We take turns reading to each other and snickering at the decorating missteps

I've got to tell you there's no better way to shop these days than at consignment stores...

I found this chaise for $150 (I happened to know who consigned this item, so I felt good about buying it; I don't usually buy second-hand upholstered items...worry about possible smoke or pet smells or maybe someone who owned it didn't like The Office and I love The Office...).

Also got the print on the left and the one on the right of the girl with white hat for about $12 each. I decided to put all these items in my home office, giving it a little rehab. I really likely how this arrangement on the wall is turning out.

I placed this "I love you" American Sign Language sculpture in there, too. I originally bought it for the living room, until my 6-year-old son admitted he didn't really like it after he said he really liked it. He was just afraid he would hurt its feelings if he told the truth...and who needs a creepy hand on a stick holding a grudge? It's better contained in my office.

That's what the office looked like before I shoved those magazines out of the frame. I plan to read all of those...but there is a protocol.

You read them once, let them rest, and then go back and read again, this time ripping out the pages you like. But sometimes new magazines come in while the old ones are resting and you have to read those fast, so you don't mess up the order of things, but then the new magazines need a third read because they were not given proper respect the first time around and then the pile grows and grows and grows...and the kitten is staring at me...why is the kitten staring at me???

Your assignment: Spiff up your office space

School's almost in around here. You know what that means, right?

Time for learning... reconnecting with friends.... becoming a better citizen...

No! It's a decorating opportunity!

I re-design a furniture and home goods consignment store a few times a month and last night was all about getting back to school.

The store had about a dozen desks and we focused on them to remind people that it's time to create a quiet and organized spot for homework.

Unlike a store that sells new items and orders whatever it needs, we use whatever the consigners have brought in.

That situation is a lot like what people deal with at home so I thought I'd pass along a few tips:.

• See that cabinet? A few weeks ago, we put china in it and paired it with a dining room table and chairs. This week it's holding books and would look great in an office, or even in a dining room that is doing double duty as a homework space.

• Got a desk but no chair? Sometimes it's more interesting not to have a matching set. Pull in a dining room chair or even an upholstered chair from a living room. If you have to buy a single chair, they are usually a great bargain at second-hand stores because they are tougher to sell than chairs that come as part of a set or at least a pair.

• Need pencil holders? Try a vase or a deep bowl. We put some of those to use last night.

• Don't forget the lamp! Even if you've got overhead lighting, you really need a lamp at a desk for that close-up work. Again, single lamps are pretty inexpensive.

• Finally, you don't necessarily need something that was built to be a desk to create a useful and beautiful homework spot. Dining tables provide lots of surface space and can be used in offices, or in family rooms. Tables that don't come as part of a dining set can be a bargain, too.

Organize your chargers, live forever

Do you have one of those spots in your kitchen where everything lands? The cell phone chargers, pens, pencils, scraps of paper, stray kittens, junked cars, spy manuals?

Don't we all?

I was shopping around recently for a solution for a client who wants to organize her kitchen counter top and came up with a few solutions I like:

This one is from Pottery Barn and comes in black, red and in a couple of wood stains. I love the way it organizes the electronics. You could stick a vase or planter for pens and pencils on that top shelf, too.

It sells for between 59.99 and $79, depending on the color.

This one is from Vat19 and is $48.95. It's a bit more utilitarian looking, but would blend right in if you've got a dark counter top.

Check out this one from spacesavers.com. It's smaller, but I love this lime green. It's $19.99 and comes in black and red, too.

This is from KangaRoom Storage and is made of bamboo. It's got a sleeker, more modern look and costs $45.

Finally, this comes from Levenger and is quite handsome, I thought. It also comes in black and is $158.

Where you put the kittens, though, I don't know...

Ta-da: The office makeover

As promised, I'm posting photos from an office makeover that my friend Marianne and I did recently. A nonprofit organization won the makeover as part of a larger prize.

The space posed a few challenges for me and Marianne (who owns Consignments Ltd.): The office is in an old mill building, and is large (probably 600 square feet). The organization, Options, puts out a newsmagazine, so it needs tables for preparing it for distribution once a month.

It also uses some bulky items, like bins and carts, but had no storage space. Options would also like to hold meetings at the space, and there really was no comfortable spot for hanging out.

Marianne and I did the makeover in about a day. This would not have been possible if Marianne wasn't such a workhorse. (Only not a horse like this: ; more like this: .)

Chances are you don't have a space quite like this, but there are some ideas you can steal:

We bought some office dividers at a business surplus store and put them together to create both a storage room and a wall that would act as an entrance to the large space. The Options sign hangs on one end of the new storage space. (In the Rhode Island area, this is a good place to find business surplus items at very reasonable prices: the aptly named Business Surplus Inc. Rhode Island.)

Along with the bins and carts, we stored a few of the tables and some chairs in the storage area. The tables and chairs can come out once a month, but in the meantime there's room for the lounge we created with sofas from Marianne's store. We added a rug, and few pillows and accessories, and it's a comfy meeting spot. (Check out the little tables I painted, too.)
We used a print they already owned in the bathroom (tip: a big piece of art in a small space makes a really big impact) and the mirror I also painted orange. (I like taking a traditional item like the Chippendale mirror and paining it a bright color to create a funky look.)

Paint is a great tool to use when you've got a lot of space to decorate.

Options already had 25 of the first pages of its newsmagazines mounted on huge poster boards. But only six or so of them were up. They were painted in rainbow colors. So, we painted a bunch more and hung them up, too. Not only did the posters look colorful, but they helped unify the space.

We also hung some curtains (thanks to Marianne climbing a 15-foot ladder), switched out a bookcase for better organization, and a few little odds and ends and we were done.

Done, but too tired for even a glass of wine. And that's saying something.

Vet you don't know what staggity means

Sometimes it's good to mix things up (for instance, I love it that my 5-year-old son thinks a Storm Trooper is a Storm Troopider, McDonald's is Old McDonald's and Dominoes are Domidoes).

Scrambling things in decorating works, too. Case in point: On my desk, an oak library table, I've got a few second-hand silverplate items, a box that once held jewelry and a plate that probably served bread. Now they hold pens and paperclips.

The lamps are new and acrylic, the desk, old and wooden, the paperweight, glass. Mixing surfaces, textures, styles and even ages of items keeps things interesting.

If your desk is looking a little predictable, check out the kitchen, the garage, bedroom or bathroom to see what you can find to shake things up. Sometimes it makes all the sense in the world.

(Oh, and staggity. My son's reaction to the mouse, with its hair stuck in spikes because of the rain, that our cat Homer left on the doormat: "Why does that mouse look all staggity?"
"Staggity?"
"You know, like it was hit by lightning?"
"Oh...static-y."
That's one way of putting it. Here's another: Yuk.)