Project: Transform Prof. van den Toorn's office from a bland and uninspiring space to a nice, comfortable, and enjoyable place in which to do work. Malia was the master designer and coordinator.

Step 1: Take out unnecessary trash and remove all furniture from the office so that we can repaint the walls. Lots of papers were thrown out (it's all Gordon's fault if any of those were important), books reorganized, and furniture cleaned. The carpet, after a good dusting, was allowed to stay.

Step 2:With everything taken out of the room, it was time to paint! But first, paint prep. Lots of vacuuming and sweeping. Make sure all surfaces are mostly clean. Here Gordon and Anita exercise some quality control.

Step 3: Luke takes unnecssary "artsy" shot to show that the paint is being prepared. Actually, this was taken after painting but it does show the implements involved. So there.

Step 4:Painting starts in earnest, with the ladder necessary for both getting at the high places and for making Gordon seem like he's 8 feet tall when in reality, he's only about 6 foot 5.

Step 4 continued: The walls and lower areas get a quick sweep with the rollers. We all admire the beauty of the paint color (something about crunchy toffee) that Malia has picked out. Can't wait for the results!

Step 5: With the room painted, we move big furniture back in and put the carpet down as well. The desk is moved towards the window for more natural light, the piano opposes the desk, and cushions are put on the floor for Dr. van den Toorn, who has some back problems (and so often is more comfortable lying down on the rug). It's starting to look really good!

Step 7: Decoration. This is a cluster of Stravinsky-related pictures: sketches of and by stravinsky, paintings of Stravinsky, and a photograph of Stravinsky. We also added a San Francisco poster, a self-portrait of Schoenberg (scary!), a hanging dartboard, plants, and a nice lamp on the desk. All beautiful!

Step 7: The big reveal! We all gathere in front of Dr. van den Toorn's office and revealed the transformation. He was very happy with the results and completely surprised by the drastic transformation (wish I had a before picture). A bottle of Champagne topped off the occasion, with everyone involved satisfied and happy.