Decorating your first office is always exciting — but the logistics can be a little intimidating.  How do you get furniture in to the office?  How do you hang pictures up?  Reader D has some fabulous questions…

I just accepted a job offer to start next month in a senior position at a non-profit. I managed to negotiate a private office into the deal. I am coming from cubicle land so this prospect both excites and scares me. I obviously need to wait and see what the office looks like before planning anything but wanted your advice. I plan to probably bring my framed degrees with me as well as some professionally framed pieces featuring news clips of my work, etc. but how do I go about bringing them in/hanging them up/etc.? Also, I was reading an old post on personalizing an office where people suggested bringing in real furniture, rugs, lamps. How? I guess I could drive one day, but do I just one day after I start working start just moving things in my office? That seems so strange to me… I’m not sure if I will have access on the weekends, but that seems like the logical solution maybe, but what if not? I don’t want to burn bridges by decorating but I want to make my office my own… so what do I do?

Great questions (and congrats on your forthcoming private digs)! We’ve talked about office decor a few times in the past – whether the best office is big or well located, how to liven up your office (without making it “too nice”), what ergonomic things (chairs, keyboards) you should consider requesting or adding,  when an office is too messy, as well as when an office is decorated too nicely — but we haven’t really talked about the actual logistics of decorating your office.  (Pictured: Long day at the office, originally uploaded to Flickr by thewinchester.) I think this is going to be specific to every office, but here are my suggestion with how to proceed:

- Day 1.  Show up with yourself.  In a suit.  Maybe with a favorite pen or notepad.  Don’t bring anything else that you intend to leave at the office.  As you meet people that day and look at other people’s offices, assess the level of decoration (among everything else you’re doing that day).  In my BigLaw firm some of the partners had decorators come to do their offices — many walls were painted or wallpapered, artwork was hung, huge desks presided, and lux couches and armchairs filled the space.  In my non-profit legal job, everyone (including the VIPs) used furniture that looked as if it had been abandoned by the side of the road sometime in 1994, or perhaps purloined from a college dormitory garbage bin.  So this is really going to vary by office. [Read more...]