We spent a lot of time in our offices. I don’t know about you but I have not ever spent a lot of time thinking about Decorating my office. (Decorating as opposed to decorating. decorating is what you do when you do nothing, you just live in it.) Some of that may be a function of the space itself. When starting a job I was always moving into someone else’s space. I would often inherit “art” (if you can call it that), old binders, dead folders, and other crap. The first week of my current job I went through the desk organizer thingys in the office and I found someone’s fingernail clippings (ew!)!! Now how can you get through that kind of energy?!
A few weeks after I started my current job I moved into a freshly renovated office. It was all new, all clean, and not tainted with any fingernail clipping. I have a window with an awful view but some diffused light. I have lots of shelves and some space to hang things. I have spent a bit of time working through all of the organizational type things but have not really focused on any of the aesthetics of the space.
Wanna see what it looks like?
This is the view from the corner of the room. I’m standing in my doorway, the door is closed because my co-workers already think I am 6 shades of crazy. Taking pictures of my office? Par for the course.
If you click on the picture you can go to flickr and see all of the fun notes that I have added.
The Calender you see there was made by Maryse. She gave it to the BOS girls for Christmas and I love it madly. For each of our Birthdays she put a little picture of us. I love Maryse’s photos and I look forward to flipping the calender each month. (M - you better do another one for next year!) (ps-she sells her photos as cards here.)
For the walls I’m thinking of one or two of these prints from Right Brain Terrain. Aren’t they fabulous? I like Shine, Integrity, Focus, and Create.
Or perhaps a Wallhog? A big basket of yarn? Sophia’s cute mug? Brad Pitt with his shirt off? What? Not professional enough? Damn.
I am the fortunate recipient of Sophia’s first ever finger painting. A mother’s day gift. That will likely make it’s way to some portion of the wall.
Any other suggestions? I am really into illustrators and itty bitty artists right now. I have an etsy seller that I adore (which I will share soon) but I have a few of her prints and would love to branch out a bit. We*heart*prints has some unbelievable art. I’m enjoying some prints on Little Paper Planes. I am loving Chris Applehans stuff, featured here.
As for fabric for the bulletin boards? Well, I haven’t even started on that path yet. I loooove some of the fabrics out there. I wish I could just steal Sophia’s Kay Quilt and put it on my wall. Feel free to point me in the direction of cool bulletin board worthy fabric.
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day 7 - i could go on and on…i love dreaming about this stuff.
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You just killed me with all those links. Like I need another obsession.
In my office I have two paintings by my brother-in-law, a quilt that I made, a framed photograph of cranberries, and a framed saying about books that my mother gave me when I got my master’s degree. I also have lots of family photos on the windowsills and several plants. Does this help?
A Wallhog of one of Maryse’s photographs!!
Yes. That is what your space needs.
Someone else’s fingernail clippings! Eeek! Thanks for sharing some of your possible artwork choices. I love ‘Focus’ as well.
First, I am LOVING your posting every day. It’s great. And I’ve realized that even though I’ve been in my current office for 2 1/2 years, there is nothing on the walls. Not good. Lots of frames pictures, but nothing up.
yay! you’re still posting. i’m glad because i’ve missed you.
anyway, i’ve been at this job for almost 7 years and i don’t have anything on the walls either. except for an italian job poster and pictures of mini coopers. oh and a picture of joe. and a coconut head on the desk. and a gnome mug that stitchy gave me. and a redsox hat. and my office at dfci has nothing. it’s just an empty office with a few personal things in the drawers. and the funny thing is that i’m ok with it looking like that. it’s work. if it were supposed to be fun and nice they wouldn’t call it work.
thanks for the links of the prints (and i’m glad you like the calendar. i need updated kiddy pictures though! if i can’t get any myself, i’ll have to steal some from flickr.)
I brought a picture into my office (just a nicely done poster) and I put up cartoon and fun things on the bulletin board.
One of the women in my office I really admire had a bunch of plants, pictures from her vacations all over the world, and other goofy stuff.
I do like going into people’s offices - I think you actually get a really good idea how someone views their job, what type of person they are, and how much of themselves they put into it by what’s in their office & how clean it is…
Well, I don’t have an office, but I have two classrooms, so here’s my tips:
Get a small lamp with a shade and put it in a corner somewhere. This is not task lighting, it is simply atmosphere, and I can’t tell you how many people comment on how warm and welcoming it makes my room.
Bulletin board fabric: My all-time, hands-down favorite is denim, and I cut pockets from old jeans and attach them to the board and use them for a bazillion things.
I keep my art on the small side, so it’s not something that I end up “not seeing”, if that makes sense. If it’s too big, it just becomes like another wall to me, but a little bit of art in a surprising place (like under the cute lamp?) is a refreshing change of view.
Unless, of course, you want a Wallhog of fingernail clippings. Then you’re just asking for weird.
I’m so excited because we move into a new building tomorrow with updated cubicles and it will be a nice tranquil color - no more stained tobacco walls and cubes for me! yay!
I’m with you on needing a 2009 Maryse calendar…I love mine!