As I’ve mentioned before, I recently started a new job. The current desk/office situation isn’t very conducive to decorating (I am the front desk in an office of 5, and I only have one “wall”…which is actually the wooden hutch of my desk). We’re supposed to be getting a new office sometime next year, so hopefully that’s better (more room for plants!).
But I always used to get compliments on my cubicle at my last job. So here are some crappy cell phone pics and some quick tips. These pics are actually a mishmash of 2 different cubes at the same job, but of course most of the stuff was the same. My feeling is you probably spend at LEAST as much time staring at these walls as you do at the ones in your home, so there’s not need to fill them with post-its, crappy computer printed jokes, and who knows what else. Unless that makes you happy. But I need some sense or order and peace.
This is a little collection of turtles I kept on my lamp base. I collect them on vacations (a lot of them have bobbleheads) and label the bottom with where they’re from and when. Silly, but they make me happy…and they’re a SMALL collection. The little mini TEA crock on the left I totally stole from my mom, who has had it for like ever. I use it for teabags I can still get another steep out of. (The white thing is a mini humidifier I used sometimes when sickly.)
Along with 6,000 photos of Ainsley, I also frequently brought in plants to overwinter. I have limited space for that at home, but in the office – even though I wasn’t near a window – the fluorescent lights are on close to 24/7. So some of them did end up a bit leggy, but they stayed plenty happy…and even bloomed!
It may sound silly and totally like an excuse to have like 20 of them at my desk (true), but plants DO make a cubicle happier! I also like to think that maybe they cancel out some of that gross office air/mojo with happy oxygen.
Here’s some of the main decor (there is one wall that’s not really in pics). A cute little photo collage. The large print is actually from Etsy (theinksociety), and it’s kind of funny. I bought it after my miscarriage because I needed something to remind me to be happy…I only found out later that it was a quote from How I Met Your Mother. I was kind of annoyed at that at first, because it’s not a show we watched. But then, while on maternity leave and bored out of our minds a couple years later, we watched basically every frigging episode of the show while we were off. Also note my giant, happy dracenea.
Another small photo collage on the side. I kept random tacked notices and notes to a minimum and used these T-pins to hang all the frames (sometimes with a string tied to a sawtooth hanger or something) without having a bunch of tacky pushpins up all over the place. I usually had a plant behind the laptop (this was one of my last days, and I think I had already given it away!) and also a Buddha to keep the peace in my view.
Inbox area….really just a pic of how crazy many plants I had. They were always moving around – sometimes on a bookshelf in the corner of my cube, sometimes on a ledge behind the row’s printer (and not in my cube at all) sometimes where they are pictured, which is close to the light source. I gave away many of these before I left, because I had nowhere to keep them at home and wasn’t sure what the new office situation would be.
This was the main keeper plant, shown as I left the office for the last time (which OMG a carful of crap that is still in the office at my house mostly not unpacked). I told you it was big, but this should give you a pretty good idea of just how big it was….and why it is still at my parents’ house and not at my new office (there kind of isn’t any room, even though there is great sunshine. boo.). Don’t worry – I tucked it in and it made it home safely.
Possibly as I decorate my new desk and possible future desk I’ll share some more pics. But it really does come down to making yourself happy. If you’re really cool with office clutter, then fine. But I’m not, so I like to keep it as homey and peaceful as I can. With lots of pictures of the baby, kitties, and doggie (and husband).
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