Office Essentials for the New OD

At the beginning of January I was lucky enough to get my own office, and these past few weeks have been a flutter of activity.   My life has been awash in excitement and decision making and new responsibilities.  And every few days I have the great little milestones that invariably result in a little "geek out" moment.  Like the first time my diploma and license went on the wall (luckily someone else hung them for me).  The first time my name went on the door (even though it was in removable sticky letters -- I think that must be standard but stickers do seem so fleeting).  The first time the office letterhead got my name as a standard feature.  The first time I got the stamp that had my signature emblazoned so I don't even have to pick up a pen most days what with electronic medical records and my new tablet!

All my diplomas framed and hung!  It is incredible how big the state license (top right) is when you compare it to an undergrad degree (top left).  I guess the size directly correlates to the amount of stress and tears required.

With all these firsts, I decided it was about time to start making my small office into a nice homey atmosphere to write letters/finish my charts/call RGP companies and reorder lenses...again.  So I embarked upon a little project inspired by Pinterest.

My Inspirations:

Simple bulletin boards are dressed up with picture frame borders.  It's amazing how much better this looks than just slapping a cork board from Wal-Mart on the wall.

Even better, you can cover your corkboard with fabric for a  hanging surface  almost too pretty to use.

My Office Project: Unfortunately I am a notorious spend-thrift (that's the nice word for it), so instead of splurging on expensive frames, I decided to tackle my own "do-it-yourself" project that was fast, easy, and of course cheap.

So this is the wall of my office where I decided to remove the old standard bulletin board and replace it with cork tiles for posting important notes and info.  The hanging files underneath are nailed into the wall and a remnant of the previous OD, so I had to work my design around their positioning.

What I used: 

• Mirror from Target, just $19.99!  This is great for after lunch when you need to check your teeth before going in with a patient.  Or to help your hair after one to many rounds with the BIO.

• Cork Board Tiles from Michael's; set of 4 that are 12 x 12 for $13.  They are about 4 inches thick and made of a dark, rich looking cork but I did have several issues.  They come with sticky adhesives for easy attachment, but within a few days they were falling off the walls.  The issue has since been resolved with my handy glue gun since I don't get along well with nails.  My other complaint is that they leave a brown residue all over the walls, so every time they fell I had to do wall clean-up too.  

• Scrapbook paper by some genius design is actually the same size as the cork tiles so I didn't even have to worry about cutting in a straight line.  I just picked my favorite colors/patterns from Michaels for $0.99 a piece and attached to make a nice pop of color.  The great thing is that when I am tired of gray and yellow (which might last a few years, I am pretty attached to the combo currently) I can always trade these out for a new look!

I am still sorting out what I need in my office and what is really just collecting dust. There's a "worthless" four dot in a fish bowl from the previous OD that I don't have the heart to throw out.  Maybe I will have someone suppressing an eye that I can't figure out someday?  The only other office essential for any OD that I quickly furnished on the first day was my Will's.  I have worn the poor thing out; all of it's corners are neatly taped for reinforcement.  But when you need to figure out how to dose augmentin in liquid form for a person who doesn't like to take pills, well I know the first place to look. Here's to forever having a place on my bookshelf!

I would love to get more ideas about making my small, windowless office more appealing so please post advice!