Whether you’re starting with a blank slate (insert B.F. Skinner joke) or trying to spruce up an already furnished, but otherwise boring or disjointed room, it can feel overwhelming to know where to start when decorating your therapy office.

I’m a psychologist with a passion for interior design and I’ve turned that passion into a small business helping therapists design their offices. Here you’ll find my step-by-step guide for how I decorate therapy offices using tips and tricks I’ve learned from the interior design world.

Key Components of a Successful Therapy Office Design:

In my experience, well-designed therapy offices have the following components:

• Functional layout
• Cohesive color palette
• Purposeful furniture
• Welcoming lighting
• Natural elements

Step 1: Decide on a Functional Layout

Think of your office layout as the “frame” for your design plan. Like with therapeutic frames, a room’s layout gives direction, clarity, and containment. Knowing what goes where in your office helps you and your clients feel grounded.

Identifying office zones
The first things I look at when helping therapists design their offices are the size and layout of their space. Each service you provide (e.g. talk therapy, psychological assessment, play therapy) needs a designated space or zone. Many therapists I work with need at least a ‘talk therapy zone’ and a ‘workspace zone’ for telehealth and other computer work.

It’s okay for zones to have overlapping purposes. The key is making sure each activity you do in your office has a set place. Smaller offices with many overlapping zones need more creative storage solutions and multipurpose furniture pieces.

For an in-depth guide to designing your office layout, along with an example from a real office design project, read here.

Step 2: Pick a Color Palette

Deciding on a set of colors (even neutral ones) will guide the decorating process throughout your office.

Starting with an Inspiration Piece
A great place to start in helping you choose your office color palette is with an “inspiration piece.” Do you have a piece of art, a rug, or a throw pillow you love and want to bring into your office? Let these colors and ratios guide your color palette.

Color Palette Guidelines
For therapy offices I recommend between 3-6 colors in your space. How much color you add will depend on your personal feelings about color in your environment and even the type of therapy you do (e.g. some therapists who work with children and teens have more colorful office spaces to signal playfulness).

Applying the 60/30/10 Rule
The 60/30/10 rule is a common rule of thumb in the design world. It recommends having approximately 60 percent of your room’s color come from one to two main colors (think walls, sofa, or other large furniture pieces), 30 percent from a harmonious color or two (rugs, wall art, and smaller furniture) and 10 percent from one or two accent colors (pillows, small hints in the artwork, lamps, and other smaller accessories). These percentages do not need to be perfect, but the takeaway is to add color in sequential increments so as not to overpower the space with too many competing colors. Some colors will be the heroes, others will be the sidekicks.

Best Colors for Therapy Offices
There is no ‘one color fits all.’ However, if you’re unsure where to start, turn to colors easily found in nature. For a calm and tranquil space, you can’t go wrong with variations of blues, greens, and browns.

Add a little black (or white)
Here’s another interior designer trick: add hints of black to your space to add depth and grounding to the color palette. A little black through table legs, bookshelves, frames, side tables, or even smaller decor items can go a long way in adding sophistication to your room. If you’re not feeling the black for your room, use white instead. Incorporating touches of black (or white) into a design helps anchor the space and gives the eye somewhere to land.

Find more color palette details, ideas and inspiration here.

Step 3: Choose Purposeful Furniture

Therapy office furniture pieces are work horses. They need to be comfortable, durable, useful, and aesthetically pleasing. Here are some tips for the most commonly used therapy furniture pieces.

Couches and chairs
My most important advice for purchasing a new couch or armchair for your office: sit in it first! While it’s easier than ever to buy furniture online, returning a piece of furniture purchased online because it’s uncomfortable is a major pain. So, if you’re picking pieces from stores with brick and mortar locations in your area, go to the stores first and test them out. If you’re not able to try the furniture in person, spend extra time reading the reviews. Look specifically for reviews discussing comfort. Then check the company’s return policies. If you change your mind after seeing it – or sitting on it – how challenging or expensive would it be to send it back?

No need to go “matchy matchy” with your sofa and armchair. The pieces need to complement one another, but do not need to be identical or from the same furniture set. If you love the matching sofa and chair look – or you are already stuck with a set you can’t afford to replace – go for it. Just be sure to add variety through the art, pillows, and lamps you choose instead.

Check the seat heights of your furniture pieces before purchasing. Visually, it helps to keep the seat height of your chairs within four inches of the seat height of your sofa. From a therapeutic perspective, keeping the sofa and your armchair at approximately the same height helps prevent a feeling of power differential between the two seats. You don’t want to be towering over your clients or have them towering over you.

Side Tables
If you have the room for it, side tables are a great addition to the therapy office. In addition to adding visual interest, they’re practical – offering a space for clocks, table lamps, tissues, and drinks.

Trying to keep the height of your side table close to that of the neighboring arm of the chair or sofa. It’s okay to go a few inches lower, too. It’s helpful to keep a side table within 2-3 inches of the sofa or chair, making it easy to grab a tissue or a sip of coffee.

I like using side tables that add variety to a space. If a lot of your furniture is bulky, add a side table with thin legs. If your sofa or accent chairs are perched on thin modern legs, pick a side table with more weight to it, like a drum table. Side tables can also be a great place to incorporate one of your chosen accent colors. Or if you do not yet have natural wood in your space, go for a wood side table. Don’t forget that when you add a new color (including brown from wood) try to repeat it in more than one place (e.g. side table and desk).

No room for a side table? Drink tables or combination floor lamp tables are clever ways to make the most of a small space. They’ll give you just enough room for a clock or a cup of coffee!

Coffee Tables
Some therapists find coffee tables useful, especially art therapists or therapists who work with kids and teens. If you’re using a coffee table, pick one that is at least as wide as half the length of the sofa and within four inches of the height of the sofa. Make sure there’s enough room in your office to walk comfortably around a coffee table. Ideally there should be 12 to 18 inches between a couch and a coffee table.

Tight on space? Try a round coffee table or an ottoman that can double for storage.

Bookshelves
Bookshelves can add a lot of visual interest to a therapy office. In addition to showcasing your favorite therapeutic books, bookshelves can help display art, smaller decor items, framed licenses, fidget toys, and more.

What size bookshelf you pick will depend on your office size and layout. Some offices have room for large, grand bookshelves. Therapists with smaller spaces may want to consider ladder bookshelves or even ladder bookshelves with built in desks for a two-for-one piece of furniture.

Psst!… Don’t forget to measure your space before buying furniture! If you need help visualizing if things will fit, use blue painter’s tape to map out the furniture on the floor in your office. Make sure there’s enough walking space between furniture pieces. Also, be sure to measure your doorways and entryways to your office (think elevators, front doors, waiting room doors, etc). Many furniture companies can help you double check that larger furniture items will fit through your doorways – give them a call or talk to someone in the store for assistance before purchasing.

Step 4: Create Welcoming Lighting

Lighting Strategy
Lighting plays an important role in any therapy office. Of course natural light is awesome when you can get it. My next favorite lighting source is from lamps. To the extent possible, use lamp light instead of any big overhead lights in your office. Most overhead lights are too bright, intense, and classroom-like. We’re aiming for calmer, more living room-like lighting.

Lamp Options
To add visual interest and get more dispersed light at different heights in the room, I recommend using a combination of floor and table lamps. If you like a more symmetrical look, you can use matching table lamps on either side of your therapy couch, paired with a floor lamp near the therapist’s chair. If you lean more eclectic, try a floor lamp on one side of the therapy couch and a table lamp on the other. For a smaller office, one floor lamp and one table lamp may provide enough light. I also like adding a table lamp on therapists’ desks to make an otherwise boring or cluttered space look cozy.

Make sure the bottom of the lamp shade is at or below eye level when you’re sitting down. This ensures the shade covers the bulb, which helps prevent eye strain and discomfort for you and your clients.

Does the light bulb aisles at the hardware store make you anxious? Here’s my quick guide to light bulbs for therapy offices.

Step 5: Incorporate Natural Elements

The last, but certainly not least, component on my list is adding natural elements. Bringing the outdoors into our therapy spaces adds depth and grounding to them. Natural materials make a room look and feel good.

Here are some of my favorite ways to incorporate nature into your therapy office:

Plants
I love adding plants to therapy offices – they add color, visual interest, and liveliness. Choose low maintenance ones: pothos, ZZ plants, and snake plants.

Natural Materials
Choosing furniture and decor pieces made from natural materials including wood, stone, and marble contributes to a room’s tranquility. Art frames, bookshelves, and accent tables are great places to add wood. For marble or stone, consider accent tables or table tops, decor objects, or bookends. Natural textiles are great additions, too. When picking out your pillow fabrics, consider cotton, linen, or wool. These natural materials add depth, visual interest, and grounding to a space.

Artwork
Another great way to bring the outdoors into your therapy office is through the artwork you choose. Opt for artwork with themes of landscapes or botanicals. Nature-inspired art can bring the outdoors in without needing to remember to water your plants!

That’s a wrap!

Designing a therapy office is an opportunity to create a space that is both functional and welcoming. By carefully considering the layout, color palette, furniture, lighting, and natural elements, you can thoughtfully craft an environment that not only looks beautiful, but also reflects your personal style and supports the therapeutic process.

Still craving more design guidance? Check out my blog posts on Adding Decorative Accessories to a Therapy Office or my top tips for Decorating a Therapy Office on a Budget. You can see articles like these and more under my “DIY Therapy Office Design” tab.

Need personalized help? Tell me more about your project here.