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How Can I Make More Of My Cubicle?

Posted by Hemos on from the making-the-best-of-it dept.

hv writes "I reside in a 10' x 10' space better than 12 hours a day... as do a lot of you. How do you make the most of the space? I'm looking for creative ways to add storage and unclutter the stacks of lab notebooks, USB peripherals and the O'Reilly Zoo that also inhabits my space."

7 of 473 comments (clear)

  1. Fish... by Squirrel+Killer · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Plants are too common...I had a friend set up a desk aquarium and put a betta in it. They're colorful and active enough to be interesting, hardy enough to be ignored for the weekend, and you don't have to wait a minute for the screensaver to start up. And at least you can rest assured that something has to spend more time in the office than you do.

    -sk

  2. Up, up and away! by bahtama · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Think vertical. I have cabinets, shelves and racks almost to the ceiling. Just make sure you keep the extra monitors on the bottom, not the top :P Also, bookshelves over your monitor, (not too close though) and on the sides are nice for getting to your reference quickly. I have about every piece of office equipment from steelcase and love them.

    --

    =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
    Oh bother.

    1. Re:Up, up and away! by michael_cain · · Score: 4, Interesting

      My 23" rack, with shelves, has... let me see what's here today... five system units, Etherswitch, VCR, audio mixer and keyboard/monitor/mouse mux, all in less than two feet by two feet of floor space. One 15" LCD monitor, one keyboard, and one mouse take up less than two linear feet of work surface. $50 frame grabber in one of the PCs instead of other people's TV sets. Hang the phone on the wall (one of these days I'll hang the monitor on the wall too). Work surface on one side of the cubicle only, file cabinets, drawers, coat rack on the other so that I get to use the whole length. Open shelves instead of closed overhead bins, because you can stack things much higher.

  3. Artwork is important! by chipuni · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I'm a furry fan. At every job that I've worked in a cubicle, I've brought in (tasteful) artwork that I've gotten from science fiction, fantasy, or furry conventions. The color breaks up the walls, and it adds a lot of personalization to the cubicle.

    Mass-produced posters ("Hang in there!"), to me, are tacky. If you're living in a place eight to twelve hours a day, get something better, and more personal.

    --
    Never play leapfrog with a unicorn. Or a juggernaut.
  4. LCD Display by whjwhj · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Get an LCD Display, if you haven't got one already. Saves a ton of room. Better yet, get one mounted on a hinged suspension arm. Another idea: Arrange to telecommute once or twice a week.

  5. Re:Creative??? by mmaddox · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Don't laugh. The popular design company, Ideo, does just that in one of their offices. In fact, if you pick up the book about Ideo's innovative practices, The Art of Innovation, you'll read pulleys described as a technique for increasing office space and creating office decor. A photo of this technique exists here - second row, middle selection in the gallery.

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    What'dya mean there's no BLINK tag!?

  6. my solution by mskfisher · · Score: 5, Interesting

    i was sick of the fluorescent lights which others in the room needed, so i built a roof for my cubicle:

    http://www.mskf.org/roof/ - directory of pictures

    not for everyone, but it keeps me happy. :)

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    0x0D 0x0A