Comments on: Best office ever?

Question: Best office ever?

1f2frfbf — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:44:44 -0800

What office accessories can you not live without?

I have finally become important enough to have my own office, now I need to accessorize it. I'm an all-purpose creative type (video, graphic design, etc) in a very conservative field (health care). My computer stuff, a chair and a desk will be provided, but I have a blank slate as far as anything else. I'm already planning on getting a giant white board, but what else will I need/want? I'm looking for anything from the useful to the fun.

Keep in mind: 1) I'll paying for it myself, and 2) I can't do anything too crazy.

(sort of previ ously)

By: roomthreeseventeen

roomthreeseventeen — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:46:14 -0800

My scanner.

By: Phire

Phire — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:47:23 -0800

Post-its. I love post-its and buy a lot of different colours and sizes and go nuts. It makes my planner a little less daunting.

Corkboards are fun for pinning little mementos, too.

A good stapler will make your life way easier.

By: val5a

val5a — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:50:09 -0800

Present and Correct carries delightful vintage office supplies. (The elephant paper clip holder might appeal to you like it does to me!)

By: stennieville

stennieville — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:50:53 -0800

The P-Touch labeler. Mine is a little PT-80.

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:50:55 -0800

My office is in the center of a building, very far from natural light. I have two things that help - incandescent lighting and a vine plant that snakes up a pipe against the wall.

By: IndigoRain

IndigoRain — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:51:44 -0800

I love these chairs.

A USB hub of your choice, preferably something interesting.

No windows? Perhaps a sunshine simulator.

I find a small desktop fan to be indispensible.

By: General Malaise

General Malaise — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:52:01 -0800

A good metal Swingline stapler. No others come close.

By: mdonley

mdonley — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:53:57 -0800

Plastic pockets!

By: onhazier

onhazier — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:55:01 -0800

A couple of toys that I can quietly fiddle with while on the phone.

By: Jason and Laszlo

Jason and Laszlo — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:55:42 -0800

mousepad with wrist pad and keyboard pad to save your wrists.
the flat keyboard from Apple is a dream to type on.
letter opener (I get a lot of mail)

By: IanMorr

IanMorr — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:56:07 -0800

I use my USB fan a lot more than I ever thought I would.

By: Miko

Miko — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:59:18 -0800

Don't go too nuts. I used to trick out my office with every conceivable piece of gear, but I've learned that simplicity is more peaceful and makes work flow better.

By: ohyouknow

ohyouknow — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:59:52 -0800

The Plantronics Wireless headset.

By: yesno

yesno — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:00:01 -0800

* A HEAVY DUTY stapler if you ever have to staple 50 + pages together. For most purposes, better than three hole punch + binder.

* A file cabinet or a high quality drawer-style file box in addition to a crate-style file box for working items and temporary storage

* An inbox

* The German company Kum makes the best pencil sharpeners, and their two part pencil sharpeners are excellent (e.g. http://www.pencils.com/collectors/pencil-library/kum-palomino-kum-pencil-sharpeners)

* A mechanical label-maker (more aesthetically pleasing than those electric pieces of junk)

* It is really hard to come up with a universal name for the red expanding folders that lawyers use for everything, so I'll just give a link: http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/p1_Pendaflex-WaterShed-Top-Tab-Expanding-File-Pockets-Letter-3-1-2-Expansion-10-Box_160075_Business_Supplies_10051_SEARCH

Most useful folders ever! I'm talking the kind without lips and straps and excessive accordion stuff.

By: heather-b

heather-b — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:05:11 -0800

My scrolly mouse with back and forward buttons on the sides.

By: clorox

clorox — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:13:30 -0800

A good supply of Mars Lumograph pencils and Mars plastic erasers.

By: cwarmy

cwarmy — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:19:54 -0800

My dry erase board.

By: rmless

rmless — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:20:54 -0800

Labelmaker, many sizes of binder clips (instead of paperclips or staples), jumbo rubber bands, excitingly colored post-its to make my work look more interesting.

By: Nanukthedog

Nanukthedog — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:20:59 -0800

Music. If it is an office with a door which you will spend 8-12 hours a day in then you may be supprised how nice it is to have some decent speakers or headphones or what have you.

4 Books:
Beautiful Evidence, Visual Explanations, Evisioning Information, and The Visual Display of Quantitative Information from Edward Tufte

2 more white boards (smaller)
A hoard of dry erase markers and erasers
A window out of your office and onto the floor
A window out of your office to outside

Pictures of the people you care about

By: amwelles

amwelles — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:30:47 -0800

Binder clips, Moleskine notebook, ultra fine point Sharpie (not the new pens), Papermate ballpoint pens or Zebra pens, 3x5" index cards (preferably lined on one side), plenty of bright happy photographs hanging around the office.

By: asuprenant

asuprenant — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:33:16 -0800

Ditto the high-capacity stapler and writing instruments (with backups in the drawer) that you really love using.

By: elendil71

elendil71 — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:34:58 -0800

Post-It's - I couldn't function without my little colorful reminders.

Toys - I prefer my juggling bags and a tin of Crazy Aarons Thinking Putty.

IPod speakers (search list from Amazon)

By: GilloD

GilloD — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:35:05 -0800

Sharpie Extra Fine Point markers, Moleskine. Everything else is details.

By: peanut_mcgillicuty

peanut_mcgillicuty — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:41:25 -0800

Colored pens. I find it IMMENSELY helpful to use different colored pens at different meetings to keep straight what was said when (note that I'm not super-anal about this, unlike my coworker who coordinates the color of her pens with her outfits. Nope, not kidding).

Start a CYA file on your first day.

I like to have my own glass and coffee mug at my desk, so I'm not using disposable stuff all the time.

By: sunshinesky

sunshinesky — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:47:33 -0800

Not just any post-it, but post-it tags

By: jgirl

jgirl — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:48:03 -0800

I love watching my Lava Lamp.

My Mr. Coffee iced tea machine is very handy and saves on soda. Lady Grey at work is great!

I guess it sounds egotistical or narcissistic or something, but I have a photo of myself getting my Master's. The university president and the dean are in it, so I suppose it isn't so bad.

I work by the White House, so binoculars come in handy.

By: jgirl

jgirl — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:49:15 -0800

Also, you can get more colors of white board markers than the usual one, but you probably know that.

By: Jonathan Harford

Jonathan Harford — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:52:10 -0800

I'm surprised I haven't heard anyone praising the newish "One-Touch" (Staples-brand) and "PowerEase" (Swingline) staplers that make stapling a joy.

By: torquemaniac

torquemaniac — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:13:03 -0800

A mug warmer to keep the coffee palatable.

By: nat

nat — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:21:36 -0800

In the interest of avoiding neck strain, something to adjust the height of your monitor (I'm currently using a couple of big books, but you might as well get something nicer)... Maybe a keyboard tray too if the desk height isn't right for your size.

Also something (clipboard attached to monitor? bulletin board on the wall?) so you can easily see any hardcopy work while still sitting straight.

By: OuttaHere

OuttaHere — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:25:11 -0800

Post-Its and a Notebook

By: McBearclaw

McBearclaw — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:25:50 -0800

I assume you already know this, but by FAR the best thing in my office is my second monitor. I would give up almost every other item in my office before I gave up the twins. Notepad++ on one side, Firefox on the other. Excel on one side, Word on the other. Paint.NET on one side, horrible Microsoft graphics I'm trying to doctor on the other. R on one side, LaTeX on the other. Devastating productivity (except when it's faux work on one side, AskMeFi on the one that angles away from the door...). For a general-purpose creative type, it will rock.

By: x46

x46 — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:16:22 -0800

Staple remover. It's the only way to get things apart without breaking a nail.

By: invisible ink

invisible ink — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:47:25 -0800

Whenever I have to mail a bunch of documents to a client, I find PlastiKlips to be much more useful than plain, metal paper clips. I rely on the brightly-colored ones to help differentiate between each set of documents.

Also, unlike regular metal paper clips, their smooth design doesn't scratch or mar the paper surface.

By: Frasermoo

Frasermoo — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:59:32 -0800

Post-it notes are the devils invention. I work with a notebook and jot down the details of every phone conversation and make a box next to any action notes that need to be completed. the box gets a check when it's done. this makes a great history of who you have spoken to, what you have done and what needs to done. archive when full.

I use pencils and pens and would say my two favourite desk items are my Staedtler eraser and my correction mouse.

...and an unobtrusive calculator that doesn't need batteries.

By: Frasermoo

Frasermoo — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:01:26 -0800

.. also, any office generates enough paper waste, that a couple of minutes of folding and tearing will create a bunch of notelets for taking messages instead of wasting money on post-its.

By: trembleclef

trembleclef — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:16:56 -0800

I had a friend who was the creative guy at an insurance company and he played the role by covering the inside and outside of his weird ass office cylinder cube thing with funny qoutes he made up. Stuff like "Gophers? No thanks, cow for me." Odd, one at a time, but oddly charming taken together.

By: SLC Mom

SLC Mom — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:21:59 -0800

Electric stapler.

Don't knock it til you've tried it.

By: 1f2frfbf

1f2frfbf — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:54:24 -0800

Great ideas all, thanks. I will report back with photos.