My family is house rich and money poor. Buying our first home was a great achievement for me, as I have never owned one before. Now the challenge is furnishing our home as inexpensively as possible in order to have money left over for other things like, say, food, electricity, gas and the like.

Fortunately, I have a solid background in cheap. My mother taught me the value of reusing old items and making them look like new. She also taught me that buying a piece of junk is no bargain, so make sure all items are sturdy, safe and worth salvaging. I gained my own experiences in college by furnishing my first apartment from the cast – offs of other students. In other words, dumpster diving. Now, I’ve drawn on these lessons to repurpose, reuse and otherwise recycle old items, bought and found, to begin decorating our home without turning it into a place that looks like a flea market exploded.

My first foray was to the local Habitat Restore, where I found two 1980′s era wooden end tables. They were both stained a natural color and were rectangular in shape. Not in the least attractive. I took them home, sanded them, painted them Periwinkle blue and put inexpensive chair cushions from an old wicker sofa on top. Now, for a grand total of $20 ($12 for both tables and around $8 in primer, paint and sandpaper) I have two beautiful benches in our screened room. With a family of 5 and relatives popping by, we can always use extra seating.

At a local charity thrift store, I bought a glass topped, oval shaped patio table for $15. After another bout of sanding, priming and painting (are we sensing a pattern, here?), I now have an aqua blue “new” table sitting on the deck outside of the kitchen where the kids love to watch the deer and birds while they eat. Future plans for this eating area include painting a set of 50′s wire chairs ($18 for the pair, again from the Restore) a Watermelon red shade and sewing cushions from a beautiful blue floral upholstery fabric I bought for $1 a yard at the same thrift store as the table.

My oldest daughters room boasts a bamboo detailed desk for which I paid a grand total of $44 ($59 originally with a 25% off coupon) from yet another locally owned charity thrift store. That is a steeper price than I would usually pay for something, but considering the sturdiness and quality of the piece, it was quite a steal. Not to mention that the style matches perfectly with an armoire I purchased from a church Yard Sale for $5, I’d have to say that under $50 for two matching pieces is a wonderful buy. Now all I have to do is paint the armoire to match the desk. There are still several things in the planning stage for her room. I plan to attach valances that match her bedding to a half-circle pot rack we no longer use and drape fabric down the back and from the sides to form a canopy of sorts over her bed.

I have furnished my younger daughters room with her convertible crib, by far the most expensive piece of children’s furniture we have as we were concerned by the safety factor of buying a used one, and lucky thrift store finds. Among these are a doll sized wooden cradle with an attached seat ($10), a wooden rocking horse ($5) and an old wooden dresser ($25) from a used furniture store. All of these items have been painted in complementary hues and have many years of use left in them. The art on the walls came from my oldest daughter who has outgrown the little girl princess theme. Only the curtains came from the store and they were on clearance for $8 a pair with matching valances at $3. My middle child, “The Boy”, is jealous and wants to know when we’re starting on his room. Not to worry, I’ve got ideas there, too.

I could, and would be happy to, go on an on. However I think I have given the gist of the possibilities. It doesn’t happen over night, but with a little imagination, a little elbow grease and a lot of lugging heavy objects you can have a beautiful, personalized home. No one has to know you did it on the cheap. Unless you want to brag, that is.

Learn more about this author, Melissa Avery.