apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I reupholstered everything in my office and that sparked a trend in the office...whether the office manager liked it or not.

Of course, cube decor doesn't have to be kitsch; a bold fabric panel and hot chrome lamp can go a long way, too: http://stylenorth.ca/blog/2008/06/pimp-my-cube/

i have mine covered in matte stephens gocoo prints and old star wars figures. see here.

http://peppermags.blogspot.com/2008/04/peppermags-featured-on-designsponge.html

Love that gopher - it would cheer me up even on Monday.

I don't decorate. I've read several articles about how decorating your cubicle too much can keep you from getting promoted. See below. I only have one photo up.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/22/news/economy/clutter.fortune/index.htm

Cube decorations are part of your "brand" at work. I've seen some people style their work spaces in a way that looked sophisticated and sparked conversation, while others turn their desk into a grown-up version of Chuck-E-Cheez.

Unless you're in a youth-oriented field like tech or the music industry, cutesy tchotchkes can actually hurt your career. Imagine if you went to a date's apartment and found plush toys all over the bed -- that's how anyone over 40 thinks of you at work.

There are no personal effects in my office. I save the decorations for my home.

I work in an ad agency so pretty much anything goes.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/allabouteve/2772513189/in/set-72157606794169946/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/allabouteve/2090162829/in/set-72157603391148602/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/allabouteve/2090162825/in/set-72157603391148602/

I've had the same job since I was 19 - I went from a whole wall of pictures and ticket stubs, devil ducks and hello kitty to just a few mexican and tin folk art pieces. I was yelled at by some coworkers for "bringing in the devil" at work and warned of the sexual nature of a mermaid postcard I had. I love the cubicle above, but it's best to keep it as lo-pro as possible. If it's not the super-offended that get you, it's going to be the chit chatters that get all grabby with your shit.

I have that same beaver with the hat - do you know where it's from? Some product advertising something? I have looked everywhere but no info. He's a great character so tell him he has a twin brother in Berkeley!

lord the girl in my office decorates her cubicle like a dorm room. clippings from magazines like "learn (Her name here) beauty secrets" and the word "love" spelled out like it was one of those ransom letters we all wrote when we were 10. she also has stuffed animals and colored pictures, not from her friend's kids.. ones she colored herself. it's a trip

I recently went from "nothing personal in the cube" to "I need some personality in here before the gray-ness drives me crazy!". Nothing extravagant, just a nice calendar, a cheap print from etsy, cheap clock from Ikea, some decorative paper. I might add a little more, but it has to be cheap, tasteful, and "me".

at a former full-time job i used to have houseplants and a few pretty items and my own back pillow and a poster, etc. when I left that job i had to make several trips of my stuff home! it was like moving house and i decided not to go through that again.

i have to thank the Ryan character in "The Office" for the decision to be 'bare' as well. there was one scene where they were doing spring cleaning and he opened his drawer and showed how had nothing in it so that he could up and leave with just his bag on his back if he ever had to.

HR doesnt allow plants here, as they 'attract bugs', so bought some very nice silk flowers from Crate and Barrel, and put up some stretched canvas with fabric over it. I also have a random collection of sci-fi action figures and stuffed monkeys.

Unfortunately, some jackass drew on one of my stretched canvases with a marker.

My boss at a former job called me into her office and told me my stuff wasn't professonal enough, that all I should have up were my degrees. (She was later fired in a major scandal.)

Haven't we seen this same subject here pretty recently?

And what does this mean:

"our personalities, our personal style, or a little of both"

Are they at odds? I hate office kitsch.

I have very few personal effects in my office, and what I have was bought just for the purpose so I don't care too much when I leave. I have had people admire the glass paperweight one of my bosses gave me for Xmas (I think it's ugly but I kind of don't have a choice not to show it, now, do I?), so when I leave, I have to remember to give that to one of my favorite people I see at work. I wrote her name on the sticker on the bottom of it. I had once considered bringing in a piece of art I made, framing it and hanging it on the wall, but then where would I be, it's one of the favorite things I ever made, what would I do if something happened to it? I keep a few things for decor and amusement that were cheap and purchased expressly for my workspace, that's pretty simple.

Funny - our office doesn't let us have silk plants because they attract dust. Real ones are totally allowed (and though mine are kind of dying, other people have some very successful ones, and it really helps the poor air quality in here). My bamboo seems to do fine. though, and that makes me happy (living, green things are definitely helpful in cubeville).

I love my sweet set of Scrabble pushpins (I bought them on eBay, personalized, so they spell out my name and my husband's name and our initials, because I'm a dork like that).

My favorite part of my cube decor (and my co-workers too, since they regularly comment on it)? My picture collage. I printed out a bunch of favorite photos (just on regular paper), cut them out with a small white border on them, and then mounted them on black cardstock. They're hung with some fun pushpins I got at Target.

I work in office property management and I love architecture so I have three pictures (in identical black frames of buildings in our company's portfolio.
I also have 3 cb2 comma plates with Kasugai gummies (yum!) in different flavors.
And, of course, a small picture of my special girl. Her smile gets me through the day.

Everyone loves my cube. People actually come to sit and relax in it, they call it 'cozy' and 'comforting' and 'so relaxing.' It's just a selection of interesting fake plants (which I swap out occasionally with some at home to renew the view), a pretty calendar and a few odds and ends like river rocks and a dish of shells and a palm tree and ceramic pieces. Oh, and the floor vases/planters that hold tropical ferns and hawaiin ginger stems. I gave my cube mate a beautifully made fake orchid (I don't buy cheap crap) and a fake twined bamboo plant, and with our two small table lamps lighting up our respective corners and a chair for guests, well, it's great.

I do have more extensive plans, since my 'mate and I went from having half walls to three full walls, and they're painted a blue-gray. There were rumors our company was moving, and I hesitated to add more holes to the wall, but it won't be for another year. Due to that, I haven't brought anything in lately to put up. It's about time to swap out some plants and a decorative table runner and put things on the wall.

No real plants, ever, because cubemate has allergies and we are so far away from sunlight our eyes shrivel up. Also our air circulation sucks.

As for what goes on the wall, I bought some beautiful 12in square, woven red wooden placemats on sale that will be an "art installation" on the big main wall. On the entry wall above the chair I picked up a really nice wood rod table runner I plan to hang horizontally, and above that I have three gold capiz 12in chargers to hang.

For my cubemate's walls I'm planning on possibly doing some DIY shadowbox stuff because she wants "colorful." It will tie in with the purple orchid and the red and gold I'm adding to the walls, so it may just be something as simple as colored sand or as complicated as a personal painting. Maybe a triptych.

I also flirted with the idea of cloth over canvas in some silky asian-inspired fabrics, but I'd have to take 'mate over to Joann's to help pick what she likes.

I prefer to have very few personal effects in my office... the less I have to grab whenever I leave! I do have a framed painting and a few other framed b&w photos of buildings in my area.

I have pics from the I can has cheezeburger site up on my walls...always good for a laugh.

thank you. i have just thrown away all personal items at my desk. except for a lawn gnome on a small piece of artificial grass.

Ha, *heather leaf* I always think of that Office episode, too.

My office came with art from the College's collection, so I haven't added much.

I can't have plants at home (bad kitties!) so I have all my exotic succulents and cacti on my desk. They give me something pleasant to do when I can't take work anymore... Also a few professional relevant photos I've taken, and a pretty calendar from vacation.

At the last place I worked, cube decor ran the gamut from absolutely nothing personal to the woman who had 62 (we counted them one day when she wasn't there) Beanie Babies.

In my own space, I had 2 beautiful calendar pictures of Drake's Beach that I'd matted and framed, a scenic calendar (both were good for staring at to clear my mind), a small framed photo of my son, added one of my (then) fiance when we got engaged, a small pothos, a clear vase that had shells and stones, and I replaced the standard pencil holder with one of the coffee mugs I collect as travel souvenirs. I used another of my collection to actually have my coffee in.

For my supervisor's birthday, we decorated her cube in a pirate theme complete with 'Pirates of the Caribbean' posters, a 'treasure chest' spilling over with dollar store 'treasures', skull and cross-bones everywhere - she loved it so much she left it all up. Of course, she was already the supervisor and this was a small, family owned business in a small town. Unless/until she retired, none of the rest of us were going to be promoted. Great place to work, though.

I looked about my grey world and found that one of the best colors to brighten things up is yellow. I've posted tasteful accents of yellow throughout. A few notes in my cubicle are yellow, part of each month on my calender is yellow, etc. I also have two small plants that I've tended to and have also given sprigs of one to a few co-workers.

Its not over the top, but it does sheild my eyes from the floresent lights while bringing a little life to my daily routine.

One more thought...Pteetsa said that they believed not decorating their cubicle could promote them. Interesting idea, and in many companys is liking more true than not. Another thought though is, what if decorating your cubicle could actually help you be more productive therefore raising your chances of promotion. Any thoughts?