Home Office Inspiration: Design, Furniture and Accessories

Working in a home office that looks and feels good is important to keeping you inspired and comfortable all day. Plus, if your office is in your home, don't you want it to reflect a little bit of your design sensibilities and personality? Here's a round up of cool design ideas, accessories and furniture that can dress up your home office a bit. (Full disclosure: I am a type-A, modern design enthusiast!) Flat files

For storing papers and even sketches, posters or paintings, I love flat files. These are generally pretty expensive to buy new, but come up used on Craigslist.org every once in a while. If you get a metal flat file, make sure you have enough manpower or professional help to move it! I've seen people use flat files as coffee tables, too. The mini flat file is from Modern50.com. The larger flat file is from Retrooffice.com. Sexy chairs Did you know that an office chair can be sexy, or are you sitting on an extra wooden dining room chair with a lousy straight back? Check out the selections at Ikea.com, one of which is the mod SKRUVSTA, a swivel chair upholstered in white leather (straight out of the 1960s). For more ambitious chair shoppers, you can't go wrong with a Charles Eames model. The Eames Aluminum Management Chair, from 1958 is still offered by MoMA's design store and should make you feel like the $1,925.00 you spent on it! Fun-ctional desk accessories Don't be afraid to add some flair to your desk. Small trinkets that remind you of family or a memorable vacation are great sources of inspiration. moMA Design Store offers accessories such as a colorful stapler and tape dispenser set or the Eames stackable house of cards. moMA also offers this stainless steel ruler/paper weight/paper airplane. Then there's Muji.com's online store, which has office supplies such as paper, pens and organizing materials, and also toys and accessories. One of my favorites is this city in a bag - a wooden set of tiny London landmarks. These miniatures are fun to arrange across the desk. Other cities are available, too. Sleek lights To be environmentally friendly, use natural light whenever possible. But if you live in Seattle, or are burning the midnight oil, try a sleek desk lamp with CFL or LED bulbs. In June of 2010, Pratt Institute partnered with West Elm to create a Pratt Home Office Collection. Here is a lamp from the collection, which uses LED bulbs. If you just want the classic work-lamp look, Ikea offers the FORSA lamp, pictured above and a similar model called the ANTIFONI. Organization ideas You can have the prettiest office in the world, but with no system of organization you'll be out of business soon enough. Here are some sleek design ideas for keeping files and schedules straight. Use chalkboard paint from any leading paint retailer to create a writeable and magnetic wall in your office. In this photograph, different shades of chalkboard paint create a permanent calendar grid on the wall. Upgrade from a traditional cork and pushpin bulletin board to a sleek magnetic board. Great for organizing notes and to-do lists, this board will also give you an excuse to buy cute new magnets! Finally, I could not live without these file boxes. The plastic one pictured below is from Muji.com, but Ikea has metal and paper versions. Instead of boring old hanging files, I place about five or six of these boxes on a bookshelf near my desk. They look great and easily store manila folders with papers and magazines.