Tropical Themed Office: How To Bring The Outside IN!
Scott and I are big fans of nature and exotic destinations (we are travel bloggers after all!)
So when I took our blog full-time, we were determined for our office to be tropical themed – to keep us inspired but also happy surrounded by greenery and bright colours.
If you’re also after a tropical themed office then we hope this blog post serves as some inspiration for you.
It’s full of products and other tropical interior design ideas that we hope you’ll love and find useful!
Tropical Themed Office: Products & DIY Inspiration
Here are a bunch of products you can buy or DIY that would suit any tropical themed office!
1. Pineapple Pen Pot
Keep your desk tidy and your pens within easy reach with a pineapple pen pot!
If you’re struggling to find one you like, try thinking outside of the box and using something that’s not technically designed with pens in mind like a pineapple toothbrush holder or party cup.
You could even make the pens themselves tropical themed – like these fab pineapple pens!
2. Colourful DIY Fabric Notice Board
If you like to leave lots of reminders for yourself then you’ll definitely need a notice board / bulletin board.
Why not make your own using our fun tutorial?
You can use any type of fabric you like but to keep it within the theme, here are some tropical fabrics we love (that are all available on Etsy).
Tropical Fabrics We Love:
- Tropical Bird Print Fabric from AMadSeamstress
- Tropical Leaves & Floral Fabric from HotRockinRetro
3. Cactus Erasers
Even if your tropical themed office isn’t for a young child, you’ll still love these fun cactus erasers.
We can’t say we’ve ever used them but they certainly brighten up a boring desk!
4. Succulent Candles
How fun are these succulent candles? Whether you have them on your desk, shelf, bookcase or windowsill, they will be an instant hit of TROPICAL!
5. Succulents
If you love succulents just as much as the next person, then succulent candles are going to need some friends: real (or even artificial) succulents!
Once again, they’ll be a great addition to your desk, windowsill, bookcase or shelves.
6. Tropical Plants
It’s not just succulents that can steal the show within your tropical themed office!
Other plants like bamboo, monstera (swiss cheese plants) and palm trees will all work too – and when placed in an empty corner, they also have feng shui benefits!
If you’re not green fingered then artificial plants also work:
Artificial Monstera Plant
Artificial Bamboo
Artificial Ferns
7. Tropical Print Storage Boxes & Magazine Files
If you’re anything like us then your office and desk are a treasure trove of tiny stationery, notebooks and magazine cuttings for inspiration.
While you can corral and hide them away to save them from cluttering up your desk, if you stow them away inside tropical print boxes and magazine files, then you’ll also be finishing off your tropical themed decor with ease!
You could even decoupage your own plain files and boxes too!
8. Tropical Art Prints
Whether you buy some prints or make your own artwork, nothing screams tropical like palm trees and monstera leaves!
Check out some of these for inspiration:
Monstera Leaf Trio
Tropical Leaf Trio
6 Piece Tropical Leaf Artwork
9. Colourful Cross Stitch Pictures
We know we talk about cross stitch a lot around here, but it’s such an easy way to bring a bit of homemade to your room while still being in keeping with the effect and overall look you’re trying to achieve.
In our tropical themed home office, we’ve got a large floral picture my Nanna stitched many moons ago as the pinks and greens went so well with our colour palette.
And then I added a pretty little vase of yellow, pink and red flowers to my desk (a picture that took just a few hours to finish).
Here are some other cross stitch patterns we’ve found that would work PERFECTLY with your tropical themed room (and they’re all available on Etsy as instant downloads):
- Aloha Cross Stitch Pattern by Stitchrovia
- Tropical Flamingo Cross Stitch Pattern by Axebe
- Trio of Plants Cross Stitch Pattern by MariBoriEmbroidery
- Set of 4 Tropical Birds Cross Stitch Patterns by VladaXStitch
- Tropical Flowers Cross Stitch Pattern by AlitonEmbroidery
- Fun Cacti Cross Stitch Pattern by PatternDesignStudio
10. DIY Dry Erase Board
You’re going to need somewhere to make a note of all your goals and projects, so why not make your very own DIY dry erase board?
We went with a leaf green backing and neon coloured pens to fit in with our tropical themed office, but as you’ll see from this easy tutorial, ANY colour works!
11. Colourful Fruit Coasters
My mum made our fun and colourful fabric fruit coasters, but we’ve also seen these coasters on Amazon, which are super cool too – and very tropical!
12. Exotic Lampshade
While our lampshade is a little more understated (cream with a peacock print), it was actually one we already had elsewhere in the house and we moved it into our office where it worked better.
If we ever do replace it though, we’ve got our eyes on this colourful lampshade on Etsy!
13. BONUS: DIY Tropical Roman Shades
One thing that’s missing from our own office is a fun tropical print blind, which is why we’re not quite ready for a full room reveal yet (but that’s coming I promise!)
Blinds, especially chic custom made blinds, can cost a small fortune, so we plan on following tutorials by Tiny Kelsie and Reality Daydream to turn our current boring metal blind into a DIY tropical themed roman shade.
Stay tuned to find out how it turns out!
Tropical Colour Palettes
For our own tropical themed office, we took inspiration from my 2019 planner, which had been staring at me all year from next to my laptop. It was a fun tropical scene full of pinks, greens and a splash of gold.
So we ran with that as our colour palette; also bringing in some oranges and yellows to mimic glorious sunshine like you get somewhere exotic like Hawaii or Indonesia.
But you could also take the tropical theme and run with different colour palettes if you prefer.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Pinks, reds, oranges and purples for the colours of sunsets and cocktails
- Yellows, blues and greens to mimic palm trees on a sandy beach
- Colourful rainbow colours for all the bright colours of Bali, rainbows and beach parasols
- Or just take inspiration from your favourite exotic fruit or flower like yellow, orange and green pineapples or bright pink dragon fruits
Tropical Motifs
A tropical themed office is all about bringing the outside in. But it’s also about celebrating the exotic and tropical paradise countries we imagine for our holidays!
Motifs that would work well throughout your tropical themed room are things like:
- Tropical plants like palm trees, monstera (swiss cheese plants), cacti and succulents
- Pineapples and other colourful fruits like guava, dragon fruit and kiwis
- Flamingos, toucans and other exotic birds or animals
- Bright and colourful flowers especially hibiscus, birds of paradise and orchids
You could even bring in some elements from other themes like starfish from a beach themed room or rainbows, clouds and ice lollies to mimic what it’s like to be on holiday.
Tropical Themed Home Office: Pinterest Inspiration
Check out our bright and tropical Pinterest board to see what colours, motifs, patterns and decor take your fancy!
We hope this blog post has been full of inspiration for your tropical themed office!
Have you got any other ideas? Let us know what they are in the comments below…
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