Get the Look: My Back to School Supplies

Post sponsored by Wayfair. They came up with the back-to-school concept, but the content is all me.

I always considered back-to-school the best time of year, even when I was a kid, and later a teenager. Even in high school  I’d itch for homework, buying standardized test books to keep me busy. I realize that sounds incredibly nerdy, but I had a job, and a boyfriend, and friends, I swear. I still get excited when continuing ed catalogs come in the mail, but alas, my school days are over.

I don’t really need to buy school supplies for the kids, since their schools provide pretty much everything they need, but that doesn’t stop me. When retailers break out the crayon and glue stick displays in August  I get giddy. I’ve always had a well-stocked desk and still do. (And a back up supply closet.) I keep a designated bin of stuff for the boys, but that doesn’t stop them from raiding my shelves. My husband thinks I’m a little whacky with my inexplicable possessiveness over scissors;  it’s one of my quirks.

Although I have a firm no paper rule (everything gets photographed and filed electronically, I still keep a paper calendar. I use the monthly At-A-Glance calendars which I fill in and color-code by activity. (Green for work deadlines, red for birthdays, turquoise for my appointments, purple for the kids, yellow for days off, etc.);I have a silly attachment to see through fluorescent highlighters and can’t pass up a good set of markers. I even use White-Out.

Last fall I started a consistent exercise program, Skyping with my frriend Sarah (search Sarah John Fitness on FB) for personal core training twice per week, and her friend Kristy another two times weekly for yoga. I’m currently on hiatus (we’re all moms, hip hopping around for the summer), but am eager to get back into a routine. It’s time to upgrade to an  extra thick yoga mat (I have knobby knees). I love the tall glass water bottles with wooden lids too, even though my husband finds them annoyingly tippy in the fridge.

Finally, extra iPhone chargers. Although I try to keep mine put at my desk, it sometimes disappears after smaller people in the house “borrow” it, having bent their own into oblivion. You can suffer through back-to-school season at big box stores or you can order everything online fromfrom StyleCarrot partner Wayfair. Here are my 15 must-have for me back-to-school supplies.

Modern Desk Accessories And School Supplies

S H O P P I N G

Acrylic Tape Dispenser

2 Pentel Fine Point Color Pens

3 Fiskars Recycled Titanium Softgrip Scissors

4 Liquid Highlighters

5 At-A-Glance Monthly Planner

Hand Stop Bookend

7 Plank Table Lamp

8 Retro Stripes Laptop Sleeve

9 Charger for iPhone 5

10 Areaware Alarm Docking Station for iPhone 5

11 GoFit Printed Yoga Mat

12 Polka Dot Glass Water Bottle with Wood Lid

13 Super Strong Cube Magnets

14 David Weeks Ursa the Bear Figurine

15 Cork Yoga Blocks

Sourcing It: 42 Bookends

Following up on yesterday’s painted bookshelves post, it seemed like a good time to run this. When I put this together a few weeks ago, I had just spent the weekend clearing off our living room bookshelves. Not clearing them of books, but the way too many paintings that are stacked three deep, and vases, and magazines that need filing, and the Swedish Lily candlesticks I keep buying on eBay, and so on. I don’t really need bookends, since I have so many books they go from one end to the next, but I’m often tempted by them design-wise. Here’s an array of bookends both functional and beautiful.

S H O P P I N G

1 Sheep Bookend by Zuny, $56 each at Emmo Home.
2 Vintage Jenfred-Ware Brass Bookend by Ben Seibel, $125 at Unica Home.
3 Red Signal Magnetic Bookends, $28 at Chiasso.
4 White Maude Bookends, $39.95 at CB2.
5 Jonathan Adler Dachshund Bookends, $150 at Jonathan Adler.
6 Wood Bottle Bookends, $100 at Uncommon Goods.
7 Indice Bookends by Hiroaki Watanabe, $24 at MoMA Store.
8 Carmen Shoe Bookend by Nima Oberoi for Lunare, $100 at The W Hotels Store.
9 Zack Atlas Bookend, $49.99 at Wayfair.
10 Green/Blue Bookends by Archimede Seguso, $6,500 at BG Galleries.
11 House Bookend, $14.99 at The Container Store.
12 Balloon Dog Bookend by IMM Living, $40 at SFMOMA Museum Store.
13 Stacked Bricks Bookends by Gluekit, $20 at Supermarket.
14 Lemon Elephant Bookshelf by Dwell Studio, $124 at Dwell Studio.
15 Alessi Girotondo Bookend by King Kong, $61 at AllModern.
16 IMAX Vintage Camera Bookends, $59.99 at Wayfair.
17 Pecan and Salvaged Steel Umasi Bookends, $125 each at Umasi, Etsy.
18 Powder Coated Steel Bookends, £3 each at Jasper Morrison Shop.
19 Carl Aubock Bookend Pairs, $625 at Lawson-Fenning, 1st Dibs.
20 Architectural Pottery X/O Bookends by Vessel, $190 at YLiving.
21 Turquoise Agate Bookends, $41.06 at Crystal Age.
22 Knowledge in the Brain Bookends by Karim Rashid, $255 at LA Phil Store.
23 Turquoise Foo Dog Bookend, $119 at Kristy Lee Interiors.
24 Chrome Rollerstop Bookend by Harry Allen, $190 at Greener Grass Design.
25 Coral Bookends by Spisani, $365 at Barneys New York.
26 Petrified Wood Bookends, $148 at Anthropologie.
27 Tan Leather Hippo Bookend by Zuny, $49 at Klassik Living.
28 Patio Stainless Steel Bookends by Blomus, $44 at Gracious Home.
29 Eno Book Ends by Eno & Klaus Hackl, $120 at A+R.
30 Eric Janssen Quote/Unquote Bookends at Eric Janssen.
31 Elephant Bookend by Eve Chang, $40 at MoMA Store.
32 Leather Dinosaur Bookend by Zuny, $67 at Elemental.
33 Orb Bookends, $28 at Chiasso.
34 Vintage Yellow Jack Bookend, $315 at eBay.
35 Bird’s Foot Bookends by Tetsutaro Nakabayashi, $60 at Unica Home.
36 Fornasetti ‘Viso’ Face Bookends, $270 at Barneys New York.
37 Red Alabaster Heart Bookends by Alabastri Ducesschi, $69.95 at B&N.
38 Assorted Mid-Century Bookend Pairs, $300 at Lawson-Fenning, 1st Dibs.
39 Carl Aubock Cast Bookends $595 at Barneys New York.
40 Jonathan Adler Teal Metal Hand Bookends, $9.06 at B&N.
41 White Owl Resin Bookends by Fringe Designs, $39.95 at B&N.
42 King & Queen Chess Bookends, £92.99 at Furniture and Interior Design.