Over the course of the past two years, graphic designer Russell Lewis and his girlfriend, design assistant Gemma Ahern, renovated their 1200-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment. Located in Leigh-on-Sea, a village an hour outside of London, the apartment was overhauled for £6,500, or $10,300. You can check out their entire apartment in this New York Times slideshow. The couple beautifully mixed high and low accents and objects, which definitely helped to keep costs down, but they used some other smart ideas as well. To get the secrets of their cheap decorating success, read on.

Jonathan Player for The New York Times