[close] If you love chandeliers, flowing draperies, and bric-a-brac--if you believe you were a Roman senator, a Gothic queen, or Madame de Pompadour in an earlier life or have fantasies of La Belle Époque or the Golden Age of Hollywood--The Paris Apartment is the decorating book for you. Claudia Strasser includes before-and-after pictures of real people's apartments, transformed from dark cracker boxes to intriguing showplaces. She gives shopping tips on finding the best furniture, how-to instructions on distressing and painting your flea-market finds, and ideas for choosing the period and colors that best suit your personality. Best of all, Strasser estimates the average cost of a no-holds-barred transformation to be $1,800 for an entire apartment, including furniture--less if you already have the furniture, are clever with your hands, are somewhat restrained in your taste, or live near the best flea markets. The Paris Apartment is the perfect combination of inspiration and instruction for budget-conscious glamour mavens on a budget.