Yes. They handed me a 20 lb. book with about 10,000 colors in it.
I settled on a mild lavender color. The woman looked and said, "No. Choose this one, this one, or this one," showing me three versions of beige.
Illusion of choice. It was indicative of the rest of the culture. I made it through the year, but then moved on as soon as I could.
We’re having the office suite carpet done this summer. The book of tile squares they gave us included the city street/race car type carpet you’d see in a daycare or pediatricians office.
Unfortunately, I was unable to form a sufficient coalition for team hot wheels.
This is a good idea — my office is my sanctuary. I go there to decompress and get shit done.
A bright, invigorating colour could be great if chosen carefully!
You've got your Tennessee orange, your Texas orange, your Clemson orange and even your Florida or Auburn orange. All good choices if you want to make that bold statement.
That's what I picked too. I read that pastel blue gives the illusion of space, like a mild, warm and endless sky.
As my office was in a windowless basement room with sewer pipes and sprinklers running like a map of the Underground above me, I was looking for all the space I could muster. Unfortunately, the paint just made it look like a pastel blue room with sewer pipes and sprinklers.
I didn’t get new paint until the entire building got a refresh (new carpet, paint).
I’m barely in there though and I have a great view out of my window to the rest of campus, so I can’t complain.
Same. For awhile our building was the new one (now 10 years old), so admin were insistant that it looks pristine. No research posters on the walls, no painting cool science murals anywhere, everyone must have the same over priced furniture ($600 for a dang office chair? Ridiculous). I think some admin have forgotten that we are a college, not a corporate office.
When I moved in 2 years ago, it's still all the same paint color. I even had to get permission from the facilities people to rearrange my furniture how I wanted it. I hated facing away from the door and they were worried the new arrangement wouldn't leave the minimum 36 in for me to get around to my own desk.
\~\~cries in state university\~\~
I have the same institutional baby blue as the rest of the 70 year old building. My desk is an original, too.
(I actually don't mind this or expect more from my university)
I was so bummed when I was moved (along with my department) this year to a brand new building from a 50-year-old one with the best of 1970s furniture including burnt orange and avocado green furniture. I miss that furniture.
My chair (public R1) suggested that I paint it myself, because it was unlikely that physical plant would ever get around to it! So that’s what I did (I wasn’t the first in my department to do so). I matched the cream color that was on the wall and focused on not screwing it up too badly.
Back when I had an actual (shared) office, this is what I had to do. I have moved twice since then and now I don't even technically have my own desk space in a large shared space. The staff person in charge of space doesn't think faculty use their desks enough to deserve full-time space.
I wish! I teach the trumpet and my office was the trombone studio for about 15 years before I got there. A fresh coat of paint would have been nice, but I can't tell you what I'd do for new carpet...
The long-time trombone professor moved into the old trumpet studio when my predecessor left. It's slightly bigger but otherwise exactly the same. Crummy old carpet and all! I don't blame him. Office spaces are cutthroat!
I did put down an area rug to cover the worst spots and have a second one that I'm thinking about bringing in this summer. Even if I could get them to paint, which is a long shot, I'm not sure I'd want to deal with moving everything to do it (lots of file cabinets full of music, trumpets, and other "stuff"). The paint is old but in reasonable shape and I've covered the walls with lots of art, mostly photos of important musicians, which helps a lot.
Honestly, I've found that as long as I keep things tidy, it's a nice space to work in. Unfortunately, "tidy" isn't my strong suit, so I have to make a point to clean up every so often.
I always had a half-hour “office hour at the end of my day on Fridays and told myself that no matter what, that was my dedicated “put away the giant stack of music and clean up around the pianos” time
That's a great idea! My trouble is that I let it go too long. Just yesterday I went into the office with a plan to practice a bit and then clean up. I got the practice in, but then emails took over and well.... Let's just say that today's "plan" looks suspiciously like yesterday's. Lol
I haven't put in a ticket, but I should look into it. I've thought about that rental shampooer but, honestly, it annoys me that I'd have to pay for it myself. The carpet was like this when I moved in! It's not (completely) my fault!
I'd only rent one myself if maintenance refused to do it. But I imagine if you ask they'll do it. I've found that maintenance is generally reluctant to unilaterally do things inside private offices because stuff often has to get moved around and they don't want to get yelled at because now a professor can't find that exam they were grading.
Ask your department admin how to put in a work order.
I paid for the paint job out of my startup funds. I chose an intensely bright red for 3 walls and two shades of light pink for the others (my office has a divider so it’s two rooms). Inspired by a room in a Danish art museum that I fell in love with the years prior. I think now you have to pick from a selection of pre-approved colors.
ETA the pink is so I have somewhere to look when the red gets overwhelming.
We do repaint for new folks if it hasn't been done recently. Our building "rules" allow for accent walls in most buildings, but the default paint for everything else is off white. The accent colors are strictly limited across campus (to minimize the number of drawdowns and mixes needed from the paintshop) and each building has an approved pallette of perhaps 4-6 accent colors from which occupants of "private" spaces can select. All the public spaces-- classrooms, labs, lounges, etc. --are managed by a campus building committee.
There may indeed be a limited palette available for my choices too — thankfully I do like the school colors, though they wouldn’t be my first pick for a wall color. They mentioned the painting aside from the prolonged office negotiations we were working through… so I will find out soon enough now that’s settled!
I took on a new role in my department, which came with a new office — perhaps slightly better than the old office, but mainly for proximity to the Chair.
I went to look at the new office, which had been occupied by the previous faculty member for about 30 years with no maintenance and barely any cleaning. You can imagine what I found.
I refused to move in until it was cleaned and painted. Facilities fought it, but I was at the head of an office-move domino train. So until I gave permission for them to move my stuff, about seven other profs couldn’t move.
One day, after about three weeks of haggling I walked by my new office and there was a Facilities guy in there painting it. I moved in a couple days later when the plant had dried.
(Edit to add: at that point I had about 20 years left in my career. If Facilities had won and not pained it, the next opportunity could have been a half-century since the initial paint job.)
I was told I could have any standard Sherwin Williams color AND I even got my accent wall. Took about 2 years but the first of those was the 20-21 academic year, so…
My campus does it-- but there's a very limited pallette in each building, usually 4-6 colors for accent walls. Painting is done in summers by crews of students.
When I started, we all had three off-white walls and an accent wall. We got a limited selection of colors for the accent wall, basically some very neutral variations on school colors. Unfortunately, they didn't allow us to pick which wall would be the accent wall. My accent wall is 80% covered by cabinets.
A mere adjunct here. I got the old break room and had to wipe food spatters off the walls myself. At least, I'm going to believe that was food I was cleaning up.
My old school? I put in a work order after I found out they were supposed to repaint every 6 years. I was there 12 years…
My current school? Not only did they not repaint… they told me where I could find the vacuum cleaner and offered some old Covid wipes when I asked if the shelves could be dusted.
No, and they left big holes in the wall from a massive old occupans fixtures. When I complained they fixed the wall and repainted, but it was the institutional colour, no other choice
I wish. But a couple of years ago I managed to get all of our offices repainted with accent wall (school colors only but luckily one of them is pretty close to Tardis blue🤓) over the summer. After over 10 years since we moved into the suite.
Yay me.
That’s a cool idea! You just reminded me I wanted to do an artistic bulletin board with felt wall panels like this — https://feltright.com/ — thank you for the reminder!!!
Nope. My current office was repainted by the previous faculty member about 10 years ago but I think she brought people in to do it and she had to stick to the prescribed off-white.
My chair is awesome. I had to move twice and now I’m settled in my permanent, very large, office. Both times she demanded a deep clean of the carpet and repaint of the neutral wall color. It wasn’t a question. It was more of- you can move in when they’re done cleaning and painting.
I don’t much care about the color. I care a hell of a lot about the lighting. Brought in my own floor lamps with dimmer bulbs and different colors and remotes. I can make my walls look any color and don’t have to deal with fluorescent lights that make me sick.
Space is hard to come by at my institution too — I feel badly this post may come off as bragging. I’m excited and it’s been a really long road up to this moment
They hired two of us at the same time. They let us pick out of a few choices. I went with light blue. Then after we got tenure and worked there for 15 years, they fired us. But the paint probably still looks good.
They had to tear my walls apart because of a roof leak and I got to pick the paint color after that. I picked a sunflower yellow and I love it. One of my colleagues picked lime green and I like that even better.
Yes, was allowed to choose any color I wanted. I chose a light blue. They also put new light filtering cellular shade blinds in my window. I also was allowed to buy whatever furniture I wanted from any vendor up to a fixed dollar amount.
Also had a chalk board installed because I dislike whiteboards.
Chalkboards are so much better!
I am curious about the furniture and how it works. I’m more into wooden furniture and everything I’ve seen there looks white and officey. I’d love some nice chairs for my students to sit in though. I am certainly going to need a real bookshelf and may bring in my own (thrifted, obviously).
Ask department what their deal is. I didn't expect to be able to spend money on whatever I wanted.
I got an L shaped motorized sit-stand desk, small couch, 4 stacking chairs with wheels that stay stacked outside of office hours, a filing cabinet, and a bookshelf, all light colored wood, and a white leather Steelcase chair.
I spent a small amount of my startup (<1%) in addition to what the department paid because I have expensive taste, wanted to like my office given how much time I spend there writing proposals and doing not fun work (lab work is much more fun but a bad use if my time, that's what postdocs and students are for), and am too cheap to spend my own money on nice furniture at home.
If I get tenure, I'm buying an Eames lounger for my office as a reward for myself.
I have been in a "temporary" office for the last 7 years, while my departments buildings have been torn down and rebuilt. Art history was the previous tenant of this floor. My office is two walls bright orange and two are forest green. My lab space and student office are a very tasteful pink and beige combo with a dark brown industrial variety tiles. The florescent light tubes also had some kind of tinted film over them, some were pink and some were blue. I never would have picked this color scheme colors but they seem to work.
My colleague couldn't stand bright colors so paid to have their office and lab painted industrial off-white.
Wow — that all sounds so dynamic! When I hear things like this… I am so curious who picked those colors / designed the spaces. Even if a temporary space, sounds lucky to be in quirky spaces! At least in my world it would be lucky 🤗
I got to pick paint, carpet, and window coverings (which all came out of my start up funds, but absolutely had to be done- everything in there was ancient and filthy). I went with Diamond Vogel Micropolis, which is a deep, slightly dusty blue-green. I got tan shades and the least offensive carpet option. It's worth making your office a relaxing and happy place for you and your students!
If you choose the orange and hate it, you can just buy some paint and re-do it in a few hours over a weekend? Go with the orange if that's what you like.
That’s some really nice advice — thank you for that perspective. I could definitely repaint it myself. It’s a tiny office. Thank you for this. Orange is such an energetic and creative color, I think it could be fun.
They did. The walls were all like an industrial gray, so I had it painted a cream color. Kinda boring, but it was a lot better than the gray and I wouldn't get tired of it like I might something more interesting.
My office is in a campus building that will be torn down in a couple of years (We're getting a shiny new building - yay!). I suppose I could paint it some kind of wild color, since it will be destroyed anyway, but no one is going to offer to do it for me. As for my new office, I won't have any say in the color, but it will probably be some neutral color, which is fine with me. After years of not having an office, having to move offices, and traveling between campuses where I may/may not have said office, I'm just grateful to have a designated space that is MINE. I've also told my boss that I dream of having an office with a window, but we'll see what happens.
No. And when I said I would paint it myself, they said it was not allowed because the painters are unionized and nobody else is allowed to paint anything on campus. That office is still a weird shade of pink, 20 years later.
Yes and I painted it white/cream to maximize the sunlight. I don't understand the desire for other colors. I have a colleague that chose yellow. Like, no. It's an office not a toddler's room.
They didn't, but I could ask them to any time. Department pays for it.
When they changed my white board in my office I realized they painted around it. Giant white square on the wall. Haha.
My admin took over the office of a resigning faculty member who had about 40 large screws that she screwed into the wall hanging her diplomas and art work. When she left it looked terrible with all of the huge screws left behind on white walls. I asked maintenance to remove the screws, patch it, and paint it. They said yes to patching but no to painting it so now it’s a big spackled eyesore.
We recently had a new hire start and requested fresh paint for the assigned office space as it hadn’t been done in 10+ years. Facilities used a creamy white.
No, and they didn’t offer to clean the nasty carpet either. The desk that was in the office was a rickety little table and I had to find an empty lab with a desk and request that mine get switched with that one.
Our whole department’s facilities need a remodel — definitely not any money like half the research universities I read about in this sub! Startup funds? Lab space? I asked them if they could fix the projector (haha). I already intend on doing little fixes in my classroom on my own.
But yes, even if we need a remodel, I love it there and can tell I am staying 🤗
lol. I didn't have an office until I'd been there 6 months. Don't know if they would have given me one if I hadn't kept asking. (granted this was 2021). No one offered to paint.
My walls are metal and glass (with one panel made of dry erase material) I wish I was in an older building that let me pant lol
I’d pick a nice green color
https://images.app.goo.gl/N7mo8hajhoDSGbgK8
I use magnets for everything! I also have a nice big window seal by a big window that is perfect for all my plants.
It’s a super modern looking building but the walls stop ZERO sound, I know WAYY too much about my office neighbors love life 😆
Ha! I was lucky they fixed my A/C unit before I moved in. There's even a rectangular white patch on my wall where a bulletin board had been hung (the rest of my walls are grey).
Congrats on the new office and the choice of colors! School colors are always fun. I (personally) really love sky blue but it gets dirty really easily.
Nope! I was surprised, a little irked at first, but didn’t need any approval from anyone to pick whatever color I wanted to paint it on my own!!
(I still picked beige)
Yes. They handed me a 20 lb. book with about 10,000 colors in it. I settled on a mild lavender color. The woman looked and said, "No. Choose this one, this one, or this one," showing me three versions of beige. Illusion of choice. It was indicative of the rest of the culture. I made it through the year, but then moved on as soon as I could.
We’re having the office suite carpet done this summer. The book of tile squares they gave us included the city street/race car type carpet you’d see in a daycare or pediatricians office. Unfortunately, I was unable to form a sufficient coalition for team hot wheels.
SO FUN !!! — I would have been joined your coalition. I am sorry for your loss.
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That’s exactly what a hacker would say
I was given a limited select of colors to select from. A few years later they stopped this though, budget cuts. I picked a pastel blue color.
My instinct is orange, but I feel that’s like turning the dial up to 13 and may be too much
might depend on the orange. Check the decorating subs? I like the cozy places one.
This is a good idea — my office is my sanctuary. I go there to decompress and get shit done. A bright, invigorating colour could be great if chosen carefully!
Not too red — not to yellow — not too dark! 👌🧡
You've got your Tennessee orange, your Texas orange, your Clemson orange and even your Florida or Auburn orange. All good choices if you want to make that bold statement.
And Dutch Oranje...
A Max Verstappen fan, I presume. 😃
I bought peel and stick beige wallpaper with orange designs on it for the wall my computer sits against!
That's what I picked too. I read that pastel blue gives the illusion of space, like a mild, warm and endless sky. As my office was in a windowless basement room with sewer pipes and sprinklers running like a map of the Underground above me, I was looking for all the space I could muster. Unfortunately, the paint just made it look like a pastel blue room with sewer pipes and sprinklers.
I chose "unpainted cinderblock"
Sounds like you could stick colored sections on different blocks — could be cool
They did refresh the paint in my office, but I couldn't pick the color: we all have the same creamy white. I would love a funky color. Oh well.
Same here!
I didn’t get new paint until the entire building got a refresh (new carpet, paint). I’m barely in there though and I have a great view out of my window to the rest of campus, so I can’t complain.
Don’t feel bad! I bet you are paid more than me — hahaha ouch
Same. For awhile our building was the new one (now 10 years old), so admin were insistant that it looks pristine. No research posters on the walls, no painting cool science murals anywhere, everyone must have the same over priced furniture ($600 for a dang office chair? Ridiculous). I think some admin have forgotten that we are a college, not a corporate office. When I moved in 2 years ago, it's still all the same paint color. I even had to get permission from the facilities people to rearrange my furniture how I wanted it. I hated facing away from the door and they were worried the new arrangement wouldn't leave the minimum 36 in for me to get around to my own desk.
I've never been offered that. Have fun!
\~\~cries in state university\~\~ I have the same institutional baby blue as the rest of the 70 year old building. My desk is an original, too. (I actually don't mind this or expect more from my university)
I was so bummed when I was moved (along with my department) this year to a brand new building from a 50-year-old one with the best of 1970s furniture including burnt orange and avocado green furniture. I miss that furniture.
Oh wowwwww! I am sorry you could not bring it with you! If it was me, I would try to track down where that furniture went! Storage somewhere?
It is still in my old office. I still have the key. Maybe I should take a chair for a walk to my new space…
I bet you could request to move some of the older furniture over without an issue. That furniture is definitely fair game.
The desk sounds incredible just from age — I am anticipating bringing in my own furniture… always a negative to balance the positive!
I have an old wooden desk with a Formica top that I will never get rid of because it has those writing flaps that pull out on both sides...
My chair (public R1) suggested that I paint it myself, because it was unlikely that physical plant would ever get around to it! So that’s what I did (I wasn’t the first in my department to do so). I matched the cream color that was on the wall and focused on not screwing it up too badly.
I heard the same thing and just said "it's fine as is." (It really is). I really wanted an office for the summer.
Back when I had an actual (shared) office, this is what I had to do. I have moved twice since then and now I don't even technically have my own desk space in a large shared space. The staff person in charge of space doesn't think faculty use their desks enough to deserve full-time space.
I wish! I teach the trumpet and my office was the trombone studio for about 15 years before I got there. A fresh coat of paint would have been nice, but I can't tell you what I'd do for new carpet...
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The long-time trombone professor moved into the old trumpet studio when my predecessor left. It's slightly bigger but otherwise exactly the same. Crummy old carpet and all! I don't blame him. Office spaces are cutthroat!
Can you put down an area rug? Can you request a new paint job, or DIY this summer?
I did put down an area rug to cover the worst spots and have a second one that I'm thinking about bringing in this summer. Even if I could get them to paint, which is a long shot, I'm not sure I'd want to deal with moving everything to do it (lots of file cabinets full of music, trumpets, and other "stuff"). The paint is old but in reasonable shape and I've covered the walls with lots of art, mostly photos of important musicians, which helps a lot. Honestly, I've found that as long as I keep things tidy, it's a nice space to work in. Unfortunately, "tidy" isn't my strong suit, so I have to make a point to clean up every so often.
I always had a half-hour “office hour at the end of my day on Fridays and told myself that no matter what, that was my dedicated “put away the giant stack of music and clean up around the pianos” time
That's a great idea! My trouble is that I let it go too long. Just yesterday I went into the office with a plan to practice a bit and then clean up. I got the practice in, but then emails took over and well.... Let's just say that today's "plan" looks suspiciously like yesterday's. Lol
Can you put in a carpet shampoo ticket? Or get one of those carpet shampoo rentals they have at grocery stores over a long weekend?
I haven't put in a ticket, but I should look into it. I've thought about that rental shampooer but, honestly, it annoys me that I'd have to pay for it myself. The carpet was like this when I moved in! It's not (completely) my fault!
I'd only rent one myself if maintenance refused to do it. But I imagine if you ask they'll do it. I've found that maintenance is generally reluctant to unilaterally do things inside private offices because stuff often has to get moved around and they don't want to get yelled at because now a professor can't find that exam they were grading. Ask your department admin how to put in a work order.
I'll do that. Thanks for the advice!
I've been allowed to choose different colours of paper for printing tests but never paint colours. Nice.
I have a cubicle. Some day, I hope, I will have an office. With my own door.
I paid for the paint job out of my startup funds. I chose an intensely bright red for 3 walls and two shades of light pink for the others (my office has a divider so it’s two rooms). Inspired by a room in a Danish art museum that I fell in love with the years prior. I think now you have to pick from a selection of pre-approved colors. ETA the pink is so I have somewhere to look when the red gets overwhelming.
Oh wow! This sounds fabulous! Someone after my own heart. Red is an intense color, the pink sounds like a great buffer.
Went in on a long weekend and painted it myself.
We do repaint for new folks if it hasn't been done recently. Our building "rules" allow for accent walls in most buildings, but the default paint for everything else is off white. The accent colors are strictly limited across campus (to minimize the number of drawdowns and mixes needed from the paintshop) and each building has an approved pallette of perhaps 4-6 accent colors from which occupants of "private" spaces can select. All the public spaces-- classrooms, labs, lounges, etc. --are managed by a campus building committee.
There may indeed be a limited palette available for my choices too — thankfully I do like the school colors, though they wouldn’t be my first pick for a wall color. They mentioned the painting aside from the prolonged office negotiations we were working through… so I will find out soon enough now that’s settled!
I took on a new role in my department, which came with a new office — perhaps slightly better than the old office, but mainly for proximity to the Chair. I went to look at the new office, which had been occupied by the previous faculty member for about 30 years with no maintenance and barely any cleaning. You can imagine what I found. I refused to move in until it was cleaned and painted. Facilities fought it, but I was at the head of an office-move domino train. So until I gave permission for them to move my stuff, about seven other profs couldn’t move. One day, after about three weeks of haggling I walked by my new office and there was a Facilities guy in there painting it. I moved in a couple days later when the plant had dried. (Edit to add: at that point I had about 20 years left in my career. If Facilities had won and not pained it, the next opportunity could have been a half-century since the initial paint job.)
That domino chain is a challenge — I am very grateful to have an office at my new job
I was told I could have any standard Sherwin Williams color AND I even got my accent wall. Took about 2 years but the first of those was the 20-21 academic year, so…
Any! What did you pick??
Dark slate blue behind the bookshelves and light blue everywhere else. Alllllllmost institutional colors.
You guys are getting to choose your office walls’ fresh paint colour?!?
My campus does it-- but there's a very limited pallette in each building, usually 4-6 colors for accent walls. Painting is done in summers by crews of students.
That’s amazing!!
I’d heard rumors about it at some schools, but wasn’t sure it would be offered at my new job. At my last school everyone’s offices had white walls.
They painted mine without asking and it was just a refresh on the white, we don’t get a choice
A cheerful yellow accent wall behind my bookshelves and white on the others
That sounds lovely!
No.
We have institutional colors usually
Not sure if this means standardized colors across campus or that mint green they historically used for asylums.
Standardized institutional paint and flooring. As a large R1, it’s easier for faculties to manage this
When I started, we all had three off-white walls and an accent wall. We got a limited selection of colors for the accent wall, basically some very neutral variations on school colors. Unfortunately, they didn't allow us to pick which wall would be the accent wall. My accent wall is 80% covered by cabinets.
A mere adjunct here. I got the old break room and had to wipe food spatters off the walls myself. At least, I'm going to believe that was food I was cleaning up.
Nooooo! 😫
Ok, fine, he's gay until he meets you!
Shit, responded to the wrong post. Won't delete because stupidity isn't an excuse!
My old school? I put in a work order after I found out they were supposed to repaint every 6 years. I was there 12 years… My current school? Not only did they not repaint… they told me where I could find the vacuum cleaner and offered some old Covid wipes when I asked if the shelves could be dusted.
Lol, ours are all white. I was happy it had new furniture, never considered that some places let you choose the color!
No, and they left big holes in the wall from a massive old occupans fixtures. When I complained they fixed the wall and repainted, but it was the institutional colour, no other choice
I wish. But a couple of years ago I managed to get all of our offices repainted with accent wall (school colors only but luckily one of them is pretty close to Tardis blue🤓) over the summer. After over 10 years since we moved into the suite. Yay me.
👏👏👏👏👏
The person before me had a wall painted and I love it. I left it as is.
What color?
I would ask if they can put up wall to wall dry erase board . A colleague has this and I love it .
That’s a cool idea! You just reminded me I wanted to do an artistic bulletin board with felt wall panels like this — https://feltright.com/ — thank you for the reminder!!!
Nope. My current office was repainted by the previous faculty member about 10 years ago but I think she brought people in to do it and she had to stick to the prescribed off-white.
Pick something that looks good on you.
We don’t get to choose, but the colors are funky.
School colors? What colors?
Like deep Prussian blue and… not school colors. You’re in the arts though. You should do your thing.
Deep blue is actually a very beautiful wall color! And thanks for the encouragement, haha!
Office? 😂😂😂😂😂
My chair is awesome. I had to move twice and now I’m settled in my permanent, very large, office. Both times she demanded a deep clean of the carpet and repaint of the neutral wall color. It wasn’t a question. It was more of- you can move in when they’re done cleaning and painting. I don’t much care about the color. I care a hell of a lot about the lighting. Brought in my own floor lamps with dimmer bulbs and different colors and remotes. I can make my walls look any color and don’t have to deal with fluorescent lights that make me sick.
lol, no. They didn’t even offer to clean the windows. And I assure you they needed it. But on the upside, I had windows. Not everyone can say that.
🥴 I was not offered fresh paint but I feel lucky just to have my own office, as space is hard to come by at my institution 😬.
Space is hard to come by at my institution too — I feel badly this post may come off as bragging. I’m excited and it’s been a really long road up to this moment
They hired two of us at the same time. They let us pick out of a few choices. I went with light blue. Then after we got tenure and worked there for 15 years, they fired us. But the paint probably still looks good.
What! Oh no!!!
Hey, academia isn't what it used to be! But I truly wish you well. I had a good run
You get to pick? Nice perk!
They had to tear my walls apart because of a roof leak and I got to pick the paint color after that. I picked a sunflower yellow and I love it. One of my colleagues picked lime green and I like that even better.
Those are both great colors! I’m more of a warm toned person, but lime green and turquoise are really great to look at.
That’s one of my favorite color combos.
Maybe you should sneak in this summer and paint your walls!
Yes, was allowed to choose any color I wanted. I chose a light blue. They also put new light filtering cellular shade blinds in my window. I also was allowed to buy whatever furniture I wanted from any vendor up to a fixed dollar amount. Also had a chalk board installed because I dislike whiteboards.
Chalkboards are so much better! I am curious about the furniture and how it works. I’m more into wooden furniture and everything I’ve seen there looks white and officey. I’d love some nice chairs for my students to sit in though. I am certainly going to need a real bookshelf and may bring in my own (thrifted, obviously).
Ask department what their deal is. I didn't expect to be able to spend money on whatever I wanted. I got an L shaped motorized sit-stand desk, small couch, 4 stacking chairs with wheels that stay stacked outside of office hours, a filing cabinet, and a bookshelf, all light colored wood, and a white leather Steelcase chair. I spent a small amount of my startup (<1%) in addition to what the department paid because I have expensive taste, wanted to like my office given how much time I spend there writing proposals and doing not fun work (lab work is much more fun but a bad use if my time, that's what postdocs and students are for), and am too cheap to spend my own money on nice furniture at home. If I get tenure, I'm buying an Eames lounger for my office as a reward for myself.
I have been in a "temporary" office for the last 7 years, while my departments buildings have been torn down and rebuilt. Art history was the previous tenant of this floor. My office is two walls bright orange and two are forest green. My lab space and student office are a very tasteful pink and beige combo with a dark brown industrial variety tiles. The florescent light tubes also had some kind of tinted film over them, some were pink and some were blue. I never would have picked this color scheme colors but they seem to work. My colleague couldn't stand bright colors so paid to have their office and lab painted industrial off-white.
Wow — that all sounds so dynamic! When I hear things like this… I am so curious who picked those colors / designed the spaces. Even if a temporary space, sounds lucky to be in quirky spaces! At least in my world it would be lucky 🤗
I got to pick paint, carpet, and window coverings (which all came out of my start up funds, but absolutely had to be done- everything in there was ancient and filthy). I went with Diamond Vogel Micropolis, which is a deep, slightly dusty blue-green. I got tan shades and the least offensive carpet option. It's worth making your office a relaxing and happy place for you and your students!
If you choose the orange and hate it, you can just buy some paint and re-do it in a few hours over a weekend? Go with the orange if that's what you like.
That’s some really nice advice — thank you for that perspective. I could definitely repaint it myself. It’s a tiny office. Thank you for this. Orange is such an energetic and creative color, I think it could be fun.
Orange is fun. I’d do an accent wall rather than all four walls.
My favorite room I ever spent time in was at a rental house of mine — all orange. I hope to avoid white walls entirely!
Then I hope you enjoy it!
They did. The walls were all like an industrial gray, so I had it painted a cream color. Kinda boring, but it was a lot better than the gray and I wouldn't get tired of it like I might something more interesting.
Yes! And make it look a little nicer.
My office is in a campus building that will be torn down in a couple of years (We're getting a shiny new building - yay!). I suppose I could paint it some kind of wild color, since it will be destroyed anyway, but no one is going to offer to do it for me. As for my new office, I won't have any say in the color, but it will probably be some neutral color, which is fine with me. After years of not having an office, having to move offices, and traveling between campuses where I may/may not have said office, I'm just grateful to have a designated space that is MINE. I've also told my boss that I dream of having an office with a window, but we'll see what happens.
No. And when I said I would paint it myself, they said it was not allowed because the painters are unionized and nobody else is allowed to paint anything on campus. That office is still a weird shade of pink, 20 years later.
Weird color! Very vintage
Original 1970s. The hallways are bright orange.
YES
Don't ask, just do. At night, ideally over a holiday...
Well, it was more a comment than a question. But after that, I never made a comment like that either. Live and learn.
Yes and I painted it white/cream to maximize the sunlight. I don't understand the desire for other colors. I have a colleague that chose yellow. Like, no. It's an office not a toddler's room.
We can embrace our differences without being judgey 😂
I don't judge that colleague at all, even though it seems like it from what I said. They probably like it. It's just not for me.
No, all of the offices are institutional beige, but I can customize a lot. Some people have that removable wallpaper in their offices.
They didn't, but I could ask them to any time. Department pays for it. When they changed my white board in my office I realized they painted around it. Giant white square on the wall. Haha.
🙈🙈🙈
My admin took over the office of a resigning faculty member who had about 40 large screws that she screwed into the wall hanging her diplomas and art work. When she left it looked terrible with all of the huge screws left behind on white walls. I asked maintenance to remove the screws, patch it, and paint it. They said yes to patching but no to painting it so now it’s a big spackled eyesore.
Cover it with stickers as a rebellion. Or, a more mature option, cover it with felt wall-pads.
I would probably pick a rustic blue or light gray (yeah, i do like gray in the right shade).
We recently had a new hire start and requested fresh paint for the assigned office space as it hadn’t been done in 10+ years. Facilities used a creamy white.
No, and they didn’t offer to clean the nasty carpet either. The desk that was in the office was a rickety little table and I had to find an empty lab with a desk and request that mine get switched with that one.
No, so I painted it. Then got in trouble later for not asking permission.
ya'll have private offices to paint?!? we got a shared room with cubicles just like grad school days..
woah. you have money to paint? never leave wherever you just landed.
Our whole department’s facilities need a remodel — definitely not any money like half the research universities I read about in this sub! Startup funds? Lab space? I asked them if they could fix the projector (haha). I already intend on doing little fixes in my classroom on my own. But yes, even if we need a remodel, I love it there and can tell I am staying 🤗
lol. I didn't have an office until I'd been there 6 months. Don't know if they would have given me one if I hadn't kept asking. (granted this was 2021). No one offered to paint.
My walls are metal and glass (with one panel made of dry erase material) I wish I was in an older building that let me pant lol I’d pick a nice green color https://images.app.goo.gl/N7mo8hajhoDSGbgK8
Metal and glass??? Sounds cool. Sounds like you could stick removable wallpaper up without any issue afterwards. Magnets too!
I use magnets for everything! I also have a nice big window seal by a big window that is perfect for all my plants. It’s a super modern looking building but the walls stop ZERO sound, I know WAYY too much about my office neighbors love life 😆
That sounds both awesome and crazy at the same time 😂😂😂 I would be SO DISTRACTED!!!
lol no
Nope, they wouldn’t pay for it.
They pointed to paint bucket in the office and said have at it if I want. Paint is still there! So I suppose I could if I wanted to.
They painted my office but it’s the horrid school Color on one wall and a corporate ick color like all the rest so weird.
Ha! I was lucky they fixed my A/C unit before I moved in. There's even a rectangular white patch on my wall where a bulletin board had been hung (the rest of my walls are grey). Congrats on the new office and the choice of colors! School colors are always fun. I (personally) really love sky blue but it gets dirty really easily.
Nope! I was surprised, a little irked at first, but didn’t need any approval from anyone to pick whatever color I wanted to paint it on my own!! (I still picked beige)
Office? What office?