A BLANK CANVAS

I've been a busy bee the past week helping a recently divorced bachelor find a new pad in the city. After living in a large country home, he was less than thrilled with the idea of down sizing to a small city apartment. I assured him, however, that regardless of size, a new home means a new beginning and a blank canvas to do whatever you'd like. Because money is as tight as his ex wife's last face lift, I showed him a few tricks of my trade. For example, I staged a home recently for the real estate market and the loft-like walls were bare naked, pale white and lifeless. To jazz things up a bit I grabbed a blank canvas I found in our basement and slapped some paint on it. Voila. Art! Back to my bachelor and his pad.. to stimulate his naked walls I took a canvas and wrapped it with fabric I found in our attic (if you don't have such treasures hiding in your home, an art store is the perfect place for a canvas and Ikea sells fabric starting at $1.99/yard!). For a headboard I wrapped an old door in velvet curtains I bought in the AS IS section at Ikea, cheap coasters for his bar were created by purchasing individual tiles at the Home Depot for $1.99 each and to brighten up his tiny, dark kitchen I purchased a string of white Christmas lights and attached them to the under side of his cabinets with cable wire tacks. His wife might have emptied his pockets, but I filled his drawers with fun, exciting things!

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: Any size canvas, fabric to fit (like wrapping a gift) and staple gun

TIME TO COMPLETE TASK/COST: Five minutes/$0

STRESS LEVEL: Making a bad pad pretty rad: LOW