Here’s something we haven’t talked about in a while — how do you decorate your workspace, whether it’s at home or at the office? (What have you learned about decorating your home office in the past year — and how do you think that will translate if/when you head back to the office?)

My home office area has a navy, white, and hot pink theme (hmmmn, wonder why), so I’m mostly on the hunt for fun hot pink accessories. (It’s also the only space in Casa Griffin that I feel comfortable being thoroughly girly.) The bright pink accessories remind me not to take things TOO seriously, and are also a bit of fun and color, which I feel like also helps regulate my mood a bit.

(I’m also rather, um, messy, and in addition to piles of papers I have 13 post-its taped to various monitors and surfaces… and various bottles of vitamins, multiple pairs of glasses, clipboards, etc. out…)

Things that I think are important to me in decorating my workspace:

• bright colors
• inspirational art/quotes (at the moment I just have a framed poster-size version of “just put your favorite lipstick on and deal with it,” but I’d also love some that have a nicer version of the “creative process” meme and the creativity/canyon idea*)
• functionality – I like to know where everything is and know that it’s here, so I have things like pink scissors and a pink ruler that I know must always return to my office
• at least one styled space that feels like it’s styled but also authentic — for me that’s a ladder bookcase i have that has some binders on it but also important books, kid art, and various white vases and hot pink paperweights, air plants, etc. (I have another white bookcase that’s also relatively neat and the various fashion books, blogging books, career books, and writing books all have their own little space.)
• other little accents that make me happy: a large faux pink orchid peeking out from behind my second monitor, a large gold starburst mirror on one wall that shows up in my Zoom calls
• ergonomics — love my split keyboard and the little stepstool I keep beneath my desk. I think I’m due for a new chair and keep meaning to go into the comment archives to see what everyone recommends (beyond the reader favorite Steelcase Leap, of course, although I should just bite the bullet and get it after I find a place to actually sit in a model)
• separation — because mine is a home office I want a bit of separation between the rest of our living space. It’s more than just privacy while working, it’s almost like I need a completely separate space where I’m allowed to feel differently than I do in other rooms (where, for example, bedroom would be refuge/sanctuary, kitchen is family-focused, etc).

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{related: how to make a bookshelf look pretty}

Comparing that to the three main offices I worked in previously, I’d take these lessons forward:

• in a shared cubicle: I’d probably pick a color theme and try to have my space feel like MINE, a unified whole
• in a BigLaw office with dark wood and visitor chairs (you can see my old office here): I always distinguished between “my view” (facing the visitor’s chair) and “the visitor’s view” (facing my desk) and I’d definitely keep that separation, with all the fun, bright colors and inspiration in my view, and I’d probably try to put less personalized accents behind me, sort of like the styled bookshelf I’m talking about above — faux plants, paperweights, more abstract photos — and somehow leave space nearest me for my mess, such as in a drawer or something. I would also make better use of natural light if I could, maybe by having decorative mirrors on the wall opposite the window(s)…
• in a hodgepodge office where there may be sort of junky bookcases and various metal desks (sort of like my old nonprofit office): I think I’d focus on making the space feel unified, probably again with one color theme — maybe by taking a large colorful piece (rug, framed artwork, simple-to-hang curtains) and picking one color from that. I’d probably also try to avoid using fluorescent lights above, and bring in a standing lamp or other lamp instead.

Readers, how about you — what have you learned about decorating your workspace, and what will you take with you back to the office?

(For those of you who are better at corralling clutter and mess, what are your best tips?)

Stock photo via Stencil.

* Re the creativity/canyon idea — I can’t find this on the internet, although it may be expressed by Godin’s book The Dip: the idea is that creative projects are like a canyon, in that you can see clearly where you want to go when you set out, but once you’re in the canyon (in the middle of the project) you’ve lost sight of where you’re going and where you came from — so you need to start out with a clear sense of the path in front of you. (I haven’t read the book so I don’t know where I heard the idea, but I love it!)