SHADY BEHAVIOR

A recent client of mine, in an attempt to dress up an ugly situation, pulled an old bookshelf out of storage (once painted in blue and red crackle paint), threw a coat of fresh white paint on it and plopped it in their kitchen as a catch-all for junk. When asked my opinion, I told them it looked like they'd just put lipstick on a pig (a term, by the way, not political in origin but slang for when someone tries to dress something up but it is still that something). Applauding their efforts to bring about change for their messy behavior, I showed them a quick, easy way to dress it up (keeping their conservative budget in mind). Painting the bookshelf the same color as the kitchen walls (a creamy yellow in the example above) helps the bookshelf blend in, not stand out like a sore thumb as it did when painted white. I then headed off to Home Depot where we purchased a roller window shade and asked the associates to cut the shade to the width of our bookshelf. I placed pens, pencils, stamps and post-it notes in baskets and hid the other bills and junk on the shelf behind the roller shade. While they attempted change, it just needed a little more help to bring it home.

TIME TO COMPLETE TASK: One Hour

COST: Roller shade $7.99 all other items found in home

STRESS LEVEL: Shading the mess: LOW