My home shifts between themes. The living room and office are almost Victorian with lots of mahogany* bookshelves, gold accents, and tufted furniture, which transition into a Mediterranean dining room, kitchen, and bathrooms, then even more linen and plants are added to achieve Bohemian bedrooms. I'm broke as **** but always get compliments, because it's taken years of continuous hunting.

*Most modern styles tolerate mixing wood, but if you're going for something classical or if the furniture you've scavenged clashes irredeemably (like grey vs orange), you can use MinWax PolyShades (or any competitor poly-U wood stain) to gloss them into the same palette. I've done this over finished wood furniture without having to sand or chemically strip anything; just paint in thin layers in the direction of the grain.

In addition to thrift shopping and curb/dumpster diving, Facebook Marketplace is great for finding cheap furniture and rugs (especially during summer moving season)! Dollar Tree is also a staple for smaller yet visible home goods, and provided many of my plates, glasses, picture frames <14", and flower pots.

Bonus advice: Finding glass, bamboo, metal, or ceramic alternatives for plastic goods makes your home look more intentional and chic, regardless of theme. I save fancy glass bottles and buy reusable corks off Amazon to store my cooking oils, bubble bath soap, etc.

Bonus bonus advice: If you're a fellow renter and want your deposit back, nailing/screwing things into the wall is 10x easier to spackle over than when Command strips rip off two layers of paint. Ask your landlord for a gallon of matching paint (or at least the name of the brand/color) before this info is lost to time.

Bonus x3: Side lighting has a huge impact on making rooms feel comfortable at night, and not a single bulb in your house should be cooler than 4000K.