Grab Bag: Who Says You Can't Play Ball in the House?

1) Paddle Sorts
Choosing between a dining table and a pingpong table was a hard one. And though you went with the former, you can now have the latter, thanks to Umbra’s Pongo ($40, Organize.com). Its weighted tension net lets you set up on any flat surface (The International Table Tennis Federation insists it be 274 cm by 152.5 cm, but who will know?) and get serving and volleying right away.

2) Pattern Cognition
Print shoes or blouses dress up spring wardrobes. So it stands to reason that a patterned chair could do the same for your den or bedroom. These new flowery models by DwellStudio for Target ($130, Target.com) come in hip color combos (the old standard blue-and-brown, plus its fresh usurper orange-and-brown). Tossed into a room with plain-colored furniture (a leather sofa, metal tables), they’ll be anything but wallflowers.

3) Going Fash
Piperlime.com, which we call “The Giver of Goodies” and our spouse calls “The Taker of Money,” just launched another feature to work out our Visa. The site tapped top women’s designers such as Rachel Pally, Beyond Vintage and Ella Moss to do exclusive-to-the-site pieces. Among the scores: a striped Pally tee ($87) and Cynthia Vincent’s downright Woodstockian dress (shown, $196).

4) Wok to Remember
Let the pot call the kettle black. While they work out their issues, we’ll be using our new Breville 14-inch Hot Wok ($130, Amazon.com). The plug-in gadget lets you cauterize spring veggies, deep-fry spring rolls or simmer soups. It’s easy enough to use that you’ll be tempted to make YouTube videos of your fake Asian cooking show (no laboring over a stove or fretting over flubbed lines!). Just flip the dial (it has 15 heat settings), and then get frying or steaming almost immediately.

5) Laundry Listless?
That Adams Morgan place you rented is killer, but you sacrificed en-suite laundry because, “Oh, it won’t be too bad.” But visiting a 100-year-old basement to wash towels is tedious. Instead, think Parisian, and give not-very-dirty textiles a French bath in Crabtree & Evelyn’s lavender linen spray ($13, Crabtree-evelyn.com). The sweet smell can be sprayed on pillows and sheets or added to your iron to freshen up clothes.

Written by Express’ Jennifer Barger and Katherine Boyle