Home office: Room decoration

I completely redecorated my new office with an acoustic panel wall, fresh paint on the other walls and ceiling, and a new floor. Dare to use color! You can always repaint it if you eventually decide you do not like it. At least you tried it!

The new office space with a new acoustic panel wall, freshly painted walls, and a new floor

Collecting the materials

With my virtual room design as a guide, I started looking for real products and materials that matched the concept. A 1-to-1 match isn’t always possible since you’re limited to what’s actually available on the market.

walnut color When combining different products in the same wood tone, walnut in my case, the colors need to match as closely as possible. Online product photos can be misleading; even a slight difference in tone can change the entire look in real life. For that reason, I wanted to buy as many items as possible from a physical store so I could compare colors directly.

The first big item I ordered online was the desk, including the matching desktop surface. I used that color as a reference when shopping for the other major pieces, such as the floor and acoustic panels. I had already bought a small wooden drink coaster online that luckily matched the color and grain pattern of the desktop exactly. It was much easier to bring that to stores as a color reference than to carry the entire desktop around.

For the floor, I visited a few local stores and compared the coaster against different laminate models. Holding it at different angles showed how much the color can shift, which confirmed that having a physical sample was the right call. At one store I found a perfect match, and they also sell skirting boards in the same color.

The wall panels were more difficult to find. The stores I visited only sold a few basic light and dark wood models. None matched exactly, but one was close enough.

Choosing the dark green paint was also challenging since it’s hard to judge how a color will truly look on a wall. I found a shade I liked online, and the product page had many customer photos showing that exact paint in real rooms, which gave a much better sense of the final result.

Room design

I took care of the entire room myself. Here I highlight the products I ended up using to decorate it.

Green wall

The accent wall behind the desk had to be a dark, moss-like green. I ended up choosing Histor Perfect Finish muurverf mat Still Searching.

On the product page of a local store, I found a gallery of customer photos that gave a great impression of how the color looks in a real room.

This color is available at different Dutch hardware stores:

For the white color on the other walls and the ceiling, I used Histor Monodek muurverf RAL 9010 gebroken wit. It is also available at the hardware stores mentioned above.

Acoustic sound panels

These panels look nice, and one advantage is that the wall underneath does not need to be perfectly smooth. Cut the panels to the correct height with a jigsaw, apply a tube of special panel adhesive per panel, press them to the wall, and move on to the next one. The only fiddly parts are cutting around power outlets or light switches.

The panels do a great job of absorbing sound.

Most of the wood panels are made with slats that are not solid wood but pressed wood with a thin veneer layer, which keeps costs down but makes the surface easy to damage. Drilling holes into them is not recommended.

I ended up with the 3D Akoestisch paneel walnut from Hornbach.
A single panel size is: 2600 x 560 x 18 mm.

Hornbach NL - walnut

There was also a darker smoked oak version available, but it was too dark for my taste.

Hornbach NL - smoked oak

Floor

For the floor, I used laminate. It looks like a wooden floor, is strong, and is easy to install.

The best match for my desk was the Valley warm bruin eiken met V-groef (Valley warm brown oak with V-groove) from the Dutch hardware store Karwei. The laminate planks have a tactile surface texture you can feel underfoot.

Karwei NL

I also bought the matching skirting boards there.

Karwei NL

Under the laminate, I added an insulation layer to reduce sound transmission to the floor below and to minimize heat loss.

Ceiling lights

smart bulb

Since I’ve automated the rest of my home, I did the same for this room.

I kept the original ceiling fixtures but swapped the bulbs for colored Zigbee bulbs. These can be automated based on room occupancy, time of day, and the amount of natural light coming in, automatically adjusting both brightness and color temperature.

Curtains

The curtains are custom-made from thick velour fabric with an added insulation layer to block cold, heat, and sound. Leen Bakker NL offers made-to-measure curtains in any size, fabric, pleat style, with optional blackout or insulation lining, and even motorized options.

The specific velour curtains with the blackout lining I ordered are no longer available.

Closet

Ikea Pax closet

For storage, I bought IKEA PAX wardrobes with plain white doors. They have a clean, minimal look, and when I’m in a video call, the background is a neat white wall with no distractions.

The IKEA PAX planner lets you design your configuration online, save it, and then order it. It automatically adds all the right components to your cart.