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"The challenge: to furnish a room on a limited budget, using nothing but items purchased from eBay&amp;#039;s online auction site. Sound like a tall order? Not at all, says GH&amp;#039;s fearless decorating editor, Susan Leaderman: &amp;quot;Shopping on eBay is like having a continuous garage sale right in your own home,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;Tons of great stuff and bargains galore.&amp;quot; To help with the search, Leaderman enlisted New York City designer Laura Bohn. Click the next pages for their online-auction decorating tricks.  No matter where you do your shopping, the first step is to decide on a look. &amp;quot;Once you choose an overall style, you&amp;#039;ve narrowed your choices,&amp;quot; says Laura Bohn -- and that&amp;#039;s essential on eBay, where the merchandise seems limitless. For this room, Leaderman and Bohn chose a cozy, eclectic look, unified by color.  Pink certainly wasn&amp;#039;t their first idea. But then they found a bed -- vintage metal with a distressed pink paint job -- and fell in love. In fact, the bed was so charming, and the price so right, that Leaderman and Bohn used the Buy It Now option, which guarantees your purchase if you meet the stated price.  To find the best stuff, says Leaderman, they looked in categories other than Bedroom. What&amp;#039;s now a graceful white credenza, for instance, was listed in the Dining Room category as a sideboard. And, when necessary, they performed rescues: The lovely pink chenille bedspread was a horrid shade of mauve when they spotted it (thank heavens for Rit Dye). Like all eBay shoppers, our decorating duo felt the agony of being outbid. &amp;quot;Our consolation,&amp;quot; says Leaderman, &amp;quot;was that there were plenty more items to go for!&amp;quot;  Some of our treasures were diamonds in the rough. Tip: Use your imagination to see things not as they are, but as they could be. Fast face-lift A few coats of pink turned this drab step stool, below, into a chic little \u00E9tag\u00E8re, top left. &amp;quot;Plastic, metal, wood -- paint can transform almost anything,&amp;quot; Leaderman says.  Dress it up A pretty but plain side chair, below, is now suited for a bedroom, thanks to a flirty floral skirt and cushion, top right. &amp;quot;Slipcovers are great at creating a new look,&amp;quot; says Bohn.  Top this Wacky upholstery, below left, didn&amp;#039;t deter us from these stools. With colorful new lift-off seats, below right, the pair finish off the foot of the bed.   Shady side A brass swing-arm lamp, below left, gets a personality transplant with a simple switch to a kicky topper, below right. &amp;quot;Shades are the easiest trick,&amp;quot; says Bohn. Your best bet: a replacement that&amp;#039;s close in size to the original.    Don&amp;#039;t bid on the first item you see. Chances are you&amp;#039;ll find 10 things you like even more in another 10 minutes. Add items of interest to your &amp;quot;watch list,&amp;quot; so you can comparison shop.  Read descriptions carefully. Objects may seem to be larger or in better condition in the photo than they really are.  Check up on your seller. Read the Feedback section for comments from previous buyers.  Keep records of all eBay-related correspondence and transactions, in case you run into a dispute.  Search by region for furniture that&amp;#039;s for sale near you. That will cut down on expensive shipping and insurance fees.  Set a maximum price you&amp;#039;re willing to pay for an item and stick to it. Better to lose the auction than to be broke.  Before you bid or buy, email the seller (via eBay) to confirm an item&amp;#039;s size, condition and color, as well as the seller&amp;#039;s refund policy and promised delivery time. Look for sellers who accept PayPal (eBay&amp;#039;s online payment service).  If you don&amp;#039;t like what you&amp;#039;ve bought, be prepared to send it back at your own expense. (That&amp;#039;s the eBay custom.) Sound like too much trouble? Then online auctions may not be right for you.   Smart shopping tips from Jim Griffith, author of The Official eBay Bible (Gotham Books). "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/decorating-ideas/a16016/ebay-bedroom-redecorating-1103/>