A good friend of ours bought a house this spring, and C. and I offered to help her decorate.  We painted her kitchen, living room, and bathroom, bought and re-purposed furniture, and decorated all on a $500 budget.

Check out the results.

Living Room before:

Living room after:

Living room before and after again:

We found these four chairs (for $40) and the table (for $30).  After a couple coats of paint on the chairs and table and some new upholstery on the seats, they were completely reborn.

Chairs before:  This is with a coat of primer.  They were originally brown, but I forgot to get a picture.

Table before:

And after:

Kitchen before:

Kitchen after:

Simple proof that all it takes to transform a space is some elbow grease, a patient eye on Kijiji, and some imagination.