• Add color. If your walls are white, add a subtle touch of color to your ceiling. Or add two or three parts of white paint to your wall paint for a smooth, coordinated effect. You can also use a contrasting color for dramatic effect, but don’t overwhelm the room with the ceiling color. Try out a test patch first.

• Add interest. Use your ceiling to create impact by covering it or adding embellishments. For example, tin ceilings hide flaws and come in a variety of colors and finishes. You can get the look of tin at a lower price with recycled paper that’s pressed to look like tin. Or use embossed wallpaper on your ceiling to add some old-fashioned charm. Crown mouldings and light fixture medallions also add interest, and can be stained or painted for the desired effect.

• Control the sense of height. If you have a room with a ceiling lower than eight feet, you can give it a sense of spaciousness by painting the ceiling a shade or two lighter than the walls. Use satin-finish paint with a little lustre in small or dark rooms to reflect available light. A room with a high ceiling will look cozier if you paint the ceiling a shade or two darker than the walls.

Take your office ceiling from boring to beautiful with a new look.

Keep in mind your office decorating style and the activities that take place in each space. Do your clients need light to read or to fill out forms? Do you want your personal office to have a quiet, cozy ambience or do you prefer a more minimalist look? Is your decor modern or traditional? Whatever your style, you can choose from a large selection of lighting products designed to create an inviting space that people can enjoy and feel good about.

Consider lighting in your company’s work areas. Good lighting in work areas helps to maximize employee creativity and productivity. Halogen casts white light that reveals true colors, while incandescent bulbs cast a warmer, yellow hue. A popular solution is recessed lighting. Recessed lights combined with lamps provide a nice ambiance for a wide variety of decorating styles.

So take advantage of the many lighting choices available and improve the lighting in your office — it’s an important aspect of good design. Just the flip of a switch can change the entire mood of a room. With good planning, you can use lights to your company’s best advantage.

Keep in mind that you’ll want to choose colors that are pleasant, comfortable and relaxing for your clients, patients or customers.Wall colors can really set the mood for an important meeting or a nervous patient.

If you’re planning to keep your existing furnishings, use them for color cues. Choose one of the main colors in your fabric as your wall color. Buy a small amount of the paint and try it out on your walls. Look at it in the daylight and in the evening hours. If it doesn’t look right, try another color.

Once you’ve chosen a wall color, think about the trim. Use a creamy off-white trim if your walls are a warm color. Bright white trim looks great with cool-color walls. Try out the trim colors just as you did the wall color, until you’re satisfied with the combination.

Don’t forget the ceiling. Ceilings aren’t just white anymore. You can create a cocoon of color by painting the ceiling a lighter shade of your wall color. If your walls are a light color, paint the ceiling one or two shades lighter. If your walls are deep color, ask your paint store to create a ceiling color that’s one-quarter the strength of your wall color.

Finally, select an accent color that will set off your furnishings. Repeat the accent color in accessories like art work, lamps or area rugs. A touch of greenery will supply a relaxing finishing touch to your fresh, new office look.

So, before you sink your time into a company project that’s outside your area of expertise, ask yourself these questions:

• Does this project maximize the use of my skills and my limited time?
• Will the project add stress and complications to my already full plate?
• Will it take time away from other work responsibilities or my family?
• What if I do it wrong and the company will have to pay someone to fix my mistakes?
• How important is it to me to do the project myself?
• Will it be hard on the business or my family if it’s not finished quickly?

Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll be able to weigh the real project cost, both tangible and intangible, and decide if your company would be better off hiring a professional. Or maybe you’ll decide it’s a good idea to go ahead and do the project yourself. Either way, the best outcome is a job well done, and a time cost you can live with.

In interior design, color packs a powerful punch.

New and ongoing research into the psychology of color is providing designers with better ways to achieve satisfying results in business, advertising and personal home design. We’ve learned that color has an effect on emotions, attitudes and energy levels. Some colors soothe, while others provoke aggressive behavior.

Researchers have analyzed the effect of different colors and have learned, for example, that blue improves productivity, making it a good choice for offices and workrooms. In fact, blue is the favorite color of both men and women. Here in Harrisonburg, we all love our Blue Ridge Mountains! On the other hand, red stirs up the senses, raises blood pressure and stimulates appetite. That makes red a good choice to use in restaurants or for bold touches on business logos or signs.

Some prisons have utilized the psychology of color by painting walls pink to attempt to calm aggressive inmates. Yellow is not a good choice for jails—it tends to cause people to lose their tempers more easily, even though most people consider yellow to be a bright and cheerful color. Muted, buttery shades of yellow are easier for people to live with.

Dark green is associated with money and masculinity, and is a popular color for offices, dens and game rooms. Grays inhibit productivity and black is so strong, it’s best used only as an accent.

The colors you choose for your office or home really do shape the behavior and attitude of clients, employees, family members and guests, so choose your colors thoughtfully!

When you sit down to consider building new office space or remodeling your current office, you’re likely to be concerned about overspending on the project. In fact, lenders recommend a 20% contingency in project budgets due to the assumption that there will be overruns.  But you can stay within your budget. Here’s how.

• Make design decisions before you get a price. Create a project timeline that allows you to make thoughtful, unpressured choices about materials such as ceiling, flooring, walls, wood, laminates, interior finishes, new furnishings and more.

• Be aware of the difference between cost allowance and actual price. Keep in mind that your final selections may exceed the “cost allowance” your contractor quotes you if you don’t make specific choices at the beginning.

• Use detailed plans. There’s a difference between an estimate and a price, so if your project estimate is based on a very minimal set of plans, you may end up with overruns when the actual construction begins.

• Avoid change orders. It’s much easier to stay on budget if you avoid costly change orders. Change orders always add to the cost of a project.

• Don’t skimp on drawings. Some people think that extra drawings will unnecessarily add to the cost of a project, but a good set of plans can actually save you money, and will definitely spare you headaches.

The bottom line?  Take the time to plan carefully before starting, so you can avoid changes that will break your budget.  A well-designed new or remodeled office can bring new life and energy to your professional practice. Don’t let fear of cost overruns hold you back!