"Her" Office Spaces

Businesswomen

With the number of businesswomen on the rise, the office industry is beginning to cater to female entrepreneurs, introducing office and home office designs, décor, furniture, supplies, and accessories that reflect female preferences. While not necessarily feminine in design, and while women have a wide range of style preferences, women do possess that special "woman's touch" that can add sophistication, elegance, and something unique to their office space.

Personal Touch

Separating themselves from men and the traditional high-function office, women tend to go for the personal touch, with office furniture and accessories reflecting personal tastes, interests, and spirits. While men might typically choose an office chair for its durability and material, women are more likely to choose an office chair for its style and how it fits in with their overall design scheme.

Female Office Furniture

Office furniture for women - such as office desks and chairs - is smaller and slimmer to suit feminine frames. Women tend to want more storage space than men for personal items such as a purse, shoes (to switch from street shoes to office shoes), a change of clothing, et cetera. Men's office furniture tends to be darker in color (i.e. mahogany and other dark woods, and black or brown leather), while women's office and home office furnishings tend to be lighter in shade and more decorative in finishes and styles.

Office Accessories for Women

Offices "for her" tend to have more personalized accessories, such as photo wall calendars and framed family pictures on their desktop. Women decorate with plants, artificial flowers, and vases more than men do, and women are more likely to hang a decorative mirror in their office space and place scented candles and potpourri.

Women pay more attention to window dressings such as curtains and frills, and to matching color schemes that compliment their office décor. Female home offices often feature whimsical or colored telephones, computer mouse pads with pictures, wall art, and decorative clocks.

A recent gift product introduced by a leading office-supply company - an office kit intended for female co-workers - included supplies such as colored message pads, sticky notes, whimsical pens and pencils, motivational-saying posters, stickers, and more.

Retail Consciousness

As increasing numbers of women are setting up home offices and their own businesses today, retailers are taking note and designing office furnishings geared toward the feminine perspective. Accordingly, the best names in the business (such as Office Depot) now feature "office for her" products and innovations to attract female buyers and to cash in current commercial trends.