Useful or Beautiful?

Thursday, January 5, 2012 8:43 PM by Betty Brennan in Design and Planning


It’s New Year’s Resolutions time, and each year I wish for a slightly less chaotic life. I love my very busy life; but it could use some organizational help sometimes. I love to organize, but I’m not always sure how to go about it.

One rule I stumbled upon I’ve taken to heart, a quote from William Morris,

“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

All New Year’s weekend I was evaluating my Christmas decorations:

  • Ornament hooks: Useful.

  • Crate and Barrel tea light candle holders: Useful and Beautiful.

  • Cartoony snowman picture frame missing the glass: Neither useful nor beautiful.

I’ve now been inspired to evaluate my workspace. The Advil Liqui-Gels box with 100 capsules is not particularly beautiful, but if a tight deadline comes along, it is very useful. It stays. The 8 ½ x 11 frame with a photo of my son? Beautiful. It stays, too. The dried-out non-Sharpie pen gets thrown away.

I know I’m much happier with a fun, inspiring workspace—for example, polka dot push pins just make my day better. (Although, in my opinion, polka dots make everything better.)

Enjoy the images of pretty workspaces that inspire me—how do you evaluate your workspace? What makes a good work environment for you?

I really love the circles going on here.

Look at all the colored storage boxes!

Color really makes a difference.

I really love office supplies, and tend to stockpile them. These stenciled office supplies make my heart flutter.

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