For small items, Wal-Mart actually sells a "mini studio" kit for around $30 - $40 -- it includes everything you need to photograph small items that you want to sell online.

For mocking something up at home, I would probably suggest:

1.  a white sheet for your backdrop

2.  Two lights (one to either side of the item, at a 45 degree angle)

3.  Home-made soft boxes of some kind ( normally a kind of tent-like screen  that encloses the light, to soften it -- you'll need to experiment with something that subdues the light without diminishing it too much)

4. A tripod

The "soft box" is probably the hardest part -- you can grab two goose-necked halogen lamps at Ikea, or anywhere, for probably $20 - $30 each. 

We have an "autumn" theme in our living room, and I've been dying to do leaf stencils on a lamp shade (that is until we got rid of our lamps!)

Maybe you can take a standard, neutral shade and cut shapes from it with an Exacto knife, then glue colored tissue paper to the inside, so that the light reflects the color of the tissue paper through the holes?  Not sure if you have a modern / funky / traditional design to your room. :>