I've been watching a lot of home improvement shows lately, mostly on the cable channel HGTV. This is mainly because my wife watches these shows a lot. HGTV is primarily aimed at people like her who believe that if the house today bears any resemblance whatsoever to what it looked like yesterday, it needs to be remodeled. Actually, the most popular of these shows, Trading Spaces, is on TLC. I'm sure it galls the people at HGTV to have dedicated 24/7 programming to home improvement and then have the most popular home improvement show on a network dedicated mainly to graphic depictions of grisly surgery, childbirth, and pet euthanasia.

The premise of Trading Spaces is that neighboring homeowners, abetted by diabolical professional decorators, desecrate rooms in one another's houses. They festoon walls with cheap fabric, paint linoleum floors, and drag garbage in from the curb to use as "accessories."

After watching these shows for a while, it's possible to develop a short list of popular, money-saving ideas that may be used to desecrate one's own residence. One of the most popular today is the use of what the decorators call "faux" finishes. "Faux" is an Armenian word that means "unsightly," and the process involves desperate and invariably unsuccessful attempts to make the refuse that has been dragged in from the curb more presentable. Another use of faux finishing involves painting a wall or expensive piece of upholstered furniture a light color such as ecru, and then dabbing on a darker color, usually taupe, with a sponge. This has the unexpected effect of making the wall or sofa appear as though someone dabbed paint on it with a sponge.

Decorators also suggest faux finishes for surfaces that should be replaced, but can't be because of a tight budget. For example, if you can't afford a new kitchen counter top, you can make a design statement by giving it a faux finish. In this case, the statement is, "Try not to notice that I painted my counter top because it looked like hell and I couldn't afford a new one."

An entire decorating style has developed around the use of garbage to accessorize a living space. These days one doesn't put things in the living room; one accessorizes the living space. The technique of bringing trash into the house and proudly displaying it in the living space is called "shabby chic." A living space effectively decorated in this style immediately brings to mind the idea that there was a good reason the salvaged items were thrown out in the first place.