The Interior Design Blog

Feel-Good Workspaces: Why the Office of 2027 Is About More Than Looking Good

  In our recent look at Dulux Colour of the Year 2027, Soulful Sage™, one phrase particularly caught our attention: “Feel-Good Workspaces.” And we think it deserves a conversation of its own. Because workplace design has changed. We have spent years talking about open-plan offices, agile working, hot desking and hybrid working. But perhaps the more important question now is much simpler: How does your workplace make people feel? For 2027, Dulux's ColourFutures™ research explores the idea of creating spaces that respond to how we want to live, work and feel. Within its workplace application, Soulful Sage and the wider Glow, Light and Lift colour stories demonstrate how relatively subtle changes in colour can create environments that feel calmer, warmer and more human. But colour is only one part of the story. At HIGH Contract Interiors, we think a genuinely feel-good workplace comes from bringing together colour, furniture, lighting, acoustics, comfort and flexibility to create somewhere people actually want to spend time.   The office has a different job now When working from home became normal for millions of people, the purpose of the office changed. For many businesses, simply providing a desk, chair and computer is no longer enough. People can do that at home. The workplace increasingly needs to provide the things that are harder to recreate there: connection, collaboration, creativity, community and a sense of belonging. That has had a huge influence on commercial interiors. We're seeing workplaces borrowing more and more from hospitality, with comfortable lounge seating, communal tables, café-style areas, softer lighting, planting and spaces designed for informal conversations. The line between office, café, hotel lounge and members' club is becoming increasingly blurred. And we think that's a good thing. From corporate to comfortable For a long time, office furniture looked unmistakably like office furniture. Rows of identical desks. Task chairs. Grey carpet tiles. White walls. Perhaps a splash of corporate colour if someone was feeling adventurous. Today's best workplaces feel very different. A breakout area might include an upholstered banquette, timber café tables and comfortable lounge chairs. A kitchen can become a genuine social hub. A reception area can feel closer to a boutique hotel lobby than a traditional corporate entrance. Even meeting spaces are becoming softer and less formal. This doesn't mean abandoning practical commercial furniture. It means combining commercial durability with hospitality-inspired design. Furniture still needs to withstand heavy use, be suitable for its environment and perform properly. It can just look considerably better while doing it. Designing for different ways of working One of the biggest challenges with workplace design is that people don't work in one way all day. Someone might need quiet concentration at 9am, a collaborative meeting at 11am, an informal conversation after lunch and somewhere comfortable to answer emails later in the afternoon. A feel-good workplace therefore needs choice. Rather than expecting every activity to happen at the same desk, workplaces can provide different settings: Focus areas for concentrated work Softer lounge seating for informal meetings High tables for quick conversations Café-style areas for eating and socialising Comfortable breakout spaces Collaborative tables for teams Quiet corners away from busy circulation routes Furniture becomes an important part of defining those spaces without necessarily building walls between them. Comfort isn't a luxury This sounds obvious, but if you want people to enjoy spending time somewhere, they need to be comfortable. And comfort isn't just about putting a softer chair in the corner. It's about physical and sensory comfort. Is the lighting too harsh? Is the room noisy? Is there somewhere quieter to work? Does the furniture suit different body types? Are there different seating heights and postures available? Does the space feel cluttered? Can people find somewhere to have a conversation without feeling as though the entire office is listening? These small considerations can have an enormous impact on how a workplace feels. Bringing nature into the workplace This is where Soulful Sage™ feels particularly relevant. Green has an obvious association with the natural world, but you don't need to paint every wall green to create a more nature-connected workplace. Natural timber furniture, planting, tactile upholstery, stone, warm neutral colours and access to natural light can all help soften an office environment. Soulful Sage works particularly beautifully alongside these materials because it can behave almost like a neutral. Pair it with pale oak and soft greys and the result feels light and calming. Combine it with tan, terracotta and darker timber and it becomes warmer and more grounded. Add ochre or soft pink and suddenly the workplace becomes much more playful. That's exactly what we liked about Dulux's Glow, Light and Lift palettes. The same central colour can support very different types of environment. Don't forget the senses Great interiors aren't experienced through our eyes alone. We notice acoustics. Temperature. Texture. Lighting. Smell. How close another person is sitting. Whether a chair feels comfortable after twenty minutes. Whether we're sitting underneath a glaring light fitting. Whether the room feels calm or chaotic. This is particularly important when designing workplaces for a neurodiverse workforce. Not everybody experiences an environment in the same way. Providing choice, rather than designing one supposedly perfect environment for everybody, can make workplaces considerably more inclusive. A lively collaborative zone can coexist with a quieter, softer area. Neither is necessarily better. They simply serve different people and different moments. The workplace as a destination Perhaps the biggest shift we're seeing is the idea of the office becoming a destination rather than an obligation. If businesses want people to choose to spend more time together, creating an environment they enjoy being in makes sense. That doesn't mean installing a pool table and calling the office fun. It means creating genuinely pleasant places to work. Good coffee. Comfortable seating. Natural light. Places to collaborate. Places to concentrate. Spaces to eat together. Furniture that doesn't feel institutional. An environment that reflects the culture of the organisation. These things communicate something important to employees: we've thought about your experience here. Where furniture fits in Furniture can completely change the behaviour of a workplace. A large communal table encourages people to gather. An upholstered booth creates somewhere for a more private conversation. A pair of lounge chairs encourages a different type of meeting from sitting opposite somebody across a boardroom table. A high table can turn a circulation area into somewhere useful for a ten-minute conversation. And movable furniture gives teams the ability to adapt spaces as their needs change. This is why workplace furniture specification shouldn't simply happen at the end of the design process. The right furniture helps determine how the space actually works. Our view for 2027 We think the next generation of workplace design will be less concerned with making offices look impressive and much more interested in making them feel good to use. Colour will play a role. So will furniture. But the real opportunity comes from considering the whole experience. Comfort. Choice. Connection. Calm. Flexibility. Personality. Soulful Sage might be Dulux's Colour of the Year for 2027, but perhaps the more interesting trend behind it is the growing recognition that our environments affect how we feel. And when we're spending a significant part of our lives at work, that's something worth designing for. Creating a feel-good workplace? At HIGH Contract Interiors, we supply contract furniture for workplaces, hospitality, leisure and commercial environments, from individual chairs and tables through to complete furniture packages. Whether you're creating a café-style breakout area, collaborative workspace, meeting zone or complete office refurbishment, we can help you find furniture that combines commercial performance with great design. Talk to HIGH Contract Interiors about your next workplace project →