I have lived in the same house for way too many years to count. I would love to buy a new house, but failing that, I would love to redecorate the old one. I recently discovered the Home and Garden network on television and have become an avid watcher of all shows, but especially those involving home decorating with little or no money.

When I first got married, my decorating style could have been described as a cross between early relative and vintage Salvation Army. After my children were born, I was still decorating in the early and late relative style, but in addition, I added vintage yard sale. Who knew that buying a house, having two kids and living on one salary would turn me into a trendsetter!

In today's economy we are all out there looking for the best decorating buys for our dollar. Some of us may be shopping at Ethan Allen and Pottery Barn, but a lot of us will be doing our shopping at yard sale and flea market. Some of those flea market shoppers will produce rooms beautifully decorated in shabby or shoestring or flea market or vintage chic. My rooms often look messy and mismatched.

Home decorating is a skill that not all of us are born with, but all is not lost. Whether you like the look of shabby chic or your finances say you need to learn to like it, the library has some good decorating books. These books contain pictures of whole rooms to let you see what goes together and how it all could look. Bring one of these to your favorite flea market or the closest yard sale and start redecorating your house!

Easy flea market style: creative ideas and fabulous fix-ups
French country junk chic
Country living shoestring chic: extraordinary style for less
Decorating on a dime: trade secrets from a style maker
Home cheap home: a room-by-room guide to great decorating
Trade secrets from use what you have decorating