A break room is where people should be able to relax, grab a coffee, and escape work stress. Essentially, if you’re break room isn’t comfortable, then it isn’t working for you. These break room ideas for small spaces will help you improve your space and your employees’ morale.

Here, we’ll outline our favorite break room ideas for small spaces.

1. Use an outdoor color pallet

Choose soothing wall colors that bring the warmth and appeal of the outdoors into your break room, where you want a less formal, relaxed environment.  Sky blue and spring green are cheerful colors that help relieve tension and diminish stress. These light colors can also make a small room appear more open and less confining.

2. Use warm lighting

Even in a small break room, lighting should have a warm, gold tone that is more restful than the bright, blue-toned light used in work areas. Use additional ambient light for an even more appealing setting. As soon as your staff walks into this relaxed environment, they’ll know this is a place to grab a cup of coffee or tea and unwind.

3. Designating space for a small break room

In smaller offices you can still create a separate space for a break room by using sound absorbing, modular partitions and screens as walls. When needed the partitions can be reconfigured or removed for larger meetings or group events. Screens and partitions can be made from a variety of materials displaying modern-clean lines or more traditional designs.

Bookcases, placed side by side, give a sense of a more permanent room divider. Display artwork on the shelves, as well as magazines, books or even attractive storage bins to hold games and puzzles. Place a lamp with ambient light on a shelf and add a few plants. It will be clear that the area on the other side of these bookcases is not for work.

For a more natural look, choose a garden wall grid to cordon off an area for breaks. Hanging plants on the grid will create a green barrier that will bring a sense of the outdoors into your break room.

4. Elements of a perfect break room

To give your staff a clear sense that this area of their office is truly different from the work area, provide comfy, plush chairs and an end tables to hold a  lamp and a cup of coffee or tea. If space allows, add tables and chairs where co-workers can sit for lunch or a chat. Provide noise-cancelling headphones for employees who want to listen to music or read in silence and include some charging stations. Add free coffee and tea and some healthy snacks and you have the basic elements of a perfect break room.

5. Space-saving ideas for small break rooms

Compact furniture is ideal for small spaces. A convenient-sized, drop-leaf table can be placed next to a chair or pushed against a wall and the leaves pulled out when needed. A foldable counter-height table can be utilized as a center island where coworkers can gather or it can sit against a wall and be used as a counter for snacks, containers holding tea bags and coffee.

Space-saving kitchens for small break rooms are well designed and compact. Even the smallest modular units can be outfitted with a cabinet to hold supplies, a counter with room for a microwave, coffee maker or cappuccino machine and space below the counter for a small fridge or dishwasher.

6. Give your break room walls a personal touch

Decorate the walls with outdoor photos taken by the staff or display photos of their pets or their children’s art work. Invite local artists to display their photos or paintings. Hang a white board or a roll of butcher paper on the wall and provide felt-tipped pens for those creative conversations that spark new ideas or to help keep score during competitive board games.

Large or small, a breakroom needs to be a place that feels welcoming, and encourages relaxation and creativity. Studies have shown that strategic breaks refresh our brains and help us concentrate better when we return to our jobs. View your staffs’ break room as an important area of the office where your employees can disengage from their every day work mode and feel mentally re-charged and ready to be productive.