LIGHTEN UP!

A high strung New York housewife was in desperate need of a few sips of a Manhattan when I met her for the first time at her Upper East side apartment last November. Troubled by the chaos on the corner of Wall and Main streets, she was forced to trim some fat off her hefty design budget. In a good market the bid for the room transformation would have been $10,000 but dark days call for light spending so I promised to make it happen for under $1,000. My pansy-scheme for her room: lighten it up! With her teenage boy off to college she wanted a bright, comfortable room where she could escape the world and feel like a little girl again. I found a fantastic deal on a trundle bed on Craigs list, spray painted it white with high-gloss furniture paint and created storage space underneath by placing casters on drawers from an old dresser. For an inexpensive vanity I used an existing side table (in the top photo it's buried under a pile of dirty t-shirts), painted it white and with double-stick Velcro, hung cheap curtains I picked up at Pier 1. With a few lamps from West Elm and sheets from Target we were done before the market closed on day two! Final tally: $750.00.

TIME TO COMPLETE TASK: Two Days

COST: $750.00 (bed was $350, paint $25, casters $5.95, accessories and sheets $370)

STRESS LEVEL: Seeing the light at the end of a dark room: LOW