Extreme Makeover....

.... Dental Staff Lounge Edition! Pow! Kazam! After watching non-stop TLC and HGTV, we assailed the back room of the office. Previously, there was an old rectangular table and four metal deck chairs. Some old dishes. Various communal snacks were in an old Crest box with torn edges, while magazines were stacked on a ledge off to the side. The only decoration was a picture of a lighthouse. (A good picture, actually, but kind of lonely...not unlike actual lighthouses, I suppose.)

Sooooo.... Several hundred bucks at K-Mart, TJ Maxx, Marshalls etc later (oooh! Expense account! yay!) we had new dishes, some racks to organize them, lovely baskets to organize magazines, tea and the like, a new bulletin board (the old one was just a large piece of ceiling foam, I think, like you place around your fluorescent lights...) two paintings of butterflies, three plants (one hanging in the corner, natch), new curtains and a small area carpet to lighten up the industrial rug. The recycling (a cardboard box, appropriately enough, I guess) and the trash are now identical white receptacles with flip-up spring-loaded lids. I replaced the regular clock with a square wooden homemade, hand-painted clock, which was a gift from a denture patient at the non-profit. It features some geese flying over a wooded pond area, and is quite good considering the artist is 79, and suffers from COPD and emphysema.

Most importantly, the Off-Price Furniture store had a nice little table. Lightly stained, it has two small drop leaves and two chairs; the other two are en route. My colleague, Dr B, dropped by whilst we'd replaced just the table and called my cell enthusiastically.... I said, Oh, just you wait.

Photos are hopefully forthcoming!