In the past couple of years a Tuscan style of decorating has become very popular in home decor. It's easy to see why...a Tuscan inspired room stirs up visions of rural Italian countrysides, worn wood furniture, old pottery, wrought iron accessories, and warm earthy colors.

You can spend a lot of money buying beautiful Tuscan accessories for your home. I have found that if you select a few choice pieces and spend a little more on those, you can spend less on other accessories, which is easier on your budget and no one will be able to tell the difference.

My Tuscan decorating theme began with a large tapestry I purchased for my family room. I found it at a local landscaping nursery that also specializes in home decor. They happen to have a large selection of beautiful Tuscan-inspired items. I also purchased a smaller one for our master bedroom. The larger one is hanging on a rod, and the smaller one is framed in an iron frame that is shaped like a shuttered window (see picture). These pieces cost between $100-$200 each, but that is the most I have spent on any of my Tuscan decor. They are the focal pieces for my other decorating accents. For smaller art pieces, I have actually created my own with photos I have taken of flowers and plants in our yard.

In our family room I have a small metal three-shelf bookcase that looks rustic and garden themed. I purchased it several years ago at Big Lots for about $20. I am using it as a plant stand and it fits in well with the Tuscan theme.

One easy way to add some Italian feel to a room is to buy some interesting pots and urns. I have found Pier One Imports to be a good source for these. You can often find them at season-end clearance sales. I have several in different shapes and colors. Large ones you can place on the floor and smaller ones are great for shelves, dressers, and entertainment centers.

One fairly inexpensive way to add some Tuscan decor to your room is to update your curtain rods and drawer pulls. Curtain rods you can replace one by one, as money allows. You can find some beautiful wrought iron curtain rods that really add to a room. I was getting ready to get rid of my old bedroom dressers I've had since I was a teenager because they didn't match anything else in our room when my husband came up with the idea to change the drawer pulls on the drawers. We found some old rustic looking pulls at Home Depot that changed the whole look of the dressers.

Curtains are another way to change the look of your room. I bought some very inexpensive, beautiful bedroom curtains at Fred Meyer that matched perfectly in our bedroom.

You can accessorize your Tuscan decor with lots of greenery. I have vases of sunflowers set around the house, and grapevines set here and there. You can find a variety of inexpensive greenery at Walmart and Joann's. I have framed dried flower art hanging in our bathrooms.

Old wood furniture is easy to come by. Shop at estate sales and you will find some really great old pieces. One of my favorites is a small cabinet that we paid about $10 for.

We didn't do any painting to update our rooms, but chose to work with what we have. Our family room is a light tan, and our bedroom a deep peach color. Both of these colors worked well with the decorating scheme.

Fountains add a lot ambience to a room. One of the key characteristics of a Tuscan inspired room is to bring the feel of outdoors indoors, and one of the ways you can accomplish this is with an indoor fountain. I found a small fountain that is wrought iron with several little pots hanging on it that pour into each other. It makes a beautiful sound, and finishes off the overall look I was imagining for our Tuscan themed family room.

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom who is the author of What's for Dinner?, an e-cookbook containing more than 250 quick easy dinner ideas. For more recipes, gardening, organizing tips, home decorating, holiday hints, and more, visit Creative Homemaking at http://www.creativehomemaking.com.