Design simply! It costs less and lasts longer, says Michael Moloney

Michael Moloney, the prolific Extreme Makeover: Home Edition designer, recently contacted WalletPop by Skype to divulge a few choice tips for renovating your home on a budget. One of his essential suggestions: When you've got no money to transform your surroundings, you can achieve a dramatic effect by simply painting them.

Moloney's ideas were so good that this week, in advance of Sunday's episode on ABC featuring country music ditz Kellie Pickler, WalletPop's Jason Cochran wanted to talk with Moloney again to get more. Today, Moloney has a few words for all the people who pester him on the street to ask him to work his magic on their own houses.

He also supplies another elemental idea for cash-strapped D.I.Y. homeowners: If you want your changes to endure, and you don't want to be in the hole for another renovation in a few years, steer away from trends and keep things simple. Going simple can solve a range of problems, and if you do it well, the result won't look cheap. Moloney uses his own home as an example. He solved the issue of being unable to hang lighting from low ceilings with a novel, and incredibly stylish, solution.

He shows Jason, and you, in our video interview:

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Michael Moloney's previous set of tips: