We live in a ranch house a la 1973 but we like natural, modern, sleek, industrial. The floor was peeling, we wanted to personize the look, the house was in need of some attention. We put our heads together and let our basic principles of living guide us in our remodel; reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Along with the home-buying mania that swept the nation, came a remodeling craze. So many Americans today have gotten carried away with having the perfect HGTV house, taking out equity loans to get new kitchens, new floors, new bathrooms, and now, they are broke and their homes are doomed to become outdated again. If I can prevent one person from falling into that B.S. trap, I will have succeeded in my mission. It's easier than you may think to save thousands of dollars, produce a look that says "an-individual-lives-here" and keep from going broke and crazy. Kind of.

Before I go over the principles, I want to be clear that this is not a guide on how to make your house look like Martha Stuart lives there. This is a guide to doing a chic makeover without going broke, and causing undue strain on the planet. That being said, if done right, your house might end up looking ultra up-to-the-minute when you're finished.

Some basic principles:

1. Respect the style of the house. If you have a 70's ranch, don't try to decorate like you have a 20's bungalow.
2. Stick to natural materials. Stay away from synthetics. Especially if you're doing this on the cheap. It will look even cheaper in PVC form. I'm talking about wallpapers, floor coverings, laminated counters, vinyl tile, acrylic, etc. Ew! Stay away from all that. Not only are those materials harmful for the environment to produce, but so often, they continue to leak chemical vapors into your home for years. Lean toward wood, concrete, metal, stone. Local, if possible. It is not always more expensive. If you make the decision to go natural, go all the way. Don't mix!
3. Reduce. Simplify. Instead of asking what you can add to the design, ask what you can take away.
4. Reuse and recycle what you already have. Just because it's old doesn't mean it needs to go. I'm talking about the bathroom and kitchen fixtures. Even if they are avocado green. They are quality cast iron, did you know that? The simple fact that it is out of fashion today will guarantee it's return in 10 years. Then, you'll be saying, "Yeah, the original fixtures were GREEN and of superior quality, but in '08, we installed these plastic white ones. I regret that." Don't let that happen to you! Be ahead of the trend by not following it.
5. Keep it clean and clutter free!

Now that I've laid out the basic principles, here's how we applied them to our recent remodel:

Bathrooms:

We have two bathrooms. One has Goldenrod fixtures, the other has Avocado. We stripped the old laminate counters and replaced them with concrete. We set the old sinks back in and they look much lovelier in their concrete backdrop. The colors' earthiness goes much better with natural concrete than fake marble laminate. We ripped out the soap and toothbrush holders on the wall because where can you find toothbrushes small enough to fit anymore? To take their place, we built little recessed cubby holes out of scrap wood. These are much more useful and streamlined. The cabinets were fugly dark fake wood laminate with unfortunate arabesque handles, but they were in fine structural condition. Instead of replacing them, we chose to reinforce them to structurally hold a concrete counter, relaminate them with door skin and buy new handles on ebay. We stained and shellac'd the wood to look like the Italian cabinets we wished we had. The thing we splurged on is the sleek modern faucet. Ever notice that the more it looks like a pipe sticking out of the sink, the more expensive it is? Easily the most expensive thing in the room, it makes a huge impact, bumping everything else up several notches.

Spent on both bathrooms: $600 / Saved: $3,700

Kitchen:

We've been lusting after a certain German kitchen, but we did not want to enslave ourselves to the tune of $18K for it. (Appliances not included) So, we used it as an inspiration instead. Our house had the same fugly cabinetry that were used in the bathrooms, in the kitchen. Years ago, I painted them and cut out openings in the top cabinets and put in stained glass. This was an artistic feature that we wanted to keep. So, using our mod kitchen inspiration, we painted the top cabinets high gloss white, leaving the glass, and relaminated the bottom cabinets with wood, giving them the same treatment as the bathrooms. We also purchased identical handles from ebay. We poured a concrete counter and troweled on white portland cement, which was then polished and waxed by professionals. The old stainless sink went back in.

Spent: $800 / Saved: $17,200

Floor:

To replace our original terrazzo patterned vinyl tile, we chose to expose what was already lying underneath. We peeled off the tiles ourselves and chipped off what we could of the glue, using rented tools, razor blades and many friends. After a botched attempt at DIYing it, we handed the keys to a crew who expertly shaved the floor down to a polished aggregate. We opted not to stain, letting it be natural. It looks like a gray terrazzo, with larger limestone and marble pebbles. It feels smooth and cool underfoot. Our flooring choice was one of ultimate sustainability since there was nothing to produce, nothing to ship, no forest to cut. It is also a low maintenance with no need for future replacing, even in case of flood, which in Florida, is a concern. Another Florida bonus is that it helps lower energy costs by keeping the house cool.

Spent: $4000 / Saved, compared to bamboo: $4,500

Accents:

For all my minimalist spiel, I believe in accents. There has to be a balance. We replaced a fake wood paneling accent wall with a real wood wall. We set the wood on a horizontal, using different thicknesses, lengths, stains, and widths. It covers every inch in a patchwork plank pattern. We also painted all the walls and trim white and the ceiling bold bright colors.

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So, you see, if we had leaped at all our home decorating ideas, we would have created a carbon fotprint large enough to sqash us and been in debt up to our ears. Debt is enslaving yourself and for us, it's just not worth it. We proved that a home decor doesn't have to be expensive to be beautiful.