When a desperate woman needs to add color and style to her drab apartment while sticking to a tight budget, home design expert Libby Langdon comes through with tips that anyone can use to revamp their living space ... without emptying your wallet!

• Find inspiration in a design book, a magazine or a TV show. After you find designs that you like, step back and look at pieces you've already got to see if you can retool them. For example, you can make throw pillows out of an old sheet using fuseable tape that you iron on, and even an old door on its side could function as a headboard.

• Paint is the least expensive way you can transform your space. In a small space, people often hesitate to put a bold color on the wall. But you can choose just one wall for an accent color and paint the others a neutral, softer shade like tan. The contrast will add depth and dimension and make any small space feel bigger.

• Use painters' tape to create white boxes on the painted wall, over which you can hang black photo frames. The white border around the frames will give the wall great contrast.

• If you can't afford a headboard, apply painters' tape in a pattern where the headboard would normally go. After you paint the wall and remove the tape, you will have a makeshift headboard.

• Look at furniture you've already got and think how good it will look if you just painted it. A fresh coat of paint can make older items look cool.

• Create a unique coffee table by arranging paint chips (free from your local hardware store) and applying a piece of glass on top.

• You don't need to buy expensive flowers to add accents to your room. Branches or twigs spray-painted white will add a nice contrast to darker walls.

• Use silhouettes or other shapes printed from the Internet to create your own artwork to liven up your walls.

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Libby Langdon

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