When it was originally installed, the dark brown in this photo was a deep blue green. When I remodeled the kitchen, I did not want to replace the floor and the blue green was not right for the new scheme. So I taped off the blue green parts, primed it with Kilz and repainted it with floor paint using a sponge for texture.

Does your kitchen suffer from boring backsplashes? These areas are prime real estate for a touch of class, a bright accent, pattern interjection or just plain interest. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars for a big impact and paint is a sure way to make it easy and unique.

Here is a tile backsplash that can be achieved with real tile or faux painting. I have painted many backsplashes to look like tile and it is an easy and inexpensive solution. First paint the base color that will serve as the grout color. Second, using narrow painter’s tape, apply it where the grout lines will appear. Then paint in between the painter’s tape with a variety of hues. I usually use 4 colors that are similar in value; that are nearly the same lightness or darkness such as a medium sage, medium gray, medium brown and medium gold as used in this kitchen. Using a sponge, use your first color randomly, paint more on one square, less on another, and so on. Do the same with the other three colors.  When you are finished, each square will look similar but not the same. Then remove the tape and the grout lines will appear.

Another idea for an interesting backsplash is done by painting the back of glass and applying it to the wall. There are special paints for this purpose that can be found on the internet. Here, a bright red was applied to the back of the glass and also a light cream color.  Then they were glued to the wall. Most glass tile today is just back-painted glass. You can find sources for glass paint on the internet or at your local paint store.

This kitchen uses a bright lemon yellow used against the stainless steel and black in the kitchen.  Since the backsplash is the smallest amount of color and therefore the smallest amount of paint why not change it every year to freshen the look?

Backsplashes are also an ideal area for a bright wall covering. This can also be achieved by using paint. Using painter’s tape and 3 or 4 adjacent colors will achieve a striking pattern. Adjacent colors are those that are next to each other on the color wheel, such as yellow, yellow green and lime green.

Kitchen cabinets are made to last for decades but often the colors on them have seen better days. If you have cabinets that fall into the category of “over the hill”, or just plain boring, try some of these cures.

Stained wood, laminate and most cabinet substrates can be painted to change their personality. A good primer made for nonporous surfaces should be applied first. Then a durable semi-gloss or gloss paint can be applied in any color to complement your kitchen.

Color suggestions include this neutral gray; a hot trend in neutrals. Gray is also a perfect companion for stainless steel for a modern clean look.

A soothing blue gray is ideal for a farmhouse kitchen, as shown here. It also looks lovely in French country and English garden styles.

A soft green is a popular alternative to wood tones. In this example it is shown with light wood tones on the floor and the bar stools.

Black is bold and is a good balance for stainless steel. It is a strong neutral and creates an air of sophistication and good taste.

Don’t discount white; it is enjoying a revival in kitchen designs. It is ideal for small kitchens and can be spiced up with bright accents and backsplashes.