Living in Los Angeles, or anywhere in Southern California, is an expensive prospect. You'll pay a lot more for your Los Angeles property than you would for a house for sale in Mississauga, so the end result is that you may have less left over in your budget for decorating. If that's the case, don't worry too much about it: there are many decorating styles that can be pulled off with only a minimal investment. Shabby chic is one of those styles. For more info on shabby chic and some hints on pulling it off, consult our guide.

Shabby chic is a style of decoration based around the deteriorating interior decor of old English manor houses that were once extravagantly and expensively decorated but then left to rot when the house owner fell into debt. As a result, the shabby chic aesthetic is very Victorian, but with the addition of distress marks and other evidence of ageing. It is only likely to show up naturally in country homes, not in Mississauga condos, and is generally regarded as a relaxed, feminine style of decoration.

The shabby chic style is often deliberately adopted, sometimes for urban residences but more often for stylish cottages and vacation homes. To create the aesthetic which came naturally to deteriorating English manors but must be carefully crafted in clients' Toronto townhouses, designers often choose antique furniture where the surfaces have not been properly maintained. Wooden furniture with a partially worn away coat of white paint is popular. Fabrics chosen include old cottons and linens that have begun to yellow with age.

Shopping for antiques can be expensive if you patronize a shop where the owner knows the value of what he or she has (the more popular shabby chic becomes, the more expensive the materials get). But if you didn't get enough from Brantford Realty to cover your LA home and a new interior, you can always scout out yard sales and flea markets for pieces. Sometimes buyers don't know what they have and you can get it for a song. Used clothing stores and charity shops are also good places to look for cheap vintage items.

Another option when you're considering a shabby chic interior and there aren't many antique stores near your real estate in Richmond, VA, is to create the aesthetic yourself by intentionally distressing new pieces. Buying wooden furniture, painting it white, and then sanding away some of the paint is one trick designers often use. To age new linens and cottons, you can stain them with tea. Since floral patterns (especially roses) are a large part of the aesthetic, you can also buy new items in those designs to fit with your scheme.