When I moved into a mid-century Midtown home two years ago, the kitchen ceiling was an immediate concern.

My husband and I were faced with a kitchen that was stuck somewhere between 1951 and 1975, with half-hearted remodeling attempts in between. After we removed a hideous standing bar with a grill that reached up to the kitchen ceiling, we were left with a huge, unsightly gash up above.

We considered repairing and repainting it, but, in the end, rather than try to make the ceiling disappear, we made a feature of it.

We spent around $900 on patterned 2-by-2-foot tin ceiling tiles that snap together and are attached by screws to the drywall. The tiles came from The American Tin Ceiling Co. in Brandenton, Fla. Installation took one day and we love the result. It's a conversation piece and looks like something out of a turn-of-the-century Parisian cafe.

DIY chains such as Home Depot began selling tin ceilings by special order last year. "It's decorative and it looks elegant," says Rick Cabrel, supervisor at the Home Depot at El Con Mall, who reports a lot of interest among homeowners and businesses.

"We finally reached a point where we couldn't stand it anymore," says Ann Markewitz of the clutter in her two-car garage.

She and partner Patricia Lindgren had turned it into a dumping ground for tools, cleaning supplies and out-of-season clothes.

Last summer the couple invested $2,100 in 6-foot-high built-in cabinets, a clothes closet and slatted walls (designed to hold pegs and hooks). The built-ins — one of them ventilated for fertilizer and compost — were worked around two existing work benches and a table.

Closet Trends completed the job in a day, but it took another three to sort through the stuff and reorganize it, says Markewitz, a management consultant and keen gardener.

So why are garages such a clutter zone? Cat Belue, design consultant with Closet Trends, says: "It's because it's such a huge space. It becomes a catch-all. If you don't have room in the closet for something you throw it in the garage."

When Garry Loucks and Janice Fischer `were looking for a quick fix for their home's flooring, they took a little-known route.

The couple's pet-grooming business, A Beauty Treat, happens to be next door to Aqua Solutions, a pool-equipment firm on West Prince Road that does a thriving trade in a service not even marketed by the company.

For as little as $2.50 a square foot, Aqua Solutions will install an acrylic flooring overlay that gives the look of tile, flagstone or concrete.

The product, made by Xcel Surfaces, was developed for pool decks and garages, but Aqua Solutions is now using it for interiors and patios. It's cheaper than tile or flagstone and just requires mopping with regular cleaning solutions, says Aqua Solutions concrete and decking specialist John Goodwin.

Loucks and Fischer had it installed in three rooms of their house and finished to look like saltillo tile at a cost of $5,000. Visitors don't know the difference, says Loucks. "We live with nine dogs so we needed to get the carpet out of the house. This comes out looking beautiful."

Installation involves cleaning and prep first, and also finishing, and takes two to three days for an interior.

Aqua Solutions will also replace deteriorating flooring — pieces of crumbling flagstone or damaged concrete, for example — and blend Xcel in with the color of the existing floor, says Goodwin.

• Contact: The American Tin Ceiling Co., 1-888-231-7500 or www.americantin ceilings.com.

• Or try this: Get the look of tin or copper with vinyl panels. Sold at Home Depot and Lowe's, they come in assorted finishes and can be installed with double-sided tape or glue. Cost: An 18-by-24-inch panel costs around $18 and trim is less than $1.

• Contact: Closet Trends, 325-1880.

• Or try this: If you've run out of floor space, look above you. Storage platforms such as HyLoft (around $50 for 45-by-45-inch shelf) suspend from the ceiling for large stowaway items. Find platforms at DIY chains or at www.hyloft.com.

• Contact: Aqua Solutions, 408-0500.

• Or try this: Could vinyl flooring be shrugging off its cheap and nasty image? Europeans are filling their houses with look-alike wood or tile in vinyl, and companies like Armstrong, Mannington and Congoleum are supplying similar products here, in sheet or easy-lay vinyl tile. Prices start at around $2 per square foot. Home Depot and Lowe's sell Armstrong (1-800-233-3823 or www. armstrong.com). For suppliers of Mannington and Congoleum, contact the companies directly: Mannington, 1-800-482-0466 or www.mannington.com, Congoleum, 1-800-274-3266 or www.congoleum.com.