Description
Office wallpaper is no less popular as a decorative wall finish in offices than in residential buildings and apartments. The advantages are the same – attractive appearance, quick to apply, easy to remove. The concept of “office” in the context of wall decoration is one in which a business environment must be maintained.
This means that the walls should not be distracting with their decor. And the decor itself should not be intrusive. But, when choosing wallpaper for an office, given the importance of the decisions made there, pay special attention to the psycho-emotional aspect of perception.
Let’s start with a definition, namely: what is an office? This concept includes work premises from the headquarters of large companies to the smallest private offices for the provision of various services. But all offices have several common features: commercial focus, receiving visitors, and working environment.
Most offices are offices where people work at desks with office equipment. Large offices have an entrance hall, a kitchen-dining room, a reception room, etc. When talking about office wallpaper, we mean finishes for rooms where work is done with people or an environment is created for a certain type of activity. The main ones are the reception room, the director’s office, the meeting room, and the conference room.
Monochromatic wallpaper
Typically, office walls are made monochromatic. This is a win-win solution since walls without decorative excesses do not distract or become boring. But no one has canceled the texture, which creates coziness even in the absence of a pattern. Therefore, when choosing monochromatic or low-contrast wallpaper for the office, it will not be superfluous to focus on their quality and texture.
This is where the first rule comes from: office wallpaper should be discreet, but high-quality and have an interesting texture. Texture does not necessarily mean deep relief. Absolute gloss is also one type of texture. Since offices are considered to be rooms with high loads, wear-resistant wallpaper is best suited for them. These include, first of all, vinyl wall coverings. This group of materials varies in the degree of wear resistance, which is indicated by the corresponding marking on the packaging.
The most resistant to mechanical impact wallpaper with a pictogram, with three wavy lines, and the most delicate – with one. Vinyl wallpaper can be washed, which allows you to keep it clean and even treat it with disinfectants, especially in those places where people can touch, corners, areas near switches, etc.
It is not worth buying paper wallpaper for office premises. They are environmentally friendly and inexpensive, but they cannot be cleaned. A greasy stain or spilled coffee will remain on the paper forever. In addition, paper sheets are more difficult to glue: they require an impeccable quality base. For the same reason, you should avoid buying expensive textile wallpaper and other exclusives for the office, which do not tolerate cleaning well.
Paintable wallpaper
Very often, it is decided to decorate the walls of office premises with paintable wallpaper. In this case, the logic is as follows: the walls are monochromatic and breathable, the non-woven fabric smooths out the shortcomings of imperfect walls, and heavy dirt can be removed by repainting. This is a very suitable finishing method since paintable wallpaper has a huge selection of textures.
Office wallpaper themes
Many manufacturers create collections that include wallpapers that support the office theme. These are realistic images of file cabinet drawers, metal cabinets, bookshelves, etc. Such models can be used in fragments to decorate the interior and create a working atmosphere.
Now we move on to choosing the color of the future wallpaper. It is best to stick to light tones, namely shades of beige, gray, and greenish. Bright colors should be avoided, as they have undesirable effects, affecting the organs of vision for a long time. Green is considered the most favorable for the working environment. Lightened shades of green are well suited for reception areas where visitors are waiting. Because green calms and sets the mood for creation.
Shades of blue and violet are also good in the reception area. They also have a calming effect on the nervous system. Any light shades will be appropriate in other rooms of the office, but it makes sense to use warm tones for offices with windows facing north.
Since the walls in the office are most often monochromatic and light, choose the right color temperature for artificial lighting. A simple rule applies, warm light to warm shades, cold light to cold shades.
In the director’s office, plain, unobtrusive wallpaper or wallpaper with a low-contrast pattern is appropriate. You can emphasize the status of this room either with an accent wall or by using wallpaper with a rich texture. If the office interior is created in a classic style with high panels, then the dirtiness of the wallpaper does not matter. You can even use textile wallpaper. However, modern vinyl imitations of textiles or other textures are not much different from the original but are much cheaper and more practical.
The Right Choice of Wallpaper for Office Walls
What is your choice of office wallpaper? Your choice also depends on what kind of room is to be decorated. After all, the office has not only the employees’ offices but also a hall, a reception area, a director’s office, a recreation room, and a kitchen.
So, in the kitchen, wallpaper with the possibility of aggressive cleaning is required. But the boss’s abode can well become an example of a strict classical interior. Therefore, it is wrong to buy one wallpaper for the office for all rooms, unless it is special wallpaper for painting.
The walls of your office can become a kind of business card if you correctly style and design. Here, everything depends on your company’s line of business and the atmosphere that reigns in the team. A simple example: a travel agency, an art photo studio, and a financial corporation. The walls in these offices are imagined with different finishes. In the first and second options, you can buy wallpaper with an original design. But the third one suggests laconic classics. Bright multi-colored striped wallpaper is a solution for the hall of a small company organizing holidays. While a single-color option with an expressive volumetric texture is suitable for a bank.
Office wallpaper plays an important role from a psychological point of view. Because it has long been proven that proper design helps to increase employee productivity. If your subordinates are used to creating in a bright orange room, then radically changing the design to a restrained and light one can be dangerous. But it can be fixed with the help of additional elements. If the work requires not so much a creative approach as a focused one, then bright colors and colorful patterns will only distract. A compromise is a pleasant, cozy design of the restroom.
Decorating an office with photo wallpaper
Decorating an office is quite a tedious task because it must combine stylistic features and at the same time set the mood for work. For a pleasant atmosphere to reign in your office, you need to consider certain factors:
- the office should be decorated in a uniform style;
- the quality of the materials determines the appearance of the room;
- decorative elements should be present but in moderation;
- Rational use of space is an important component of successful planning.
For all the above rules to work, a harmonious background is needed that will unite all the moments together. And photo wallpaper for the office is the best solution. However, when choosing photo wallpaper for the office, it is important to consider the following points:
- dimensions and layout of the premises;
- interior style and the impression you want to make on the client;
- business features.
When choosing photo wallpaper, it is important to consider the material from which it is made. The best option is silk fabric because they do not contain harmful substances and are safe for humans. Silk fabric wallpaper is the most practical because this material is highly durable. This allows you to maintain the original appearance for a long time, which is important for a room where employees are constantly located and visitors may come.