I'll be honest: I don't eat at home too often. When I do, it's sort of an inhale-the-veggie-dumplings-over-the-garbage-can scenario—no wonder I see certain restaurant waitstaffs more often than I do my family—yet I hope to settle into a more domestic dining routine very soon. So what are the best options for an inexpensive table and chairs? Let's do a little mix-and-match roundup like they used to at Domino (loved those sections), because despite what Raymour and Flanigan might have you believe, coordinating "dinette sets" aren't all that stylish!

1. I'm loving West Elm's rustic Modern Farm Dining Table ($599): Looks like they caught on to Crate & Barrel's Big Sur moment and jettisoned the high price tag. I prefer the "natural" option and see it paired with a slick, modern chair ... just not any of the the ubiquitous Philippe Starck options. What about this honeycomb-esque Alchemia chair by Calligaris for $288.95? Looks sort of '60s-futurist, and I love the opaque red or black, but the clear versions have an unfortunate gummy shoe quality.

2. This Regan Dining Table from HomeDecorators ($419 for a 60-inch round, great for conversation) has a sort of Eames base with with a shiny white top. Why not break up those hard edges with a more feminine Louis XV-style side chair from Wisteria ($299)? As a general rule, French-y dining chairs like this one look best covered in a solid fabric like this tomato linen, or else a polished leather. Graphic stripes, geometrics, and florals tend to fight with the curvy lines and intricate carving.

3. For chic communal dining, why not try this watermelon Strut Table from Blu Dot (pictured, $699 for a 54-incher) paired with a tortoise-speckled bamboo bench from Pearl River ($45.50-59.50)? I'd make a cushion for the bench in an ultrasuede to match or in another bright color with contrast piping. Cheery, sturdy, and unexpected for a breakfast room.

Tags: budget combos, dining chairs, dining tables, mix and match, West Elm

Yes, I'm referencing the Isley Brothers' slow jam sampled by Notorious B.I.G. on "Big Poppa" AND by Gwen Stefani on her song "Luxurious," which included the  following ears-filling-up-with-blood lyrics:"We're luxurious, like Egyptian cotton/We're so rich in love, we're rolling in cashmere."

How charmingly 2005 of her. So why, just yesterday, did a flack for [company name redacted] call our office pimping 100 percent cashmere sheets? Seriously? Amanda inquired as to pricing: A king set retails for close to $5,600. Crikey! Now, I'm all about pleasing the senses, and picking and choosing one's indulgences. In fact, I quite agree with this quote from Frank Lloyd Wright (spotted on the wall of Club Monaco, of all places, while I was fondling their cashmere cardigans): "Give me the luxuries of life and I willingly do without the necessities."

Holler, Frankie! But who right now, besides perhaps the Sultan of Brunei, is dropping close to $6k on one set of sheets? Promise I'm not jealous, just genuinely curious. Even our big-balling clients would balk.

So, let's talk about bedding criteria: My main one is natural fibers (cotton). I've slept on Bed Bath & Beyond's Hotel Collection (in solid pale blue, pictured) for five years,  and have never awakened chafed or wishing for 200 more threads per inch. Or whatever that means—I've seen "experts" on television testify that thread count has relatively little to do with comfort. I like the feel of jersey or that beech fiber alternative, but it always pills and does connote "college dorm." Silk or satin sheets seem apropos for Hugh Hefner AND itchy. Polyester is just slap out of the question. From a design point of view, I aspire to own a set of triple-line embroidered Schweitzers and weep because Williams-Sonoma Home discontinued their Greek Key bedding ... but a $300 duvet cover is still out of my budget.

So tell me, are you a true player when buying the sheets, or just between them? Or both?

Tags: cashmere, jumping the shark, luxuries, sheets, thread count, Williams-Sonoma Home

Decorno made an interesting observation whilst writing about fall's slate of new design books (my forever addiction), specifically Italian Touch:

"Fashion people have sexier homes than interior design people, so that should be fun to flip through."

I agree, and it got me thinking about other design-y folk and what their houses usually look like. Decorators, if less sexified, certainly use their homes as idea laboratories and their professional calling cards. Except perhaps yours truly! A recent visitor to my work-in-progress apartment (with all contents STILL shoved into the bedroom for my epic floor-painting project) asked what I do for a living. After my sheepish response I got, "Well, you obviously don't take your work home with you!" OUCH.

Yet architects—don't even get me started—are notorious for living in crappy, undesigned spaces. Probably because 99 percent of them are so overworked they barely make it home and so underpaid that they can't afford to reconfigure their hideous breakfast bar situation. Depressing.

So what about the rest of the work force? I don't picture most nurses living in something out of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. But I have met writers with books wall-to-wall, financial dudes with flat screen TVs in the loo (tuned to CNBC), lawyers with framed etchings of Faust (ha) ... but a MoMA curator with no art ? Say it ain't so.

Anyway, question: Which of your friends has the coolest house/apartment, and what do they do for a living? How much does interior style reflect one's vocation? Tell me there's an insurance salesman out there who lives like the Duke of Windsor!

Tags: architects, decorating shame, fashion people, jobs, normal people, personal style

Ah, college. Whether Bacchanalian fantasy or ivory tower tedium (guess which was my experience), these years usually share one thing in common: utterly crappy living conditions. At least for freshmen. Seriously, twin beds and communal bathrooms? No, thanks. But I love a challenge, and an 8'x10' room with a suite of yellow oak furniture certainly qualifies as such. Here are my tips for maximizing your scholarly style without breaking that beer budget:

- Paint: Not every dorm allows it, and most require painting the room back to white or cream at the end of your stay, but when else can you justify living in a symphony of fuchsia? College is about expanding your mind AND your decorating horizons, so hark back to that favorite color from kindergarten and go crazy. Invite new friends from orientation week over for a painting party. But PLEASE no accent walls: They only make a small space feel smaller. Four walls in a latex high gloss will make quite a statement to those kids who brought every single Beanie Baby with them from home.

- Fabric: You can take it with you. By that I mean fabric—duh—not lessons from Plato's Republic. Sites like ReproDepot and Fabric.com offer interesting patterns in every style from mod to Vera Bradley for as little as $5 per yard. For a minimal investment, you can make your room feel like the maharajah's tent (by tacking gathered bits of lightweight fabric at the ceiling with a stapler or Velcro), only rip it all down in the spring to repurpose for your sophomore splendor. The less ambitious might attempt a wall of fabric behind a headboard or stretch a favorite print over readymade bars.

- Repetition: For me, small space inspiration begins and ends with department store windows. Master window dressers like David Hoey and Simon Doonan know how to create visual impact in close quarters, and lesson number one is repetition. If fall fashion was having an Ernestine moment, I can guarantee you'd see a Bergdorf's vignette with 200 vintage telephones. Same rules apply in a dorm. Even for the ubiquitous band poster ... why not group all those MGMT graphics and mag covers together on one wall with an even 2-inch border between them comme ça? Or go to the copy store and experiment with xerography (a hyperpretentious term I learned in college): Enlarge a favorite image 1000 percent and paper one wall with 8.5''x11'' black-and-white photo tiles. I also like simple geometric decals, but again, only if they fill the entire wall.

- Furniture: Probably the most difficult variable in the dorm room equation. If you're not gutsy enough to put the standard-issue fugliness in storage like this kid (witness the current pinnacle of dorm decoration!), I say do your best to hide it with fabrics (skirted tables, makeshift headboard slipcovers, and the like) or just create diversions with artwork and rugs. There's another idea: Ikea offers so much fabulosity in this department, why not invest in a bunch of ten-dollar herringbone mats or a bold stripe to layer over the hideous dorm carpet? They'll travel to future rooms and first apartments ... studios that will cost your entire starting salary!

General advice: Go big, go bold, or go back home. Bring your own lights and change every bulb except for the one in your desk lamp to a 40 watt (or less) pink incandescent. You'll make more friends that way. Avoid cheesy sheer curtains or tab-top panels; try inexpensive bamboo blinds instead. Oh, and don't work too hard ... or maybe just stay in school until the recession's over. Heh.

Photograph of fuschia room by flickr user Jolante.

Tags: college, decor, dorm room decorating

So this weekend I rushed to see The September Issue, R.J. Cutler's delicious documentary on the personalities behind Vogue (the magazine, not the patterns company). A proper tagline might've been "Passive Aggression is Always in Fashion." Seriously, though, I left the theater re-inspired to decorate and decide what would fill my own fall decorating issue:

Tubular steel and cane: The combination of these two materials used to signify the worst of the 1970s, but the fickle finger of fashion has flicked my ears once again. Don't Marcel Breuer's "Cesca" chairs have a kind of Woody Allen-movie quality? Like that lovable, New York yuppie intellectual feeling in Hannah and Her Sisters, in which Dianne Wiest whines: " 'Where did April come up with stuff about Adolf Loos and terms like "organic form"? Well, naturally. She went to Brandeis.' " I could see myself in layers of tweeds a la Diane Keaton, pulling up one of these chairs to dine at a smoked mirror-top table. Quite spendy bought new, but they come up at flea markets and eBay all the time.

Africa: For me, the furniture and art of this rich continent have seemed at times both taboo and passé—a kind of insulting neo-primitivism or Peter Beard safari pastiche. But with the outrageous success of the North African-born Yves Saint Laurent's auction last February, I'm reminded that modern artists like Picasso and Fernand Leger turned traditional African masks into Cubist portraits, and suddenly all those noses on cheeks look fresh again. Also, 'round our office a birthing stool is the decorating accessory this season. Honest! Every room, especially those on par with YSL's decorator Jacques Grange's, needs something rough, low, and sculptural for balance.

Amethyst and other stones: When I was but a wee lad I collected all manner of stones ... my (bewildered?) pa even drove me to the mountains of North Carolina one year for my birthday to mine for rubies. Now don't I feel vindicated that gems and minerals have made a huge comeback in style circles? Rock crystal lamps like Anthro's (a whopping $2,200) combine Stevie Nicks mysticism with Big Sur crunchiness, but retailers are now mining amethyst (heh) for its purple power. And to my eye nothing goes better with purple than green, so pair it with malachite—not just for Russian oligarchs anymore!—like one of these faux finish tables from Global Views (pictured, $284 each).

Photograph of Anna Wintour by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images.

Tags: African art, decorating trends, fabrics, minerals, seating, the september issue, Yves Saint Laurent