It’s almost impossible not to be inspired by spring. The days are longer, the greens greener, the blues bluer and all around us we see new life and blooming color peeking through everywhere with the promise of summer just ahead. No matter where you live or how harsh or mild your winter may have been, spring brings a spirit of renewal and transformation.

How can we can bring this spirit of transformation indoors and find creative ways to breathe new life into tired spaces without spending a ton of money? Often it can be as simple as clearing out the clutter and rearranging a room to see things differently. A fresh coat of paint and splash of color spread around as accents can reinvigorate a room. Fabric and paint are extremely effective ways to tie mismatched pieces together and bring a cohesive feel to an assorted collection of furniture styles.

While there is no shortage of “big box” furniture stores tempting us with impeccable rooms and the illusion that buying more will give us the perfect home and ideal lifestyle for most us this is not realistic. Certainly there is inspiration to be found in these places, as they spend “bazillions of dollars” combing the globe and utilizing teams of designers taking cues from centuries of well-appointed rooms and high-end designs to copy, recreate, and reinterpret classic design. This is done to offer somewhat affordable reproductions to a mass market of consumers looking for their piece of the American Dream. It’s easy to want the instant gratification of something new, hoping that it makes everything else we have look better.

More often than people realize, what they have can be rearranged to dramatically change how a room feels. Much of a successful design is not only about the pieces in the room but how the room is arranged. Start here and take a look around at what you already have. Maybe it’s a hand-me-down desk or an old dresser that you are ready to replace. Maybe you are hoping to buy yourself some of those fabulous new highly sought after mirrored nightstands to add some glam to your bedroom but don’t feel like shelling out a few thousand bucks. Good news—a few coats of high-gloss paint and some new hardware can take almost anything from drab to fab in no time! Take it a step further by enlisting the help of a local glass company to cut mirrors to put on the drawer fronts and on top of the dresser you just painted a fabulous charcoal gray. Or begin with an old chair. Give it a light sanding and spray it a high-gloss white, black or turquoise. Then grab your staple gun and an inspiring half yard of fabric, and cover that dingy old seat. You may just be inspired to tackle the desk next!

I love finding new ways to reuse and repurpose old pieces into rooms to add a touch of whimsy or an eclectic feel to every space I design. Sometimes there is no better way to spend a day then wandering around a flea market or local thrift store. The thrill of the search keeps me on full alert, always looking for old treasures in need of a little love and a new home. Something about the history of a piece and the stories it might tell always intrigues me.

I know it can seem daunting. It’s difficult to resist the instant gratification of something new and even harder to save up for the fabulous piece you’ve always dreamed of. Design doesn’t have to be out of reach. It just requires paying attention to what works and why, using a little imagination and having willingness to change what we can.

In the spirit of better living, we get to rethink what it means to truly live within our means, both financially and globally. We can make choices about how we live in the spaces we inhabit by rearranging, repurposing and rethinking what we already have.

Get inspired. Treat yourself to a space that you love and feel good in. You deserve it.