The Deal: Steelcase modern office 15% off at Design Public

Treat yourself to a new desk chair for work or home as the online retailer Design Public discounts all Steelcase and Turnstone products by 15% off through Feb. 28.

The sale includes modern chairs ($169-$419), ottomans ($299-$369), task lamps ($105-$299), lounge chairs ($599), crushed can stools ($109) and the Uno mid-back multipurpose chair, shown above, ($309) which comes in 13 colors.

Use coupon code WHATASTEEL. You must create an account, however, for the code to work. Shipping is free. (800) 506-6541.

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credits: Steelcase

Browsing: A dozen desks for the home office

The home decor industry may still be in a post-recession slowdown, but if fall furniture collections are any indication, consumers are supremely busy in one particular room: the home office. High demand for residential desks may not exactly bode well for the nation's workforce, but at least it has spurred more options for those setting up shop at home.

Manufacturers are rolling out a number of new desks tailored for house and apartment. British manufacturer Thelermont Hupton's latest, the Farm, above, consists of individual saw horses made of solid ash that can be topped with a work surface of your choosing. Buy some additional horses as sculpture, and you've got yourself a stable. The company will begin taking orders soon for delivery starting in January, a spokeswoman said. Keep an eye on the firm's website for pricing and availability.

For the stressed-out and overwhelmed, there is the piece of simple beauty to the right: the aptly named Covet desk by designer Shin Azumi.

The solid oak frame is open and airy while still providing a ledge for document boxes. A nicely angled drawer on the right provides a tad more stealth storage. London-based Case Furniture started selling Covet in September for 1,025 British pounds, or about $1,600.

Keep reading for more noteworthy designs — practical workhorses, budget buys and some inspired statements against cubicle conformity ...

Pro Portfolio: A Spanish remodel in Santa Monica

Architect: Deborah Teltscher, (310) 991-3719, djteltscher@gmail.com

Lansdcape designer: Katherine Glascock

Location: Santa Monica

Goals: To add a second story, a home office with a separate entrance and an outdoor play area.

Architect's description: The existing one-story house was a small (1,944-square-foot) Spanish-style single-family home built in 1942. The rectangular lot slopes about six feet from the street to a rear alley and is next to a Rite-Aid drugstore parking lot. The challenge was to add a second story, an office with a separate patient entrance for the husband, who is a psychiatrist and sees patients at home, and to create a safe outdoor play space for the couple's two children, screening them from view of the patients and the parking lot next door.

The design includes a new front entry hall; a reworked kitchen/family/dining room; a home office for the wife, a physician; two children's rooms with shared bath; and guest room/bath upstairs.

The existing master suite was remodeled and enlarged to include a walk-in closet, window seat/ dressing area and a domed ceiling. The existing detached garage was demolished and a new garage was added at the alley, with a new basement underneath and the office for the husband on top.  With the additions, the home now totals 5,250 square feet. To see more photos, click to the jump ...

The Deal: Herman Miller furniture 15% off in nationwide sale running through June 14

Save 15% off all Herman Miller designs in a nationwide sale running through Monday. 

Discounted items include office furnishings, such as the hugely popular Aeron desk chairs, as well as home décor by Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson and Isamu Noguchi.

To give you an idea what a 15% discount really means when it comes to your favorite pieces: The iconic Eames leather lounge chair and ottoman (pictured), normally $3,699, are reduced to $3,145. The walnut stools, also Eames and normally $829, are on sale for $705. The elliptical coffee table, regularly $649, is now $551.

Here is a list of Herman Miller retailers.

-- Lisa Boone

Photo: Herman Miller

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The Deal: Thomas Paul's $10 paper Lollipop mouse pad at Anthropologie

This eye-catching Lollipop mouse pad from textile designer Thomas Paul might brighten your desk and your day.

Composed of 50 sheets of heavy paper you can tear off, the design can be used as a notepad as well as a rest for your mouse. It measures 9 by 7 inches and is available in a bold orange print at Anthropologie. At $10, it costs significantly less than the designer's popular line of pillows, which normally sell for about $100 apiece.

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credit: Anthropologie

Made in California: Wallter's new key and mail rack

You'll never lose your keys again with this handy new key rack from the Bay Area design firm Wallter. 

The powder-coated steel shelf is a great space-saving solution; it keeps paper clutter of all sorts off the floor or  entryway table.

The key rack measures 3.75 by 5.5 inches and has a 1-inch-deep shelf for daily mail or Netflix returns. Despite the cutout key design, the hook is good for more than keys. It'll hold a purse, dog leash or jacket.

It's available only in black and costs $23. To purchase, click here.

-- Lisa Boone

Become a fan: For daily design headlines and sales alerts, click to our Facebook page.

Photo credit: Wallter

The Deal: Sweet sofa savings during Plushpod clearance sale

The Beverly Boulevard store Plushpod, which carries Blu Dot, Fatboy and Magis products along with its own lines of contemporary home furnishings, is selling off its floor models and excess inventory to make room for spring arrivals. Discounts range from 20% to 80% on in-stock furniture, rugs and accessories. New orders will be discounted 10%. 

The sofa selections and savings are sweet. The Frank sectional, a Plushpod design, is modern and muscular in microsuede with steel legs and arms that are nearly a foot wide. Originally $3,450, it is marked down 40% to $2,070.

For tighter budgets -- and people who have overnight guests -- here are two options from Blu Dot. The Flat Out, show at top, is an armless divan that folds down to a full size sleeping surface -- ideal for a home office that doubles as guest quarters. It sits on stainless steel legs and has cross-stitched embroidery where tuft buttons normally go. Listed at $1,099, it's now $824.25, a 25% reduction. 

For a sophisticated design that's more suitable for a living room, there is Blu Dot's 80-inch-long One Night Stand, right. 

It has a similarly slim silhouette, but with arms and pillows. Remove the back cushions, flip the seat forward and it becomes a queen size mattress, as shown, below right. It's currently discounted 20%, from $1,799 to $1439.20.

Quantities are limited, and the sale ends when the merchandise runs out.

Plushpod, 8406 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles; (323) 951-0748 or www.plushpod.com.

-- David A. Keeps

Become a fan: Follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/latimeshome.

Photos: Plushpod.com

The story behind CB2's Bobby table and Shop chest

Here's a peek behind the curtain of how furniture chains operate. Although most have on-staff designers, much of what you see in their catalogs and stores are simply basic pieces manufactured overseas and given custom finishes.

Happily, some home decor stores have begun to work with American designers, including a few in Los Angeles. Urban Outfitters, for instance, recently collaborated with the Millwork Group, which licensed Alexander Girard designs to create a collection of home textiles.

CB2, the modern offshoot of Crate & Barrel, is producing designs by Mash Studios founder and owner Bernard Brucha.The first two pieces include the 6-foot Bobby dining table, above, which derives its name from the bobby-pin iron legs. It debuted in late 2009.

The Shop chest, right, hit CB2 stores and catalogs last month. It is clearly an homage to industrial red Craftsman tool cabinets. The minimalist storage unit has recessed finger pulls under each drawer, a signature in Mash Studios' cabinets. It sits on slim recessed metal legs, an element that Brucha also employs in his new PCH series collection.

In  contrast to Mash Studios' locally made, hand-finished, solid wood collections, however, both CB2 pieces are manufactured outside the U.S. and made from wood composites with lacquer finishes. But at $399 each, they offer well-considered design and high style at low prices. 

-- David A. Keeps

Become a fan: Join our Facebook page for home and design.

Photo credits: CB2 

The Deal: Mash Studios sale on LAXseries furniture

Designer Bernard Brucha's dilemma is your opportunity. "I am running out of room for all our prototypes and samples," says the owner of Mash Studios and creator of the solid walnut LAXseries furniture line. 

To clear out some space, Brucha is hosting a studio sample sale that runs Thursday to Saturday. Pieces from the LAXseries collection and his new solid teak PCHseries beds will be reduced  50% to 70%. Among the steals: A slim wall-mounted desk in solid walnut, right, will be $370, and a low, 23-inch-square side table with a nifty cord-concealing design will be $175.

The event will also provide a peek at Brucha's latest designs, including his first upholstered pieces -- the modular seating group, shown above. 

"I went to buy a sofa for my own home and found the existing designs to be very dull, like having a gray elephant in your room," he says.

His solution: a sleek, low-slung and easy-to-move trio -- ottoman, armless two-seater and one-arm seat -- that can be configured in a variety of ways to suit spacious homes or cozy apartments. 

Balanced on a solid red oak plinth base, the LAXseries sofa features feather-and-down-filled cushions upholstered in solids, stripes and, as shown at right, a jazzy mix of both fabrics that Brucha calls Transition. The three-piece sectional is available by order from Mash Studios for $3,975. Prices for custom fabrics vary.

Mash Studios, 12705 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles; (310) 313 4700 or www.mashstudios.com. The sale begins with a party on Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m., and continues Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

-- David A. Keeps

Photo credits: Bernard Brucha for Mash Studios

It's a cubicle Christmas: Holiday decor made easy and cheap with borrowed office supplies

Whether you work in a cubicle farm or at your desk at home, the inspiration for crafty holiday decorating is all around you. Pushpins, rubber bands, staples, paper goods and even padded shipping envelopes can be twisted and trimmed with creativity. Here are five simple projects to brighten your workplace.  How you acquire the supplies is your own business.

File under “creative”: For the tree pictured at right, take a heavyweight hanging file folder (we used a classic dark green one) and lightly trace the shape of a tree.  Make sure  the trunk is fat and the lowest branch also touches the bottom. Trim your file folder and you will have two identical trees.

Locate and mark the centers of the trees (vertically and horizontally). On tree No. 1, cut a vertical slit from the bottom of the trunk to your mark.  On tree No. 2, cut a vertical slit from the top of the tree down to your mark. Slide the two pieces together at a 90-degree angle. Viewed from above, this notch-joinery technique should produce an X-shaped tree that stands on its own. We crowned ours with a red pencil eraser and decorated it with bulbs made of thumbtacks. 

Fruitful thinking: In a variation of a favorite holiday pomander — the fragrant orange studded with cloves — substitute rubber bands for ribbons and pushpins for cloves. The orange is wrapped in a colorful plaid pattern, with the vertical bands layered at the bottom and top. For the red apple, clear pushpins and a paper clip transform fruit into hanging ornament. And instead of setting out a bowl of Granny Smith apples — a decorator trick that has become a cliché — stud them with colorful round-headed map pins.

More ingenious uses of office supplies after the jump ...