Does Your Desk Need a Make Over?

A friend of mine has a blog on home decor, called Hare Styling for the Home. It’s quite popular. Regrettably, her blog contains beautiful pictures of how to enhance your home décor and does not deal with how to add pizzazz to your workspace. Since most people spend approximately eight hours a day at work, the Dull Co-worker thinks it’s important to add some decorating flair to your desk. Let’s take a look at this season’s hottest desk decorating trends!

I do hate to brag, but my desk is a potpourri of style as you can see by the pictures below. Notice the cords and mouse strewn about in a haphazard manner. This creates visual interest for my colleagues as it goes against the typical symmetry and clean, open space of most desks. Like a fine piece of art, my desk leaves people with different impressions. Some might think to themselves: “she’s obviously busy….I should leave her alone. She’s really got it going on. Look, she doesn’t even have time to organize her desk. Impressive! I wish my desk could look like that!”

Colourful Desk Decor Accessories

Another item I’d like to draw attention to is the pile of coloured stars on the right hand side placed neatly on the ultra high quality stereo from Walmart (note: this is in no way an endorsement of Walmart or its products and I am no way responsible for any poor quality items purchased at Walmart across Canada or the U.S.).

The stars are for the “Star of the Day Award” I give to colleagues to motivate and show them my appreciation for a job well done. For example, if they use the word “jazzy “, “breezy” or “tornadic” unexpectedly, I could give them the Star of the Day Award. Or, if they are going for coffee and ask if they could get me some, the Star of the Day is in their future! Basically, the award is given in a whimsical manner. The criteria is in no way fixed or fair which can be frustrating to those who really do want to win this prestigious award (I will not go on and on about the time I gave myself my own award; that was quite the day!).

Other items include pictures of John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever with my head superimposed on his body. This was done by a co-worker after I one day wore the exact same outfit to work as Mr. Travolta was wearing in this picture (this was purely accidental!). Cheerful, vibrant yet sophisticated, this picture radiates the aura of fun and frivolity and still keeps the “I’m intelligent and can do this job” message.

Beside that on the right is a list of my ideas for R Magazine that I want to start one day. Thank goodness my name doesn’t start with an “O” like Oprah’s. Could you imagine the awkward conversation I’d have to have with Oprah telling her my magazine has the same name as hers?

Style Trend: The Classic Post-it Note

One accessory that never goes out of style is the ever in vogue Post-it note. In the above picture, notice the multitude of these shimmering squares of colour on the desk and on the wall. This is to symbolize the passion, energy and excitement of work.

The Post-it notes from a distance look like task reminders like “plan insurance liability seminar“ or "gather information on knob and tube wiring". In reality, the Post-it notes have random sayings like “I cannot text you with a drink in my hand -Lady Gaga.” Another Post-it says, “Stop callin’, stop callin’, I don’t wanna talk anymore” (another Gaga reference) which I sometimes post on my phone in an effort to telepathically communicate to would be callers that I really don’t want to talk to them about anything work related (the temptation to record “Telephone” as my voice message at work is overwhelming).

Multi-functional and Luxurious: Paper

Another lavish and chic desk accessory is paper. In the above picture you will see posted paper on the wall. One such paper includes the lyrics to Ke$ha’s hit song, Tik Tok. As I mentioned in my blog from January 14th, these lyrics were critical for my Tik Tok Lyric Initiative I employed in January.

I sent the Tik Tock lyrics to my co-workers and indicated everyone is to use a line from the song in all communications that day. For example, “Sara, can you please send me the stats. And by the way, I’m talking about everybody getting crunk, crunk…” or "Frankie, can you help me with this report cause when I leave for the night I ain't coming back..."(if you and your colleagues would like to take the Tik Tok Lyric Challenge, see my January 15th blog for the lyrics).

There’s also a copy of an email I sent to a co-worker asking him to hire me on the building services team (note: I am extremely NOT mechanical and lack building maintenance and assembly skills that would be required in this job...but as I noted in the posted email, I am good at dressing in business or casual attire and I excel at delegating to people who know what they're doing... shockingly, I did not get this job). What better way to brighten up your workspace then by advertising other job postings that you’ve applied for?

So now dear readers, feel empowered to reinvent and rejuvenate your workspace. Send in your desk photos for a chance to be featured in this blog. Who knows. Depending on how I’m feeling, you may even be granted the coveted Star of the Day Award. Happy Decorating!