Someone recently asked me for top tips for decorating on a budget.... ask and you SHALL receive!

(1) Change the hardware.  Pulls, knobs, levers, cabinets..... update an old dresser with "crystal" knobs from World Market.  Improve your kitchen cabinets with wrought iron pulls from Lowes.

(2) Paint.  Paint your porch ceiling Sky Blue.  Paint the back of your book shelf Chartreuse.  Paint your old Ikea dresser black and add green glass knobs.  Pick up the brush and get going!

(3) Reuse.  My favorite candle holders are blue and white porcelain tequila bottles.  Really.  I've taken really decorative frames, with awful 'artwork" in them and used them with mirrors.  Pretty ribbons make great napkin rings.  Cheap fun cocktail rings  or bracelets work too!!!!

(4) Paint (#2. Again) the inside of your lampshades gold.  Or red.  Or black.

(5) Can't afford a new sofa?  Bet you can buy new pillows for the whole living room without breaking the bank.  Buy three different patterns in the same color family and dispense them throughout your living room.  Target has a great pillows as does World Market and Home Goods.

(6)  Make a BIG impact at Christmas buy using the same color scheme throughout.  Silver decorations on the tree, silver balls as a centerpiece, silver tinsel wrapped around your napkins for the holiday dinner.

(7) Bring the outdoors in.  Want a pretty table?  Down the center of your dining room table, line up plain old terra cotta pots of herbs.  On each plate, lay a sprig of an herb.  I like alternating basil and rosemary.

(8) Make a Focus Wall of photos.  Use with all Black & Whites or Color and make sure you use the same color frames for all (all Gold, all black, etc).

(9) Line the back of a bookcase, built in or not, with vibrant wallpaper.  Ask your local design shop for discontinued books.  Many motifs are carried in different colors; use  a different color of the same paper for each shelf.

(10)  Redesign, without spending a dime.  Take everything out of the room.  Everything.  Slowly, bring it back in.  Try that chair in a different corner.  Maybe you never needed that table at all.  Sometimes, the best design comes from the best editing.

Bon Chance!