Any Trading Spaces or HGTV addict out there knows Vern Yip and his clean designs. Now you have a chance to have him give your home office a $25,000 makeover. Enter by writing a 250-word essay talking about how technology can improve your life and office sitch; 10 finalists get a Microsoft software package. "I'm all about making spaces more usable and friendly, and more productive," says Yip. "[The home office] is no longer just a place where you go to pull up a recipe or find a movie time. They are real offices." For cubicle dwellers who don't work from home, here's a Yip tip: "The smaller the amount of space you have to work with, the more important it is that you take a hard line about what is necessary, and have just one or two things that are inspirational."In addition to judging the new Design Star debuting July 22 ("The talent this year is way over where it was last season!"), Yip has a new show, Deserving Design, premiering Sept. 12. "Every episode focuses on a person who is ...
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