Office space doesn't have to be "all business." There are ways to make it functional while still appearing inviting, comfortable, and beautiful. The interior design of office space should inspire you to get all of your work done, but there is nothing wrong with adding personal touches that add personality and flair. Our Lake of the Ozarks luxury furniture store has the pieces you need to make that happen, and today's blog has the tips to help you do it.


Invest in a Great Chair
If you have the type of job where you will be seated most of the day, a comfortable chair is an absolute must! Something with an ergonomic design will keep discomfort at bay, which aids greatly in maximizing your efficiency. As for the chair's relation to your desk and computer screen, the following guidelines are suggested for increased comfort.

• Your eyes should be 24-36 inches away from the computer screen and the top of the monitor should be at or below eye level.
• Feet should be placed comfortably on a footrest or the floor.
• A slightly reclined chair position is best to reduce pressure on the spine and minimize lower back pain.    

Dedicate Space
Organization is the key to a functional office space. Having dedicated spots for each individual task you do is the best way to keep it all in order. Cabinets or lots of shelving with doors that can hide files and other paper clutter is a great way to do this. For open shelves, use decorative bins to hide the clutter. If space is limited, store upward rather than outward, keeping the items you use most often close at hand and placing the things you don't need on a regular basis on the upper shelves. 

If you have enough room in your office, designating a lounge space off to one side is a wonderful idea. It dedicates that area as a place to unwind when you need a break, letting your brain know that when you get back to the desk, it's time to get back to work.   


Color It Inspiring
The business you are in may factor into the color on the walls, but if you have a choice, pick a paint color that motivates you to get things done. For some people, this is a calming or soothing color palette, but others may find bright and cheery walls more inspiring.

Keep It Green
We don't mean wall color in this tip (unless of course, that happens to be your motivating color!) Having plants in your office not only adds beauty and life to your space, but it also improves the air quality which is good for concentration. If you don't happen to have a green thumb, an artificial plant may be the best thing for you. It doesn't improve the air quality, but it does still improve the overall look of the room. 


Add Accessories
The accent pieces that you decorate your office with add personality to the design. They also give you something pleasing to look at during a long workday. If you are happy in your office space, it is a lot easier to get more accomplished. Choose items that inspire your creativity and bring happy thoughts to mind. This can be a beautiful piece of wall art, a creative sculpture, or even a bowl you can fill with candy. (The sugar is for energy!) We carry a wonderful selection of decorative items at John Elliott Interiors that work especially well for this purpose. 

Let There Be Light! 
Lamps are an excellent way to improve your office space. In addition to being a terrific accent piece to decorate with, lots of light keeps the room bright and makes it feel less like a dark cave you are stuck in for 8 hours, especially if there aren't a lot of windows in your office. Good lighting also cuts down on eye strain, which reduces the chance for headaches.


If you have clients that come into your office, it's important to make a good impression with high-quality office furniture. You most likely spend a lot of time in your office each week, so it is also important that you love the look and feel of the interior design of the room. Our talented interior designers at the Lake of the Ozarks are equally as impressive at decorating an office as they are an exquisite home. If you need some inspiration for making your workspace a place where you enjoy spending time, let John Elliott Interiors guide you in the right direction.

We started our blogs for April, also known as DecoratingMonth, with 7 Interior Design Tips To Follow For Any Room, and last week we discussed putting artwork on your walls with Tips For Hanging Art In An Eye-Pleasing & Decorative Way. Today we are focusing on bringing a type of artwork to your floor by offering a few tips for placing area rugs around your home. 


Adding an area rug to a room is an excellent way to tie all of your furniture pieces together. These home accents also provide comfort and cushion from a bare floor, plus add beauty and artistic flair to any interior design. John Elliott Interiors has a few basic tips to share that will help you to place your area rugs in the most eye-pleasing way, but please take these as guidelines rather than set rules. 

Interior design is an art, and the beauty of art is in the eye of the beholder. These tips will get you started, but in the end, do what looks the best to you. You're the one that gets to live with it and you should enjoy it.

In the Living Room
Depending on the size of the area rug and the size of the room you are placing it in, that will make a difference on which of the following guidelines that you follow. The area rug is meant to connect all of the pieces of furniture in the room. Generally, the front legs of couches and chairs should sit on the rug with the back legs off. In some cases, such as with accent chairs, it may work best to put all of the legs directly on the rug. Try it both ways to decide which flows best for the room you are decorating.


In the Bedroom
If you are choosing to use a large area rug in your bedroom that the bed will actually sit upon, it needs to be big enough so that 12-18 inches extend beyond the bed. It's okay for the rug to extend further, but any less and it will appear too small for the space. Another option is to place a smaller area rug at the foot of the bed instead.  

In the Dining Room
An area rug underneath the dining room table is a beautiful thing, but it can be awkward if the chairs do not fit on it completely while you are sitting in them. A rug that extends at least 24 inches around the table should allow all four legs of the chair to remain on it. 


Hallways & Entryways
High traffic areas should have an area rug both for safety and comfort. This also helps to minimize the wear and tear on your flooring. Since the rugs will be enduring that wear and tear, they will need to be high quality, but you may want to save your pricier area rugs for spots in your home that won't be used as roughly.        

General Tips
It is suggested that you have about 18 inches of bare floor between the edges of the rug and the walls in a room. For smaller rooms, such as a walk-in closet or small home office, you may need to reduce that amount to 8 inches. You want to make sure that there is an equal amount of floor space around all sides of the rug.

Also, don't be afraid to use multiple rugs together in large rooms. This looks especially nice and is very useful when there is more than one seating arrangement in the same space. Before you purchase your rug, always learn about the cleaning instructions so that you know how to best keep it looking like new.


Our home interiors store at the Lake of the Ozarks has all of the pieces you will need to elegantly outfit your home or office, and our talented interior designers are always available to offer advice when you need it. We love helping our customers to create luxurious living spaces, and that magnificent look begins with the furniture and home accents you will find at John Elliott Interiors.

Art is an excellent way to bring a beautiful, decorative touch to any room, as well as add a bit of your own personality to any space. We carry an extensive collection of the best artwork at the Lake of the Ozarks, so it's not hard to find a piece (or quite a few) to fall in love with when you walk through John Elliott Interiors. Today we have a few tips to help you decide exactly how to place that art in an eye-pleasing way.


Hang at Eye Level
Art should be hung with the center of the piece at eye level, which can be difficult to determine since not everyone's eyes fall at the same height. Interiors designers took the average height of most people to come up with the guideline of placing that spot at about 58-60 inches above the ground. For pieces that will be placed in a child's room, you may want to hang it just a bit lower. If you are placing art above a sofa or a headboard, aim for the bottom of the art to hit about 8-10 inches above the furniture.   


Grouping Multiple Pieces
If you would like to display more than one piece of art on the same wall, a good way to begin your arrangement is by deciding where you want the largest piece and then place the rest of the art around and outward from it. You want to create visual balance with a sense of symmetry so it doesn't look like you just threw them up on the wall without a design in mind.

For pieces that are all the same size, use the idea of a symmetrical grid for their placement. When you place art in a single horizontal row, align either the center of each piece or the tops. Also, leave at least 2-3 inches of space between each piece of art. A great tip for placing a grouping on the wall without making "mistake" nail holes is to cut large pieces of kraft paper in the size of each piece, and then arrange those on the wall using painter's tape until you come up with your favorite display.   


Lean Instead of Hang
Rather than hanging your art, leaning it instead can add an interesting look to the room, and it's the perfect solution if you don't want to put a nail in the wall. This can be done on a mantel, the top of a bookshelf, or you can place a long, slim picture ledge on an empty wall to display multiple pieces. Sometimes layering pieces of art slightly with each other looks incredible too. This also makes it easy to rotate your collection, allowing you to trade out pieces of art with each season. 


Our Lake of the Ozarks interior designers can give you all the advice you need when you are ready to place your art. They can also guide you toward the many beautiful pieces that we carry at John Elliott Interiors, but the final decision on which ones to buy should be up to you. If a specific piece of art captures your eye and speaks to you in a way that makes you happy, then that's the perfect one for you to take home.

April is also known as Decorating Month, which is very exciting for us at John Elliott Interiors. The month was given this title in an effort to inspire people to focus on decorating the place where they live in a way that makes them happy, and also to stress that updating the look of the rooms in your home can be fun rather than a chore. Whether you decide to let our interior designers at the Lake of the Ozarks help you make over an entire room or you decide to take on a few small tasks yourself, the following tips should come in handy.


Switch Out Seasonal Decor
Each season has something about it that sets it apart, and you can showcase that through the home accents you display in each room. It's time to put away the heavy winter throws and bring out lighter, spring decorations. Every new season is a wonderful excuse to change things up a bit and give a room an entirely new look and feel.

Display a Prized Collection
Your favorite things can be used in a clever way to decorate a room. It's best to group a lot of pieces of a collection together in one area or two rather than dispersing them individually throughout the space. If your collection is large, you don't need to show it all off at once, but rather choose a few pieces to highlight and switch them out when you feel like it. Your collection of prized possessions are not only terrific for decorating, but they also work as fun conversation pieces.

Change the Room's Layout
An excellent way to quickly freshen up the look of any room is to rearrange the furniture. Switching out the positions of two chairs or simply moving the couch away from the wall is a small change, but it can make a big difference, making your old pieces feel fresh and new.


Create a Focal Point
Every room should have one piece of furniture or a design element, such as a fireplace or large window, that serves as a focal point. It brings your focus to a certain point in the room and gives you a wonderful starting point for designing the rest of the space. It is a good idea place your focal point where it can be seen easily when entering the room, feeling as if it is drawing you in.

Pay Attention to Scale
You may fall immediately in love with a large, gorgeous piece that looks incredible in our luxury furniture store at the Lake of the Ozarks, but if you are trying to place it into a small room, it probably won't give you the same feeling. The same goes for the opposite. Trying to display a small home decor item by itself in a large room will cause that piece to get overlooked and seem out of place. Make sure all of the pieces that you choose fit the size of the room you are decorating and that they work well with each other.

Add Something New
The very best way to make any space look brand new is to add something that truly is new to your home. We carry a fantastic selection of furniture, home accents, artwork, and much more, and the variety of styles that we feature make it easy to find something that will work perfectly with the pieces you already have. Whether it's a bold new rug, and fashionable side chair, or an entire set of furniture, you'll find something perfect at John Elliott Interiors.

Paint
Adding a new color to a space can change the look up nicely. You can go all out and paint every wall in the room, or simply paint an accent wall to add a little excitement. Adding color to the backs of open shelves is also a great way to shake things up a bit.


If you are insecure about taking on the project of redecorating on your own, the talented designers at our Lake of the Ozarks home interiors store are happy to step in and help you out. We have lots of exquisite ideas at John Elliott Interiors for every room in your home. Come in soon to talk a few of them over with us and see all of the wonderful things we have for you to decorate your home with.