
We’ll be the first to tell you — your work environment has a direct impact on your productivity. As colors can affect your mood, we’re strong proponents of decorating spaces with hues that will encourage creativity, focus and confidence at work. Today, we’re teaming up with Sherwin-Williams® to show you how to give your workspace a majorly colorful update. With the help of their new app, ColorSnap®, a few coats of Emerald® paint and a quick trip to the thrift store, we transformed a ho-hum home office into a bright and delightful colorful workspace that is sure to get our creative juices flowing.
Quite an improvement, huh? I used the Sherwin-Williams® ColorSnap® app to land on the perfect color palette. The app extracts exact paint colors from any photo I upload. How neat is that?
Oranges inspire confidence and optimism, while pinks represent passion and a more channeled energy than its fiery red neighbor. I want to have all of these emotions while in creative work mode, so I went with a sweet spot of peach hues, inspired by my Instagram of a dewy, blooming rose.
ColorSnap® helped me land on these paint colors: SW 7114 Palish Peach, SW 6638 Flattering Peach, SW 6618 Cosmetic Peach and SW 6890 Osage Orange.
How to Turn a Weird Print into a Dry Erase Board
To get comfortable using Emerald® paint, I started with a simple (and super cool!) project: I turned an old art print into a dry erase board. Sherwin-WIlliams® makes a genius product called Sketch Pad™ Dry Erase Coating that turns almost any surface into a dry erase board, and it’s very easy to use. Check it out!
Materials + Tools:
— framed canvas print
— Sherwin-Williams® Emerald® Paint in 2 colors (I used SW 6618 Cosmetic Peach and SW 7114 Palish Peach)
— Sherwin-Williams® Sketch Pad™ Dry Erase Coating (the kit comes with a paint roller and cover, roller tray, gloves and a stir stick)
— angled nylon bristle brushes, assorted sizes
— painter’s tape
Alright, I need to explain this bizarre art print: This is Blue Boy. Why did I choose this dude as a base for a dry erase board, you ask? That gold frame has a LOT of potential, and Blue Boy is printed on a sturdy canvas. Plus, the thrift store where I discovered him had dozens of replicas of the very same print, so I didn’t feel as though I was ruining someone’s original artwork.
Blue Boy received A LOT of attention at Brit HQ. TBH, we’re kind of sad to see him go. But alas! Onto the DIY.
First, carefully tape off the inner edges of the frame.
Use an angled brush to add a coat of paint over the entire canvas. (Goodbye, Blue Boy!) Add a second coat if needed, then let dry completely.
Put on the rubber gloves, then mix parts A and B together to create one quart of coating. Stir until the mixture is nearly opaque, then pour into the roller tray. Coat your roller evenly in mixture. Be sure to roll off excess paint to minimize dripping.
Roll the Sketch Padâ„¢ coating onto the now-dry print. Be sure to coat the full canvas evenly. If necessary, use a small brush to cover the edges. The coating will dry to a clear gloss finish. Let dry for seven full days before using dry erase markers on the board.
If you too are painting part of the outer frame, add new strips of tape to surround where you’ll paint. Then paint the frame using a small angled brush.
Once this paint is dry, remove all of the tape.
Aaand we’re done! Talk about a transformation.
After seven days, you can write on the board with dry erase markers.
Give Your Drab Desk a Dreamy Ombre Paint Job
Next up, I’m bringing a very necessary facelift to an old desk. When in doubt, ombre is the answer.
Materials + Tools:
— wood desk
— Sherwin-Williams® Emerald® paint (we used 4 colors in similar hues for an ombre effect: SW 7114 Palish Peach, SW 6638 Flattering Peach, SW 6618 Cosmetic Peach and SW 6890 Osage Orange)
— angled nylon bristle paintbrushes, assorted sizes
— small paint roller
— dropcloth
— paint tray + liner
— paint stir sticks
— screwdriver
I picked up this worn desk at a local thrift store. Sure, it looks pretty sad and banged up, but it’s got great bones.
First, remove the drawer pulls from each drawer and set aside.
Stir the second lightest paint with a stir stick, then pour into the tray liner.
Pro Tip: You can actually use a quarter to remove the paint lids. Nifty, huh?
Coat your paint roller evenly, then paint the face of each of the highest drawers. Let it dry.
Repeat these steps with the third lightest paint color for the next row of drawers.
And repeat again with the darkest shade on the lowest set of drawers.
Next, paint the body of your desk in the lightest shade. I painted most of it with the roller, then did finishing touches with a paint brush.
Lastly, paint each of the drawer pulls. If you find that these don’t take paint very well, you can try sanding them first or opt for spray paint.
Once the paint is completely dry, reattach each drawer pull.
Reinsert the drawers into the desk.
Voila! SO MUCH BETTER. Paint is magical, people.
Decorate!
Lastly, I added bright and cheery office accessories to the desk.
I had to include a print of the inspo photo. So meta.
Also, big shout-out to our #50DaysofLettering Challenge for my brand new hand lettering skills :)
Pro Tip: When accessorizing a space, you only need to loosely follow the original color palette. For example, I stayed in the pastel family but added in pops of bronze and gold. There’s a fine line between cohesive and too matchy-matchy.
I can’t stress this enough: Plants are a workaholic’s best friend. They’re scientifically proven to enhance productivity.
There we go! An office that finally matches my personality and will (hopefully!) inspire productivity.
Here are some bonus photos, mostly because I can’t get enough of my new workspace.
Why yes, that IS a French Bulldog tape dispenser. Thanks for noticing.
What colors would you paint your workspace? Share with us on Twitter @BritandCo!
This post is a collaboration with Sherwin-Williams®.
Author: Maddie Bachelder
Production + Styling: Maddie Bachelder
Photography: Chris Andre
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
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Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
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You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures