Spark creativity with a striped paint effect

A clever tip to get started is to plan your striped effect around an existing architectural feature in your home office – such as built-in cabinets, a fireplace or bookshelves. By playing with the lines that already exist in your space, you can easily create a wonderful graphic effect.

When choosing your hues, you'd want to pick colours that make you feel relaxed yet creatively stimulated. Play around with colour swatches until you find a winning combination, and then arrange the colours whichever way you like – there are no rules. Here, pewter, stone grey and slate grey have been extended onto the bookshelves, creating an elongated look that adds visual interest to the space.

To enhance the calm, uncluttered effect, keep the furniture in your home office understated and the accessories to a minimum. For the ultimate creative space, surround yourself with things that inspire and motivate you – such as books, artwork or lush greenery.