Arlene Crooks-Best

Ar Works, established by artist Arlene Crooks-Best in 1988, is an interior decorating business which creates warm and inviting rooms for home and office, through the use of faux and painted finishes & canvases, hand painted furniture & floorcloths and textiles.

Arlene, originally from Windsor, Ontario now works in Stratford, Ontario where she resides with her family.

Her clients includes Balzac’s Coffee Roastery, Anything Grows, The Alexandra Spa and Inn, Avery House B&B, The Dressing Room, Victoria Costumier, The Arden Restaurant, The Stratford Festival Theatre Store, A.J. Jackson Construction, Belliveau Construction, & Royal LePage to name a few. Her work can be seen in homes across Canada .U.S.A. and Jamaica. You can also find her painted floorcloths in the book “Floorcloth Magic” by Lisa Curry Mair, published in 2001 by Storey Books. ( This book is available online from Chapters/Indigo or Amazon).

Arlene has been an active contributor as designer and artist for “The Stratford Designer Showcase Home” benefiting The Huron-Perth Lung Association.

Arlene has also been asked to teach and demonstrate the making of hand-painted floorcloths for the Gallery Stratford, The Stratford-Perth Museum, and the popular Handwerks Festival in Kitchener. Her original Balzac’s Coffee poster was featured in the March 2007 issue of American Vogue Magazine.

Arlene’s hand-painted furniture can be found in some of the best homes in Stratford.

Arlene is available for room and colour consultation, fabric selection for bedding and window treatments, furniture arrangement and shopping for furniture, accessories and finishes for all your home decorating challenges.

Selling your home? Arlene is also available for home staging & fluffing for creating that all-important first impression.

We will ship floorcloths, paintings and screens almost anywhere and will do interior decorating, faux finish work, murals and painted furniture within a reasonable distance of the Stratford area. If you live at a distance from Stratford please call us to inquire about murals, faux finishes or furniture painting.

Contact Arlene at 519- 271-5285, or by email