Home Offices with Pops of Color

Add all-over color to your home office by choosing furniture made of bright laminate and painting the walls a complementary electric hue.

A single bold chair or bookshelf can brighten an otherwise blah-beige home office nook.

In an all-white office, choose similarly scaled bold patterns for lampshades, curtains, or even a throw blanket on the back of a chair. It's a low-commitment way to brighten any room.

A room the size of a walk-in closet with awkward angles serves can serve as an office that's anything but all work and no play. Large prints can make a room look bigger, so let lively green wallpaper climb the walls and ceiling. Rather than fight the roofline angle, border them with green grosgrain ribbon, which also hides the paper's seams.

A punchy desk blotter adds panache to an otherwise silver-heavy work space.

This wall-mounted office setup features a modern mix of high-gloss red, white and deep brown.

Save your eyes from pattern overload by combining a large-scale pattern with medium-and small-scale ones for balanced visual effect. As this guest room/office—a converted garage space—shows, variety keeps each pattern distinct without competing.

If bold furniture isn't your bag, look to creative shelving: This funky display shelf configuration adds a pop of color without overwhelming the space.