8 Decorating Rules to Try -- and 8 to Trash

Who says you need to play by the rules when it comes to decorating? After all, it's your home, isn't it? Emilie Barnes and Yoli Brogger, authors of Designing Your Home on a Budget, share eight helpful budget decorating guidelines as well as eight home decor myths you should ignore. So go on, be a rebel ‑- with a cheap, chic decor cause!

First of all, there really aren't any rules! That is, the decorating police will not arrest you for making a mistake in your decor. The neighbors might talk if you painted the whole house orange, and the authorities might object to a fire hazard. But most of us aren't in danger of these extremes. What we want are a few basic guidelines for tasteful and inexpensive decorating. Here are a few we think are helpful, plus a few common assumptions we'd like to challenge.

• 8 Decorating Rules to Live By
  
• 8 Decorating Myths to Ditch
  
• 1 Golden Rule to Remember
  

Excerpted from Designing Your Home on a Budget by Emilie Barnes and Yoli Brogger with Anne Christian Buchanan. ©2006. Used with permission of Harvest House Publishers.