YOUR DESK, whether at home or in an office, need not look unfriendly. There are tons of ways to sex it up; here are just a few. –Nancy McKeon
Only a handful of people will know that the Samarcande chess-piece on your desk is an Hermes bagatelle, only $940. Sculpted from palissander wood and studded with magnets, the 6-inch-tall puzzle is perhaps a more thrifty choice for office decor than the Hermes Desk Blotter in matte black alligator. The latter is $20,800. Hermes, Fairfax Square, 8075 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, Va.; 703-506-4546.
Give this scroll of recycled bonded leather 3 1/2 inches and it will give you a way to prop up your cellphone (it holds smartphones up to 2 3/4 inches wide without a case) and comes in black, blue and red. It’s $9 at levenger.com and the Levenger store at Tysons Corner Center.
The Six-Man Desk-top Clock, a kinetic sculpture by inventor Gordon Bradt, just may be the ultimate desktop toy. Available from Kinetico Studios in Eureka Springs, Arkansas (479-253-9114), it’s $1,800. If that’s too steep, the inventor’s site points out that used clocks can be found on eBay (and repaired if necessary by Kinetico Studios).
You could cover every desk in the office with the scads of toys and gizmos that officeplayground.com sells. This 7-inch-tall version of Newton’s Cradle (confession: we didn’t even know this executive-toy classic had a name) has a wood base and is $14.99. If this one doesn’t suit you, the site offers eight variations.
Bomber jacket leather, the same used in the jackets of World War II fighter pilots, makes a durable desk organizer, for sure. About a foot wide, this one has compartments for files and notepads, plus pen and card holders. It’s $155 from levenger.com and Levenger Tysons Corner Center, 703-288-9097.
So, Staples has the “Easy” button, and now you have, um, a button that might be better kept in a real office, or someplace your 5-year-old won’t get at it. The BS button erupts in five versions of the barnyard expletive. It’s $5.99 at officeplayground.com.
Don’t you just want to knock this fat fellow around? The 4-inch-tall squishy foam Sumo Squeezie is a great stress reliever and is $2.79 at officeplayground.com.
