Office is a place where we all spend around a third of our lives. We come in every day and are expected to be creative and productive, but have you ever wondered whether the office should be trying to help you? Let me explain, different spaces have different moods. If a space is very small and claustrophobic, it might be hard to come up with a big picture idea, and likewise, if the office is painted with very drab boring colors, you might find it hard to feel inspired.

If you think that your office could be painted better, with a touch more vibrancy and panache, do make sure to get in touch with the good folks over at building painting. They are some of the best painters around and will certainly help you accomplish whatever creative, zany idea that you had in mind.

So, what are some of the ways that we can be creative with our office space? Well first and foremost, you have to own it. You have to let the entire office know that it’s your space by bringing in plenty of things to distinguish it, things like personal memorabilia, photo frames, little Knick knacks, sticky notes etc. The act of bringing things in is important because it’s only then that your feel like you really belong at that particular spot. Studies have shown that doing this could increase productivity by around 32%.

You can also try infusing some life into your space by using plants. Most offices seem sort of like they come from a factory. Drab walls, sterile furniture, and a few generic motivational quotes on the walls. Boring. If your office looks like this, then you’ve got to get yourself some plants. Why plants? Because they provide a really nice landing spot for the eyes. When you enter a new space and your eyes don’t have anywhere to settle down, it can feel pretty sad. With plants however, you will find that you not only feel relaxed with the plant in your space, but it also looks great. If you’re worried about maintenance, don’t worry, there are plenty of very low maintenance plants out there.

In addition to this there are big picture ways that you can change up the office too. If you’re a business owner, you might want to use certain shapes and colors to evoke certain emotions. For example, the color red is the color of passion and dominance, while the color blue is the one for temperance and calm. You can make the decision on how you want your office to feel before employees are even inside it, simply by altering the colors on the walls. Also, you can use certain shapes to encourage collaboration. The circle for instance is a great way of inviting collaboration, while the square is good for giving orders.

Overall, what you really want to do is to plan it out. There’s nothing worse than a patchwork project that is started but never finished, so make sure you know what kind of office you want and take it a step at a time.