Everyone thinks the oyster paint is too contrasty, I know I'm wrong but I do like the crispness of it. I bought a parchmently yellow-white when i first did his office and painted a little and we both went "nyyyuuh banana". But I guess the oyster was not the right solution. But we do love the barky brown green, it's just right. Yes, the flooring in the building transitions from hardwood to underlayment in the office. For whatever reason the prior occupant decided to leave the hardwood that existed uncovered and just cover the underlayment with carpet. So that is generally aggravating. She also painted the bottom half cranberry red and the top half battleship grey. I can't tell you how many coats of white I put on before I gave up and bought a primer&paint in one. Should have primed first. alli - the layout you suggested makes sense, especially because he's have a smooth surface under his rolly chair. my original thought was to put the bookshelves on the wall shared with the main hallway so that the view from the door remained "cleaner" as a client came in and also the client would sit with his back to the bookshelves. and then dh could have the interesting bookshelves as a backdrop instead of a blank wall. plus the little chairs i reuphoultered look kind of puny sitting out in the middle of the room, but that's what we have for now. i'll move things around a little and take another photo. I think maybe what I'll do is go measure everything in the room and do a layout too if that's okay. my ultimate plan was to move the rug under the worktable once I bought one. As for the worktable, I'd like something solid and furniture like with some "gravitas". What was unlikeable about the top of the table? I figured if anything people would not like the legs. I think the antique person said it was used in a local historical home as a pastry table? Is it too kitchenish? I thought the stone top kind of looked like the water and rocks in his painting. Again, I'm not stubborn, I know I don't know what I'm doing - that's why I'm glad of the help. i'm glad you guys like the desk, it's a funny story. i was shocked when no one else bid on it and i got it for my opening bid. but when i showed dh, he grinned and pointed out that according to the ebay listing that it was about the size of a childrens desk or maybe a weird coffee table. i hadn't noticed that -so i had all sorts of buyer's remorse, but a deal is a deal, so we drove 2 hours to go pick it up anyway, figuring that we could relist it or give it away... and tadah! the guy had typo'd the measurements and it was actually not toy-sized. so that was happy! it was also grossly dirty when we started, but a linseed oil/beeswax type thing really really helped. we don't have cool relatives who give us antiques, but we did drive to sewickley in pittsburgh to pick it up so we refer to it as "great uncle sewickley's desk" i'm very excited about the map shopping suggestions and the retailmenot link - but conflicted whether to continue reading gardenweb compulsively or dash off in the quest for maps :) Unfortunately, the top really does need redone. Although the desk has survived happily unscathed for about 100 years, when the prior owner and my husband loaded it they whacked the top and the veneer got kind of shattered on one side. It doesn't show so badly in the photo but it's very visible. i thought about a glass top, but i was afraid DH might start sticking business cards, phone numbers and lunch menus under it because it was convenient. Actually glass IS a good idea and a simple solution. He wouldn't use a desk calendar because his scheduling is all computerized. I hope I'm not chatting everyone to death about this, it's thrilling to see the responses and I get all wound up :)

Thanks Talley, it is good to know I am not alone. It drives me crazy when I do spend hours cleaning, only to have DH come home and move something centimeters. Or I haven't touched something all day, and he will come home and move it. AAARRGH. Just leave it alone!!! Now to the office. I do have a good 2 drawer filing cabinet I think we got from an office that was moving, but it is full! Although I am sure it needs to be cleaned out. Right now we have a corner computer desk that has really no storage. Everything is on the top of the desk, cubbies, in baskets, paper, paper everywhere! I do research for a coupon website and am the secretary for the music boosters at the high school, so there is a lot of paper. Just need a better filing system. I do have in the closet a cabinet that right now houses lots of craft stuff that I haven't used in forever. I am thinking about taking that out, cleaning it out and repurposing it. Maybe paint and a little molding, a cork board on the front, baskets and labels inside... I need a real desk with drawers to put stuff away. I have 4 different rolly carts with different size drawers for various and sundry things. One holds kids school supplies I try to always have on hand so there is no running to the store in the middle of the night! Buy them in Aug/Sept when they are cheap! Then I have all my fabric, I make flannel rag quilts for friends then use the scraps to make blankies for preemies. Have lots of flannel remnants, need to get that in line. Ok, now I am stressing, just need to concentrate on one thing at a time. Today it is the paper work on the floor. Once I can get through that it won't be so bad. Thanks again, Laura

What a nice old thread! Flylady was a wonderful help to me, and it is so true how those ideas can internalize. I'll add another technique that I've found helpful and have used with others, too: Start with a vision of how you want your space to look and feel, and hold every future decision up to see whether keeping something is compatible with the vision. And when you don't know where to start, and when you can't seem to decide to let go of the object in your hand, then start grouping like things together. All the books, vases, kitchen gadgets, ornaments, magazines, old letters, tools, art prints, all the stuff to do with particular hobbies/craft stuff. Then do a reality check. Do you have enough bookcases, really? And if you don't, do you really want to sacrifice some more space and money in order to keep ALL these books? Or can you let go of the ones that you not only never read, but will probably never read? Are their favorites that you no longer go back to anymore that you can share with others? Strive to keep the best and most meaningful among what you have while letting go of the least meaningful. Decide what amount of your storage space you can allow, and pare down to that amount, if possible. Rinse and repeat, as it were. Sometimes it helps to see the vast amount of things we own in each category, squarely faced with the amount of space we have to store them. Try to keep the end goal in mind - things like clear walkways, walls with pictures instead of towers of storage units looming over us, for example. Refine your goals even more: if you really want to craft, you need to clear enough space to make it easy to both get out and put away your craft stuff. If it is a hassle to get stuff out or put it away, you are unlikely to use it, or to put it away to keep that nice, pretty space you want. So something needs to go, whether it is your dream of crafting if it isn't truly your heart's desire, or the extra furniture of Aunt Mabel's that can only live directly in front of the crafting storage area. Keeping your end-vision in mind while realistically assessing your stuff for the best of the best AND your storage capabilities can help keep you on track....because you learn to see unnecessary things as hindrances. It is easier to let go of a hindrance than something that is "possibly useful."

I love command hooks too, use them a lot. It makes sense to focus on the organization right now, and the rest can be taken care of later. BTW, love your original art from your MIL. And I just wanted to mention since you liked the last photo I sent, that lamp based can be spray painted. I did a pair last year and they turned out good and still no issues. They were $10 garage sale find so I wasn’t particularly worried if I messed them up though.