My office is kind of the same -- I have all of my old consoles, console boxes, games and game boxes on Ikea shelving. As much as I'd love to simplify and go w/ a starkly bare office, I can't because of my tendency to keep my consoles and their associated paraphernalia.

Regarding console wires; I simply leave them all plugged in and connected, so the backend stuff stays sorted out on it's own. The annoying/challening part of having so much stuff is actually storing & retrieving the controllers. The only way I've found to keep them from becoming some sort of snakey, slithery mess is to wrap the cords up after every use, w/ the regularity and discipline of ... someone who's regular and disciplined.

... which I am. With computer cables.

... and pretty much nothing else.

Posted by: MacDork on March 15, 2008 10:11 AM

For me I have found the more space I give myself the bigger my mess. When my work area was in my bedroom I was much neater. Now that I have an entire room as an office, my desk is far more cluttered.

Posted by: Liz on March 15, 2008 11:42 AM

This came just in time. I'm moving this week and trying to figure out what I'm going to do at teh new place.

My brother in law did a super minimalist setup at his place when he renovated it. He rack-mounted the PC in the basement, ran cable through the wall, and then has dual LCD's mounted on the wall with a wall-mounted glass shelf as a desk. The only thing on the desk is a USB hub for keyboard/mouse and a USB DVD drive. It's nice because the noisy PC is in another room. I should get him to post to this flickr group.

Posted by: kpallist on March 17, 2008 12:01 PM

I find that most of peripheral organization tends to be cable wrangling -- once the cables are taken care of, it's not so bad finding which ones go where. I really dig velcro cable ties for this, something like these . You can coil the cables and then use a couple small pieces of the velcro to hold each. Then it's just a matter of keeping like cables together. I've got a couple boxes full of old systems with the cables wrapped up as such. It's generally no problem finding a system and cables -- I can be playing delicious Super Metroid in under ten minutes!

On a side note the velcro works really well for cable routing around your desk, too. I've got a nice tidy bundle going from my speakers and monitor to my tower, and it's no sweat to remove a cable if the need arises.

Posted by: Matt on March 17, 2008 11:42 PM

Recently we moved from one building to another and I took the opportunity to take everything that I had accumulated at work (where I had a notoriously packed cubicle) home with me to start fresh. The cleanliness of my new cube is totally refreshing.

As for computer accessories, I found using ziplock bags works great. Bunch cables/accessories by type in bags making them easier to store in a box and pick out what you need quickly. Beats the crows nest of wires I used to have.

Posted by: Alice Lee on March 18, 2008 02:22 AM

For corralling a huge number of cables and dongles, scrapbook supply cases are really close to ideal. We got four of them and put printed labels all over them, so we can tell at a glance which bin has the Christmas lights, or the A/V cables, or the power strip, or the multimeter, or ... you get the idea. Target has some nice big ones for a pretty good price.

And wanting inspiring shapes and colors in the workspace is a very good thing! Too many people conflate unclutter with sterility. Bare surfaces are sufficient for unclutter, but not at all necessary, and for most people will not lead to optimal productivity.

Posted by: phipunk on March 19, 2008 03:10 PM

I use the cardboard tubes inside paper towel rolls/etc to keep my cords neat and ordered. They work well for most situations, and they're cheap and easily replacable. Also, you can write on them without worrying about ruining them, so you don't have to mess with little tags or pieces of tape if you want to label your cords.

Posted by: VikingDiplomat on March 25, 2008 03:22 PM