Affordable home decorating allows for a creative mix of old with the new. Staying with the basics and a little imagination and you can have a stylish home on a budget.

• Work Your Plan

Classic furniture and accessories are often copied because good design will always stay current. Mix in well designed but inexpensive copies of an expensive item with antiques and better quality pieces for effective and affordable home decorating.

Wicker furniture is an excellent example of good design, that is actually borrowed from the past, giving a new home character.

Wicker and rattan are stylish, lightweight and practical and can be mixed in any room. A wicker trunk can be a coffee table, an end table, at the foot of a bed or in the mud room. And the best part? Hidden storage.

If you don't have a lot of furniture, move what you do have away from the walls. This will create a more intimate room arrangement.

One large and impressive piece is better than several small pieces, and will make the room appear larger and less crowded.

Affordable home decorating allows for negative space in the design of an interior, so edit your belongings if your room is crowded.

• The 3 R’s: Recondition, Reuse, and Recycle

Recycle older pieces and use in a new and different manner than the way it was originally intended.

Reuse furniture. The drawers and doors of a piece can be outfitted for modern application, like turning a dining room buffet into a media center.

If a piece of furniture has nice lines and good bones, but is badly scratched or the finish is bad, it can be stripped and reconditioned, or altered with paint or even fabric, and it saves the piece from the landfill.

Visit estate auctions, yard sales and flea markets for undiscovered treasures.

Thrift stores and consignment shops are becoming more stylish and fun to peruse. You never know what you might find. Keep it in the community by visiting the stores in the neighborhood.

Remember too, the good will and the salvation army stores.

• Color Your World

Changing the color of your rooms with paint is the most affordable home decorating "secret" and cost effective way to achieve a dramatic difference in the look of any space.

Consider doing the painting yourself with paint that is low in volatile organic compounds. (VOC’s)

If your room is sparsely furnished, color will add visual interest.

Divide a wall horizontally with two colors to give the illusion of a chair rail.

Painting doesn't have to end with the walls. Paint the floor either solid or in a pattern to create drama to the room.

Do you like the look of wall paper but not ready for the expense or commitment? Stencils are an affordable home decorating detail of an ornate wall covering.

Black used as an accent will ground a room and bring out the best in other colors.

• Cover Up

Rather, than re upholstering or buying new, replace tired upholstery with custom or ready-made slipcovers in an updated fabric.

Create a mixed fabric cottage look by recovering just the seats or change the look by replacing the separate cushions with one bench seat.

Look for upholstery grade fabric that has been discontinued or on the remnant tables.

Certain fabrics that are inexpensive never go out of style. Classic examples include muslin, white cotton duck, mattress ticking, and chenille.

Affordable home decorating with a sisal as an alternative to expensive floor covering is a natural fiber and provides a neutral background to everything else in the room.

• Express Yourself For Art’s Sake

Personal expression doesn't need to be expensive to be beautiful.

• A vase with fresh flowers of the same color is more impressive than a table filled with small nick knacks.

• Group a collection of like items together on one table, like framed photographs.

• Stack coffee table books on a small chair, table or the floor and use as an accent table.

• All white china looks good no matter how inexpensive it is. Mix in mismatched china from the flea markets for interest and color, or it looks terrific displayed alone.

• Borrow from your closet and use a shawl as a throw or purchase fabric in a chenille to make your own that you casually place on the arm or the back of a sofa.

• One large poster on a wall can pack more punch than a group of little prints.

• Frame a beautiful piece of fabric into wall art, a section of vintage wallpaper, greeting cards, pages from an illustrated art book or calendar.

• Simple black frames used on different styles of art and photographs will unify the arrangements.

• Display old chess and other game boards as an alternative to art for the walls, as well as architectural fragments from the salvage yards.

• Hang trays, plates and platters with wire wall hangars purchased in hardware stores.

• Hang a quilt above the bed for a headboard.

• Search flea markets for inexpensive mirrors and frames for an intriguing arrangement on a wall. Vary the size and shape of the frames and paint in the same color for a uniform presentation.

• Have particularly lovely and ornate frames? Hang just the frames by themselves.

Affordable home decorating is fun. You will be rewarded with your effort and gain a real sense of accomplishment when your home is styling and you did it on the cheap!