Office decorations

[Kitty]

I really want to decorate my work space so that it is more personalized. Any ideas of appropriate work decorations?

[winneythepooh7]

Well we have no private space at work, just one big room with desks all next to each other. SO I decorated my desk. I mostly have pics of my pup. One on my desk and I downloaded him on my screensaver. I also have this cute wooden dog that says "Dogs are just furry little kids". I didn't want to bring in any pics of my boyfriend, friends or family because they advise us not to in SW school because if clients who have bad family situations see it, it upsets them. I have a metal filing cabinet next to my desk so I also put up lotsa cute little magnets and one that has my sorority letters on it. Otherwise, I just have a bunch of my SW books that act as a divider between me and the desk of my co-worker who sits directly across from me.

[Morgan81]

I really want to decorate my work space so that it is more personalized. Any ideas of appropriate work decorations?

I have a few pictures, and others in my team have even less.
But there are some people in the building who COVERED their cube in decorations. Seriously it must of taken hours to put spider-webs up for halloween and wrapping paper and bows up for christmas.
I don't get it. Why feel the need to decorate to that degree? I understand a plant, some pictures to try to remind yourself that the world outside is a whole lot better than inside, at least thats what mine are there for.
But I just view anything over-board overly Nina from Office Space ("CORP-rate accounts payable Nina speaking....JUST a moment") and just really annoying.

That's just my jaded opinion, and I don't mean to be rude, but that behavior has always just struck me as odd.

[mishl982]

Pictures, pictures, pictures! I have picture frames all across my desk, on the cubicle wall, etc. I also put up an art poster on one empty cubicle wall - it adds a lot of color.

[pisces2473]

I have a 1/2 cube type thing...so on one "wall" I have some postcards from the travels of my friends...the other wall has some work related handouts, a poster from the national book festival, a small pennant from my college, a cartoon about Yale library and its ID system (long story), a danger--keep out sign that I found on a shelf in the office...

I don't put anything personal up. I just don't want to have to explain "that's my GODson, not my SON" or "that's my boyfriend" and then have to sit there and shoot the shit all day with people.

[Tayl405]

I just got a nice big desk, and I want to decorate it a little too. I'm going to bring in a lamp to try to minimize the overhead lights (they make me so tired!). I don't know about pictures....I kinda agree with Jen on that one. Maybe a pic of my kitty. A plant is a good idea--I don't like a lot of clutter, but I need something to make it a little homier. It's so dull right now, I just want to go home the second I get there.

[MollyMe]

I need to decorate my office. People keep maing fun of me for not having anything. I have a stack of papers but that is all. I also have a freakin' retarded football and bear thing that my coworker gave me and I don't know what to do with it. I hate the school (state university here). I'm from OU; we don't like this school. So yeah. My boyfriend wants a picture of us for his office. I had an OU sticker and an OU beanie baby-type Orange Bowl bear at one time.

[shimmer728]

One of the many perks of working out of my home--there's no problem with decorating my desk with drunk party pics or schmoopie pictures of my boyfriend. And hey, if I worked in a traditional office, I certainly couldn't display my stolen orange construction cone or my pink dollhouse!

I do have a desk in our main office, too, and since I'm not there very often, I don't keep much on it. Just a few Hello Kitty figurines and a small Ohio State sign. Of course, I work with a bunch of Penn State grads, who are fond of turning the sign upside down when I'm not there. :D

[bostongirl]

I'm with everyone in not putting anything too personal up in my cube... I've got postcards from most of the places I've travelled to as well some of my friends and a banner from where I went to undergrad... I've also got a wall calendar of Paris and some random office memos (frequently called phone #s and such)... The decorations say something about me (I love to travel and I loved where I went to undergrad) without getting into my personal life too much. At my old job I did have some photos, but pretty much everyone at that job was just out of college, so everyone had their drunk pics up... and mine were mostly just group shots of me and my friends places we'd travelled to... :huge:

-M

[coll214]

I don't have anything to personal for a lot of the same reasons; I don't want the questions b/c quite frankly it's none of their business. But on my metal cabinets of my cube I have some magnets from places i've been on my cross- country trip, a pic of the Pacific Ocean and my Welcome to my corner of institution Garfield sign. Oh and sitting on my shelf I have my droopy dog w/ his I'm so happy sign and Yosemite Sam, and a little elephant a coworker gave me. the rest of the papers on the wall are all work related w/ the exception of a pic of my cat.

[wordsmith]

Well, people (customers) rarely come back to my desk, I usually speak to them at the front counter, so I can put pretty much whatever I want back here. But it's not much.

I don't have an office, we're an open newsroom, and I took down my cube, because it made me feel claustrophobic. We have no windows, it's just this dark-ish long, narrow room, and we're not allowed to put really anything on the walls, so that sucks. I broke the rule, and put up a framed poster from the First Amendment Center, that says, "It's your right...not whether it's right or wrong," and goes on to talk about freedom of speech. I could just see somebody telling me I have to take down my freedom of speech poster.

I also draped my ugly scratched and dented file cabinet with a green batik sarong I got during study abroad, and on my desk is a framed quote about success by Emerson.

[joneshen]

On my computer desktop, I have wallpaper from the campus of my alma mater (http://www.upenn.edu).

On my desk, I have a yellow GW (http://www.gwu.edu) rubber duckie, who wears glasses and is holding a computer. They give them out when the engineering school has scientific demonstrations. The duckie however, does not squeak.

No room for much else.

[mishl982]

You know what I really want for my cube is a poster that is a window that looks out at the beach. I found one that I really like but it's like #30!

I always thought it would be funny to put up a poster from this website http://www.despair.com/

[MetFanL]

I have tons of junk in my office. I have photos of family and friends on one shelf, a few hot wheels cars, some Irish Mardi Grad beads, and a bunch of Mets stuff on the walls. If I didn't have decorations, my office would be beige walls w/ only binders and binders of old info. Seriously... my walls are lined w/ like 6 bookshelves of binders.

I definitely have a few inappropriate things. Like a newspaper clipping of a story of Darryl Strawberry entitled 'Buy me some peanuts and crack.' I don't really care, though.

[pisces2473]

I have pot leaf Mardi Gras beads...I don't think those would be deemed appropriate...lol

You know, if my boss didn't act like my freaking mother half of the time, I would bring more "fun" stuff in.

[paiger81]

But there are some people in the building who COVERED their cube in decorations. Seriously it must of taken hours to put spider-webs up for halloween and wrapping paper and bows up for christmas.

I'm one of those. For Christmas I had Snowflake Garland, a Christmas Tree, A wreath, door knob hanger, etc. The way I see it is that I'm at this job for the majority of my waking hours, I should at least enjoy looking at it!! Plus, I decorate everything, I mean, I've won contests at my apt. complex for Holiday Decorating Contests(One year for Halloween, I made a Paper Mache Space Ship and had Aliens attacking my balconey).

Right now I've got a Schnauzer themed office. I have pics of my dogs, schnauzer mouse pad, and some figurines on my shelves. My office pale in comparison to the lady next door. Housekeeping had to ask her to take some of her pigs home cause they were tired of dusting them!

[pisces2473]

You have an office? And housekeeping???

Oh if only THIS university could be so lucky.

[paiger81]

Yep, he swings by in the mornings & afternoons to empty trash, then I think they swing by AGAIN at night, cause I always have a new trash bag & my recycle bin is empty.

[pisces2473]

Oh we have that too...but they DUST???

[paiger81]

At night time.

[k.monster]

We have some kids that come into the office with their parents that really like me so they draw me pictures - which I have hanging up at my desk. Most of my "decorations" are work related (the random post-it note). I've got a few plants, and my "Fabulous Broads" desk calander. (A qoute a day from a fabulous broad - some of which are really cool!). The only pictures I have are of my best friend (we were on a four day hike - the trail is fantastic - she's in the background) and myself and my dog at the beach.

I'm not a huge fan of personal photos in my area - every single person that comes into the office can see them and I don't want to explain every single pic to strangers.

[mishl982]

I haven't had anyone comment me on my pics. But then again they look at it, see almost all Asian people, then assume it's just family. No explanation neccessary.

[coll214]

Yep, he swings by in the mornings & afternoons to empty trash, then I think they swing by AGAIN at night, cause I always have a new trash bag & my recycle bin is empty.
I'm jealous!! Half the time the cleaning people don't even empy our trash everyday... and it's been YEARS since they've vacuumed, we do our dusting, but yet we can't have outside people come in to clean... gotta love the union :googly:

[MollyMe]

We have to take out our own trash, etc. Even in the breakroom.

[wordsmith]

Our company is so cheap, our PUBLISHER comes in every Sat. a.m. and empties garbages and vaccuums.