Published 10 November 2014 ● Last Updated on 26 November 2016
Remember how excited you were as a kid, when summer came to an end and you got to go shopping for school supplies? The choices! Agendas, binders, file holders, notebooks and pencil cases came adorned with our favourite bands, animals or cartoon characters; pencils came in bright funky colours and the selection of the right backpack could mean big things in schoolyard terms. Maybe if adults had the same wide range of choices in office supplies, they’d be just as happy to get back to work.
Spending eight hours a day in a drab office is pretty depressing. You may opt to put a framed picture of your family or a plant on your desk, but that’s about as far as you can go to decorate the work place.
But what about your home office? Perhaps doing your taxes could become more attractive if you had the kind of office supplies that are actually nice to look at. Think about it: The same way a white, minimalist room can soon feel clinical, rows and rows of black and grey binders and file holders in your house may scream “I’m back at the office and it’s not even Monday yet!”. Doing your taxes and maintaining banking records is daunting enough, so the least you can do for yourself is bring a little colour into your monthly responsibilities.
Close your eyes and think about all the paintings, drawings, collages or pictures that make you feel good. It might be something simple and soothing like a beautiful landscape or an impressive waterfall. Maybe it’s a humorous piece by Banksy or a golden-touch classic Klimt. Or (like in my case) just that you have lost of paper and magazines which you want to put to good use!
Go, get one of your yawningly boring file holders and start playing ‘amateur scrap booker’. Try various pictures or cut outs of different sizes around: Lay out the images and/or cut outs along with the background paper on the cover of your binder and
see how you can best make it work. Have fun with it! Once you’re sure you’ve found the right placing stick them on, making sure there are no glue bubbles visible. You can avoid these by carefully stroking the paper flat with a ruler.
From now on, doing your paperwork will be lot more fun…hopefully!
Roxanne is a German/British Journalist/Author based in Spain who shares our passion for all things old and quirky.
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