How you decorate your office cube, says a lot about you

You spend over 2000+ hours in your office a year.
Let's face it, until you retire, win the lottery, run off an join a Buddhist monastery or maybe the circus, that is a long time to be staring at pre-fabricated walls. Luckily, there is something you can do about increasing the comfort level in the time spend at the office, through thoughtful decor.

There are a lot of reasons people have no decor, or very little decor in their office space.
You might have been a repeat victim of the Silicon Valley bust, and have lost your confidence in job security - usually these people, if they do have any decor, it can easily be carried out in small one box.
Another option is you are a type A neat freak, and can't stand any clutter whatsoever, as it might mess up your neat stacks or folders of projects, (listed in order of priority and alphabetically)
Or you simply have no priority or interest in making your office personalized.

On the other end of the spectrum, I have seen some cubes so decked out with decor that you can't seen the walls and their office space looks more like a Lego museum, than some place you would actually sit down and work. Or they have so many plants in their cube, you secretly wonder if they should have actually been a botanist instead.

I am more of the in between sort. I enjoy some decoration around me. They are nice visual distractions if my eyes need a break from staring at the computer screen for long periods. My favorite decor can range from whimsy or to zen. The right decor can offer a de-stress factor as well. A rubber ducky on your desk, can remind you not to take things to seriously. A mini zen sand garden can allow you to take a minute to rake a flowing peaceful design, reminding you to calm. A plant is not only is attractive, but it offers up fresh oxygen in a world of office recirculated ventilation. At eBay, they encourage all of the employees to decorate their cube based on their eBay collections - the options are endless.

You do need to put some thought into your decor, as you don't want to give your co-workers the wrong impression. One time when I was working at computer company in Sunnyvale, I noticed that one of my co-workers had a whip in her office. You can imagine what kind of message this said about them. So remember, just like the clothes you wear, and the things you say represent you, so does your cube decor (and even the lack of decor says things about you as well!).

So here are some links for you to check out to help you get ideas to decorate your cube and make it all you.


Cutsie desk toys:
Solar powered head bopping characters or dancing flowers
Japanese solar desk characters

Action Figures, Rubber Duckies, to the absolute weird
Smoking Ceramic Baby or a Corn Dog Air Freshener anyone?
McPhee.com

Office supplies with a feminine and urban flair
See Jane Work

Book with 20 ideas to transform your work cube
garden theme, ski lodge, safari, CEO and more
Take Your Office Space from Drab to Fab! By Kelley L. Moore

Your co-worker away on a two week vacation and you think their office needs a little sprucing up? Here are some hilarious ideas that other have done to help "decorate" their co-worker's cube.
http://cubejinx.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kyleandkelly/sets/491220/show/
http://www.insanitech.com/wool/