Kids' Study Spaces

Competition to get into private school, the need to make good grades to get into a decent college and parental pressure to keep grades up, make it vital for students to have a good place to study.

There are five points to consider when creating a functional study space:

1. Start with a desk that has plenty of space to spread out papers. Make sure you include an ergonomic desk chair. A dining room or kitchen chair does not provide the right support and flexibility.

2. Set up the desk in a room or a part of the house that isn’t isolated from everyone, yet isn’t in the main flow of traffic. As you can see here, a storage closet can be converted for a compact study nook, that can be out of sight when not in use.

3. Equip the study space with a computer, printer and school supplies. Keep extra printer cartridges available at all times…rather than dealing with running out at midnight to find a replacement cartridge. Kinko’s and CVS pharmacy carry a wide range of cartridges. I learned that the hard way.

4. Make sure the area is well lit. Tasking lighting is very important.

5. Avoid having a television in the room or at least make sure it’s not on during homework time.

Creating a study space for your child won’t guarantee a spot at Harvard, but it’s a good start.

Read more!

Go Left At The Ugly Green Sofa

I found this antique art deco bar at a place in Kansas City called Cheap Antiques about 20 years ago. They had an unusual way of selling their furniture. Every Friday before their weekend sale, they would hold a furniture preview. You could walk in, see what you wanted and make notes for the next day. I wasn’t able to go to the preview, so a friend drew me a map of the art deco bar (go straight until the huge armoire, take a right at the butter churn…).

On the day of the sale, people lined up for hours before the store opened. While we waited, the sales people handed out several cards to each person. As soon as the doors opened, everyone made a mad dash to place a card on the furniture they wanted, and I raced in. Following the crazy directions, I found this perfect art deco bar.

Twenty years later I built an English Tudor home, but this beautiful bar is a timeless piece and blended with my décor perfectly. I added a few accessories, an interesting piece of art above it and now that bar is the focal point of the room.

So the next time grandma wants to pawn off one of her antiques, take it! It sure beats having to scramble around a store trying to claim a piece of furniture. Read more!

Ways To Make Better Use of Home Office Space

If you have a cramped, inefficient home office, you can transform it into a roomy, functional work space. The right furniture combined with a little creativity (and the strength to remove any furniture that is not serving a specific purpose) can help you make the most of your home office space.

1. Make your office flexible by using modular furniture. As your needs change, simply move your office furniture around. Consider function over aesthetics. But don’t buy cheap furniture that will fall apart after two moves. Check out furniture dealers and office furniture stores (not just the office supply superstores) to find quality home office furniture.

2. Use sturdy shelves or tall bookcases to store books, reference materials and supplies nearby. Don’t overload the shelves. The heavier books should be on the bottom shelf. (I know that’s common sense but people forget that.) Store similar items together and place these items strategically. Keep books you refer to often within reach while supplies and other materials you use less frequently should be placed on higher or lower shelves instead of middle shelves.

3. Make one piece of furniture serve more than one purpose. For example, the top of a lateral file cabinet can double as an extra surface for a paper cutter, fax machine, copier, etc. An antique dresser (something I used in a former home office) looks nice and can be functional.

4. Be creative and use two file cabinets with a board across them for an extra surface. I used to recommend that to clients long before a certain retailer offered this option in their catalogs. This trick used to be reserved for starving college students but I've seen expensive home offices furnished this way using high-quality file cabinets and durable surfaces.
Read more!

The Perfect Arrangement

Finding the perfect office arrangement is as easy as A-B-C or in the case of home offices, U,L,P and V. The beauty of having a home office is that you can set it up any way you like. Your only constraints are budget and available square footage. Choose one of these four arrangements to make your home office more functional, productive and inviting. (After all, if you don't like your home office, you won't use it.)

• The U-shaped work area, the ideal of all four, allows you to keep everything within reach on three surfaces. If you tend to save too much however, limit the amount of open surfaces in your office. I know, you’ll just put things on the floor, but get in the habit of putting things away or at least storing them somewhere other than the floor
• The L-shaped work area offers the important advantage of getting equipment off your desk and onto a secondary surface, without taking up as much room as the U.


• With the parallel work area (the P shape), you place one surface in front of the other and still have two places to work. Your desk could be in front of a credenza or a sideboard.
• The fourth and least used is the V or corner arrangement. If home office space is tight, make use of often unused corners. You'll have a surface in front of you (ideal for your monitor) and surfaces angled to the left and right.

Whichever arrangement you choose depends primarily on the size of your office, the type of furniture you have and how much work surface you need. Keep in mind that if someone else is sharing your office, you may be limited to the type of arrangement you can use. Also, consider facing your desk to the door. I like knowing if someone has walked into the room. With two boys, that’s usually not a problem, but you never know.

Read more!