How we decorated our office – for cheap!
In March of this year, FreshBooks made a huge leap – 50 feet down the road to our new offices. We were greeted by a beautifully roomy space, complete with 20-ft high ceilings, large kitchen, and untouched white walls. Lots of of them.
The challenge was clear: how could we fill up these white walls, and make this space our own? And since we’re a bunch of misers, how could we do it on the cheap?
Save those marketing materials!
Last year our marketing folks flew to Boston’s HOW Design Conference and built our very first trade booth. It was decorated over the course of the weekend by a local artist (who is also a FreshBooks customer), and turned out stunning. Luckily, we were smart enough to hang on to the results; two big canvasses worth. After sitting in storage for 10 months, they’re now hanging prominently inside our office.
Relive your college dorm with posters
Little known fact about FreshBooks – we name all of our feature releases after Hollywood movies. This past week’s release, which introduced recurring expenses? Groundhog Day. Before that? The Prestige. The movies we pick don’t always make sense, but it’s our small tradition, and we’ve kept it up for 2+ years.
To pay tribute to our Hollywood-inspired development history, we ordered a bunch of corresponding movie posters from movieposter.com. The cost? $10-20 for each poster, $15-30 for each frame (Ikea), and a few extra dollars for the small placards you see placed next to each one. They occupy a small stretch of wall near our desks and make an interesting art piece.
Printed comments from Twitter
We’re lucky to have a lot of people say nice things about us on Twitter. So, we thought we’d bring the love home. Plastered around the office are dozens of full-color printed tweets from our customers. They’re huge self-esteem boosters, and look great!
Whiteboards a plenty
Total number of whiteboards at FreshBooks between 2004-2008: two. Total number of whiteboards today? 11. You could say we’ve begun a love affair with whiteboards, whether they’re big, tall, and/or magnetic. They might not be as aesthetically pleasing as some of the other mentions on this list, but they’re every bit as fun.
That about sums things up. The best part is – we’re not done yet. Our kitchen in particular is dying for some love. Got some ideas? Please pitch in!
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4:47 pm
Not terribly creative, but regular wall paint has got to be one of the most cost-effective ways to define/transform a space.
11:25 pm
I’d suggest a swinging couch, just get a couch & attach it with chains hanging from the ceiling about 2 inches off the floor. I guarantee it will be the highlight of the office.
7:07 am
[...] Freshbooks decorated their office for cheap – Freshbooks [...]
10:59 am
Hammocks, blenders (for milkshakes, should be kitchen due to noise), beanbag chairs, candyland (or other favorite boardgames) painted on the floor, comic posters on the ceilings (always wish they’d put cooler posters on the dental office ceilings), a “Where’s Waldo” wall. Just a few crazy ideas to go with your unorthodox, yet innovative company culture.
11:04 am
Plants! Grow a jungle! Then add jaguars.
12:03 pm
At our office we had a photo contest. Every employee got to submit their picture(s) with a specific theme (in our case, the theme was “Natural British Columbia” – nature-inspired landscapes of BC)
Most of them got printed black and white, in a large format, framed with IKEA frames, and captioned with the location and the author.
It showcases the natural beauty of Province and the talent of the employees.
12:14 pm
For the posters I would suggest using poster hangers. They are just little pieces of plastic that slide onto the top and bottom of the poster and enable you to non-destructively hang posters. I bought mine off of eBay for a couple bucks a pop and they are pretty awesome.
12:22 pm
@Adam: I don’t know why our walls aren’t painted. Maybe because none of us wants to break out a ladder; the walls are awfully tall (~20 feet).
@Lauren: You know, there are about a dozen plants in the office, and I kind of forgot about them. Oops.
@Brendan: Wicked idea, but how do you stop it from swinging out too far? Chain it to the floor?
@Ivan: Awesome – and affordable! I think I’m going to bring this idea up, after a trip to our Swedish overlords.
7:40 pm
lookin good!
10:52 am
I’m thinking the sumo wrestling outfits should become a permanent part of the freshbooks decor. More Sumo!!!
4:24 pm
Its great to see the personality behind your company and the inspiring decor. Nice to see you spend your money effectively and proably get a better warmer office atmosphere