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When glancing at all the home decorating magazines, stores, TV shows, and web sites, it's easy to develop a strong yearning for a beautifully furnished home. Unfortunately most people can't afford to drop a huge chunk of cash on a decorator, antique store, much less brand-name items. With a few tips, though, there are some great ways to furnish your home stunningly while still sticking to a budget.

Three important words: clean, strip, paint. These three tasks can recycle even some of the ugliest furniture into beautiful pieces. If there is a sturdy, but ugly, piece of furniture in good condition, give it a makeover. Clean it well, strip it down, and give it a new paint covering. Even better, if the piece is real wood, hold the paint, instead stain and/or varnish it for a quality look. If the piece is fabric, a simple covering in cheap and/or scrap fabric could give it a new life.

Garage sales and thrift stores are another great resource. Not only are cute things available for cheap, lots of pieces that would look great with a little new paint are plentiful too. Tons of decorative items are also available, ready to use or in need of a little fixing up. There are always piles of baskets, boxes, vases, and bowls to choose from. The key is to check the quality of the items and be realistic about what objects can be fixed up and what objects aren't worth the time.

The one thing you should never buy at a garage sale or thrift store, or indeed second-hand at all, are any bed mattress's. These are impossible to get truly clean once used, and can contain all sorts of nasty little pests. Not only lice, fleas, and cockroaches, but bed bugs are on a huge rise too. This is the one item that should always be splurged on, it doesn't even have to be that expensive. Just wait for a great sale and buy a new mattress.

Another great tip is to look for mismatched item sales at big furniture stores. These single pieces are usually marked at an amazingly low price because the stores make their money on sets, and the single pieces just cause clutter. You can find that new perfect dining room table or delightful coat rack for only a drop more than you would've paid at a garage sale! This only works at the large furniture warehouses though, designer furniture stores are more likely to have elegant separate pieces that cost a fortune and are considered "exclusive objects".

Antique stores can be a real hit or miss. Sometimes there'll be elegant items at expensive prices, trash objects at expensive

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