The garbage-infested streets of Toronto weren’t looking too pretty last month, so when we spotted a section of the road with a spray-painted perforated yellow square encasing the words, ‘On August 10, any space can be beautiful,’ we initially wondered if that was the day the city strike would be over and all the garbage cleared away.

With no branding in the square, the only clue to what it all meant was a website, AnySpaceCanBeBeautiful.ca. We rushed to the nearest computer and typed it in. Mystery solved! It’s an ad for a contest promoting the new 2010 Ikea catalogue. The website is full of profiles of rooms in dire need of a makeover. Visitors can cast their votes for which lucky homeowner will get a chance to beautify their space, or enter their own hideous room for a shot at $15,000 in Ikea swag or other prizes. Excuse us, we have to go take pictures of our kitchen…