Home Décor: How to Create a Stress-Free Home Office

As a freelance writer, I spend a lot of time in my office. Sometimes, I'm on the compute up to 18 hours a day.

So, when I bought my house in 2004, it was one of the first rooms I decorated. I wanted to create a stress-free office environment, because the tasks I take on in there are anything but.

Some three years later, a few rooms in my house remain undecorated; one being the master bedroom, which I wrote about in the article Master Bedroom Décor: Why Many Master Bedrooms Go Undecorated.

So, for me, following is what led to a stress-free office environment.

Color: I say choose a color you really, really like. Forget what the magazines say or what the latest designs trend tout. If you spend as much time in your office as I spend in mine, you're going to want to look up and see a color that brings a smile to your face.

My office is painted in what I think was a Behr painted named "Copper Penny." It's a rustic, deep-reddish, burnt orange color. More on the red than the orange side.

Every time I look at it, it makes me happy. The very color says "vibrancy," which is exactly what I need in this room.

Non-Office Décor: Stay out of the office décor section of department stores when you're shopping for furniture for your office. To me, this says work. I want my office to scream comfort.

While you may pick up the major pieces like your desk and ergonomically correct chair in the office décor section, other pieces can be gotten from regular home shopping outlets and/or thrift markets.

Old leather chairs from flea markets, armoires from antique shops and wicker baskets from craft supply stores can all do double duty as office furniture - and a bit more stylishly too.

Many of my files are stored in wicker baskets, the shelf that holds some of my books are handmade - with supplies from the lumber department at Home Depot and "bookends" from the gardening section.

I used some hanging plant holders as shelf ends and stained a simple piece of pre-cut lumber a dark cherry and mounted it on the wall.