I never thought about it before, but critter control? If they could be cut up it sounds like pieces could be placed upside down in key spots to keep kitty cats from digging in the garden. I have kitties and don't have too much trouble but I have heard others complain. Larger pieces could be buried upright where woodchucks have been trying to dig under the fence. The only problem, other than how to cut it up, is that picky side may be dangerous to humans too! Another thought is in the bottom of a raised bed where you want to keep maple or other tree roots out. Those darn maple roots get into everything. It would have to be for annual plants - kind of like a giant planter, and have drainage directed out the sides or something. Being able to cut it would be important for most ideas I have: water proof a bird house roof for example. I'm intrigued by how durable they are. I wonder how they last outside in the weather? Could they be incorporated into a cold frame? I guess they kind of yellow over time so maybe not the best. Wind protection for the veggie garden? I have an extra one at work that someone left in an office. Now I'm totally intrigued. Here are suggestions from a recycling database on the web (there's not much and they don't say how to cut them): Carpet Protectors (Plastic) Cut to the desired size and use as a boot tray. Keep on the floor in front of the back seat of the van to keep snow/mud off of the carpet. Use as a drop cloth. xxx I'm hoping someone here has already used them. I think I may have broken a piece off one once by bending it (by mistake). Kathy

Any dirt or grit picked up by the rollers will be ground into a fairly small area in front of the desk. The casters have a large amount of "trail" built into them to make them roll well in any direction. The swiveling action of the wheels each time the chair is moved in a different direction tends to grind the wheels into the floor even more. Nobody sits perfectly still. The entire weight of the chair plus you is distributed across only the contact points of the five or so wheels of the chair. You can estimate the contact patch sizes and weights to determine the pounds per square inch, but it's pretty high. Just a small amount of dirt from your shoes and the swiveling action of the wheels under load will destroy a wood finish pretty quickly. I use a chair mat.

It has been my experience that if a really good match---like with the Stain Putty---is not possible---like trying the color sticks/sawdust and glue/---making the filler lighter is less eye catching. I did several hundred feet of pine crown molding, stained dark walnut. The home owner specificially mentioned he wanted no conditioner---he wanted the color differences from the stain to show. And with even good stain grade pine, there was a LOT of difference. It was in a room with 7' ceilings and a soffit for HVAC in the center the length of the room that was 10" below the ceiling. I used a 16 gauge nailer and had a lot of nail holes to fill. I made up two batches of Stain Putty----one with the dark walnut stain and another with pecan stain. The dark walnut Stain Putty was a perfect match for the darker areas---but would have stood out like a sore thumb on the lighter areas. The pecan was a bit lighter than the light areas and was a fdair match---the HO could not see the filled holes----and he is a professional painter---has owned his own company for 30 years.

@JustMe Here is a rough drawing with dimensions of the office. My desk is on the longest wall. The window at the bottom of the drawing. My desk is about 72" and I've been seriously thinking of getting a different wood desk top that is smaller at about 63" to fit on that wall space next to the door. Something like a mesquite desktop or something. My desk is a standing desk so I'll be keeping the black base. The reason why I didn't put my desk against the window is mainly because of the giant monitor that is on an arm that wouldn't let me look outside anyways but I'm open to options. I do really think that my desk is way to big though. Also, the closet(which is at the bottom left of the picture in case its hard to tell has built in bookshelves. Although shelve space is always good, I've been looking at tons of wall shelves to utilize the vertical space more. I also added some more offices I liked to my profile. I'm a big fan of the contrasting natural colors and I want to incorporate live plants and such as well.