The more I think about it, the more I like the idea. The principal (or the head of the guidance department) will know who is trustworthy, and they can tell you what is a fair wage too. They can even email you photos of bunting decorations for their proms, etc decor and tell you who the students were who were on those decoration committees that might be interested in looking for work. This would not be the right time for you to fall off a ladder, or strain your back from overwork. This would also be helpful for you for later on too, as you might find the strong young man with his friends to rearrange your furniture (for a higher wage) as you change your mind a few times, to mow your lawn, to shovel your snow, and maybe even do some of the gardening. (Just be sure to check the location of the in ground irrigation, the water lines and all other utilities and clearly mark them before you give anyone a shovel.) The energy of older teens is awesome, and their work ethic and ambition should be encouraged, too.

i don't have anything to say about the island, but your options for backsplash are pretty broad. presumably you want the dramatic counter to be the star, in which case your backsplash should play a supporting role -- white, or some cool gray taken from the stone veining. If you want something more unusual, bring in the interest by way of texture -- a shiny or iridescent white, say -- or tile shape -- like fan-shaped tile.

What a gorgeous decoy! My dad keeps some mallard decoys in their backyard (not nearly as nice quality as yours) so they remind me of him. I love bookends and don't think they look stuffy at all, so I say go for it! Without really thinking about it, I think I tend to follow Flo's advice as far as placing things on the shelves, though I'm little heavier on the books than objects. If you have small sets of books (2-4), you can try placing them in a pile horizontally instead of vertically and maybe placing a small display object on top just to break things up a little bit. I wonder if your husband is like mine, who tends to just not like too much change at once. Maybe he didn't realize how much he liked the color until it was gone, and two rooms changing color will just take some time to process and get used to. I have a tendency to want to "tweak" spaces to improve them, and that can drive my husband and almost 14-year-old daughter nuts when the spaces in question are my husband's office or my daughter's room ;) My husband got mad at me (it's been a rough week at work) a few days ago just for proposing the idea of adding grasscloth-look wallpaper to the back of his office bookshelves to make the objects show up better than they do against the dark-stained wood. I've seen the idea on this forum many times and think it would look so cool (not directly on the wood, but applied to removable panels). You would think I had suggested painting all of his office furniture with zebra stripes.

first thing to do is to remove everything from the room. Now start decorating. Since there is no window, how about bringing some life into the room w/paint, art, better lighting, etc? That back wall is being underutilized. Go to Ikea (unless one of you has some basic carpentry skills and can build something) and get their billy bookcases. Now look up the billy bookcase hack. they resemble this Get some ideas for the back wall or you can get the ones w/cabinet doors. The hack part comes in because you'll use simple trim to finish off the top and bottoms so they look built-in (just google billy bookcase hack) I Love a good black or dark wall (and no, it won't make the room smaller). paint the others bright white. You could put your desk against it like shown here, or float it in the middle like the other pic don't like black? then pick another color. (BTW, check w/the landlord, I'm sure doing one wall w/color is fine. you could always paint it back like the others if you move out) Personally I'd get the ikea desk/lower pull-out things, and span it w/wood butcher block for the countertop (Home Depot, $150). I love what they've done on the wall w/organizer and shelving. (get Fir boards and brackets and make your own shelves for cheap this one is cool. you could do a peel and stick wallpaper. You could also do the ikea bottom file cabinet/or drawer things, and do a lot of wall shelving above it. do the desk against one of the walls. Ikea cubbie organizers. get a bunch of these for that back wall. try your desk like this or against the wall. float some other shelves. (all of these holes can easily be patched over if you move out) notice the tall cabinet in the corner, and the shorter cubby one. you need these, but organize them. float the desk, bring in a rug, some art decor Or, put your desk along the back wall, float a bunch of shelves. Lastly, this is a windowless room like yours. I know you say the desk is new, but honestly, you're trying to work this office around that desk. How about getting something better that makes you happy? I love this look for your room. do some upper cabinets, or a Ikea skinny bookcase cabinets. If you have to keep your desk, then try and do something w/it like shown here. get the bottom file cabinet pullouts and work that into your desk. Look at all this bright lighting and under cabinet lighting. you need it.