badtoad, I also was a woman in a techie environment .. and well, I still am but I am a contractor and have been working from my home office for the last year.

I didn't have control over the desk, walls or flooring.. and I did have white boards full of diagrams and notes but I was still able to make it comfortable to me. I added two lamps (one a desk lamp, one a floor lamp), a nice clock, framed pictures (dog pictures on the desk.. a print and a vintage 60s concert poster on the wall), various techie kinds of toys (nerf brain, magic 8 ball, slinky, various other junk I accumulated). I didn't make it all that feminine .. but I ALWAYS had fresh flowers and a lavender soy candle (which I lit when working late stressful nights). It really was not all that feminine other than the flowers but it felt feminine.. I think the lighting made a big difference.

If I entertained clients in my office, they were clients I'd been working with for a long time.. and our office was very "techy casual" (foosball and xbox in the main working area) so it wasn't necessary to be uncomfortably professional.

I don't know that I'd call this "decorating" or sophisticated but it definitely made my space comfortable and comforting to me.

Here is a link that might be useful: Grateful Dead, Joan Baez, Pooh Peace Concert Poster

When I had my own small space at work I hung an antique wooden wall clock (complete with pendulum) on the wall. Neither masculine or feminine I think it appealed to the majority of people. And I liked the soothing tick-tock....