You can perk up your home décor without spending a lot of cash. Here’s how.

If you had a close friend or relative who needed a lawyer, and you could not handle the case yourself, to whom would you refer them?

“Design Hell,” featuring the works of Kansas City sculptor Jesse Small, will open Feb. 4 at Moberg Gallery on Ingersoll.  Small, who also has a studio in China, fashions steel, porcelain, plastic, LEDs and other materials into contemporary sculptures that include chandeliers, vanities and figures. You can see his work any time at the entrance to the YMCA Healthy Living Center in Clive, where Small used galvanized steel to create 12- to 18-foot-tall sculptures that look like a canopy of trees. The Moberg exhibit will run for six weeks; for more information, call 279-9191 or go to www.moberggallery.com.  Pictured: “Bundle of Joy,” plastic and LEDs, by Jesse Small.

A new club combines two of our passions: books and art. The Art Center Book Club will meet at the museum 6:30-8 p.m. the second Wednesday of each month, starting Feb. 9. You’ll enjoy a guided discussion, plus you’ll have time to stroll some of the galleries with other book club participants.  The book for the February as well as the March 9 meeting is “Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa” (pictured) by R.A. Scotti. Additional upcoming books and meeting dates: “The Success and Failure of Picasso” by John Berger, April 13; “An Object of Beauty: A Novel,” by Steve Martin, May 11 and June 8. The book group, facilitated by Art Center docent Kim Finley, is free and open to members. For more information, e-mail bookclub@desmoinesartcenter.org or call Jill Featherstone, museum education director, at 271-0317.

Looking for a Louis XV fire screen? Or perhaps a French-Canadian salt box or a 19^th-century Tuscan chair? If so, head to Omaha this weekend for the popular Antique & Garden Show at Lauritzen Gardens. The show features 30 of the nation’s top antiques dealers, who will offer furniture, fine art and decorative pieces from the late 17^th century through the 20^th century from America, Asia and Europe. There also will be garden tours, appraisal clinics, speakers and educational lectures. Hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sept. 24-25 and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 26. For more information, visit www.omahaantiqueshow.org.

artstop, an annual celebration of the visual and performing arts in Des Moines, just keeps getting bigger and better. This year’s event, Sept. 24-25, includes 41 venues and a host of special programs and performances, such as special exhibitions, artist demonstrations and live music. Sample the offerings at museums, galleries, performance centers and artists’ studios in the six participating districts: Historic East Village, Historic Valley Junction, Roosevelt Cultural District, Court Avenue, Ingersoll Avenue and Western Gateway. On Saturday, you can hop on a free bus to go from district from district. Hours are 5-9 p.m. Sept. 24 and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 25. For more information, go to www.artstopinfo.com or www.facebook.com/facebook. And check out the complete print guide in the current issue of dsm! Pictured: “La Pintara Mexicana,” by Remarqued Alvar, lithograph, at Kavanaugh Art Gallery. 

Read more of the interview with the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa.

Check out more red favorite finds.

More great gloves found at local shops. To view the story, click here.

Read an excerpt from the new book by local authors Gene Erb and Ann DeWolf Erb.

Read more of the interview with the CEO of Iowa Public Radio.

More people who have their own sense of style.

Julie Gammack’s “Recipe for a Women’s Potluck.”

To read the story on local male foodies, click here.

Recipes from Chuck Fuller and Johnny Danos.

Read poems by Leonard Bell and Jim Autry and listen to a reading by David Wolf.