Ms. Chen saw one company spend part of its design budget on making the office look grungier. It paid money to expose its bricks and pipes, sending the message to workers that they should adopt a ...

But the office can still be a powerful space for work and collaboration. “If we want the workplace to become important again, it has to be a place that’s attractive to employees,” Sullivan says.

Fussy finishes that can’t take wear and tear. Bare floors. Supermarket-like lighting. Design pros share the hallway-decorating mistakes they see most often and how to avoid them.