I’ll bet if someone conducted a poll, they’d discover that people visit museums far more often than their own living rooms. In fact, living rooms belong in museums next to the dinosaurs. Art is great. But, no matter what kind of museum you’re in, whether its MOMA or the oddly alluring Mutter Museum, it’s the gift shop everyone really wants to see.

I was thinking about this the other day and was suddenly inspired. Since everyone loves a gift shop and will come up with any excuse to visit one, why not turn living rooms into gift shops? Reclaim unused square footage you’re already paying for, and make extra money and new friends all at the same time. I envision people on a lonely Saturday afternoon wandering down the street visiting all the local living rooms.

So how to you make your gift shop a destination? The competition could become vicious. There are lots of gift shops already out there. Once you’ve gone through all the junk in your closets and sold everything as vintage you’ve got to come up with new. I suggest some kick-ass t-shirts. Check out Custom Ink, an on-line t-shirt shop to create your own shirts with your own slogan. How about 201 Park St. - We’re Parallel? Get it - park? Maybe not. Next, a set of plastic place mats with various scenes of your home. Of course you need several styles of magnets - always a big seller. Time to get creative with plush toy versions of your family. Don’t forget the pets. Your family motto carved in wood? The ideas are endless. And best of all, to pass the time between customers you can move the TV back into the living room where it started out in the first place.