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 I guess the apartment where Carrie Bradshaw researched and wrote her columns in the "Sex and the City" television show probably did need a makeover.
Several years had passed from Carrie's life on the small screen to her promotion to the big screen, and we all need to evolve. Carrie's guests needed to stop sitting on the floor around her coffee table, right?
But I'm not sure the new apartment (see "after" photo above) is quite right for her. The apartment is attractive, no doubt about that. But it seems too streamlined for Carrie, too coordinated, too balanced. That's not our Carrie! And it doesn't look comfortable. And that big TV. What's that all about?
(Photos: Apartment Therapy, Chicago Tribune)
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I got a bunch of questions about the original ceiling and archway of the $20,000 kitchen remodel in the latest Rate This Remodel feature. So I thought I'd show the old and new compared here:
What's neat about the story, for me, is that Dani had a lot of time to think about her kitchen. The archway detail into the breakfast room is something she had thought about for years, and she was clear on the molding she wanted. Because of all of this planning, her contractor said, she was one of the easiest clients he has ever worked with.
So if getting the funds to do your remodel is taking longer than you'd like, put that time to use the way Dani did. The eventual remodel will be much better for it.
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First, here are the facts:
• The kitchen remodel in this 1971 Northridge tract house cost $20,000 and was done in three weeks. (Click on the photos to get a larger view)
• Homeowner Dani Taylor did none of the work herself, but hired a contractor well known in the neighborhood.
• Dani had many years to imagine how she would improve her kitchen as other remodeling projects and additions to the house took priority.
• Rather than investing in new cabinets, Dani had her cabinet boxes refaced and got new doors and drawer fronts.
• She added an amazing amount of extra counter space by designing the new, angled cabinet section you see on the right of the remodel photos.
• While most of the appliances are new, she opted to keep her dishwasher, which worked fine, and got a new panel for the front.
• A few concessions were made to keep within budget, including keeping the existing tile floor and not pushing the kitchen into an adjacent breakfast area.
• But Dani did not have to give up her dream of granite counters, which were fit into the budget.
Here's a chance to offer some feedback:
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 I'm enthralled with this 435-square-foot apartment in Greenwich Village, N.Y. It has only one window, in the living room, yet the space feels light and open. What you see here is the living room from each end, with the kitchen on one side, and the bedroom on the other side through glass doors. (Click photo to enlarge.)
The story in the New York Times says the couple — husband Suchitra Van is from India and wife Nette Gaastra is from Holland — bought the apartment for $296,000 and remodeled it with $26,000 they got from wedding gifts, along with $15,000 of their own savings. That's $41,000 to remodel a space just a bit larger than a two-car garage.
How did they spend the money? Some prices were revealed: a DeLonghi stove for $1,762, a G.E. dishwasher for $622 and a Hansgrohe shower faucet for (wow!) $670. The steel-framed doors into the bedroom cost $986 and were shipped from India and fitted with glass in Manhattan. And yet, the four Ikea cabinets cost only $141. The floor looks expensive, and the husband designed the porcelain enamel backsplash and countertop.
This place makes me want to declutter and lighten up.
See the full story and more pictures.
(Photos: New York Times)
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 So what do you do if the front of your house has virtually no character? No charm? No distinction?
What if your front porch is little more than a couple of concrete steps and a slight extension of the roofline?
If you're Arnie and Lily Richards, you take some action, as they did on their Downey home.
We met Arnie and Lily previously, when we visited their new DIY kitchen.
That project turned out so well that they decided to attack this other problem, the problem of nondistinction.
As you can see from the top photo, they designed and built a large porch with a distinctive roof, plastered columns and a tile deck with steps leading off the front and both sides.
How do you think they did with it?
My take: I say bravo to this couple for their initiative and energy. If this was my new porch, I'd replace those wooden (or wood-look) spindles and railing with thick stone-like columns and a wrought-iron railing. To me, that would be a killer look.
To send before and after pictures of your remodel, click here.
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 Prudential real estate agent David Kean had a heck of time figuring out how to decorate a 35-foot-long wall in his Downtown Los Angeles loft.
He finally finished his DIY masterpiece and wants to know what we think about it.
As you can see in the before photo, the wall before lacked pizzazz. And that's a problem because the rest of the place is very pizzazz-y. Take a peek here.
To begin, he used a Pratt & Lambert metallic paint as a background. If you're planning on such an application yourself, David reports that it is "a pain" to apply and that you should count on three or four coats for good coverage.
Then, he applied the stenciled accents (with stencils he got from Royal Design Studio) with an acrylic burnt umber paint.
To give the larger stenciled items a 3-D look (see photo on bottom left), he moved the stencil up and to the left 1/8 inch and troweled on a layer of gray Venetian Plaster. David learned his stenciling technique here.
My take: I suspect this wall looks better in person than in a photo. But if this was my wall, I'd be tempted to tighten up the design by doubling or tripling the number of stenciled items on the wall. But while it took me all of four seconds to type out my suggestion, it would take hours or days to execute. I'd like hear your suggestions, as well.
Rate more remodels • Feeling brave? Submit your own project
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 The story you are about to hear is shocking, so don't fall off your chair when I tell you:
The remodel of this 1948 Hawthorne home was designed by a 16-year-old, David, and built by him and his father Norbert, a schoolteacher, during a summer break.
Since then, David has been accepted into the respected architecture program at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. And you can see why. The original post-war home had minimal design. The front stoop is not exactly a grand entrance. And, it led straight into the living room.
David's parents had lived in the house nearly three decades when David decided his mom Linda needed the new kitchen she had been talking about for years. He started sketching out his ideas, and eventually she was convinced he could do it. Part of the plan included pushing the right side of the house toward the street to create a dining room. That would place the front door in the center of the facade and would create an actual front porch.
David also wanted to add a Craftsman flair to the house, which he did with lap siding, thick moldings and highlighted gable ends. Notice how the roofline on the addition matches the other two peaks? That's a good eye.
And moving the kitchen window, on the left, to sit directly under the peak of the roof, added balance. His mom was worried about losing her corner view from the kitchen, but he added a larger window on the side (not seen in this photo) and she was actually happier with that.
How do you think David did with this design?
Would you do anything different?
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 With winter supposedly coming our way, thoughts may turn to fireplace upgrades. Here are three fireplace remodels readers have been kind enough to share with me. I'd like to know which is your favorite, based on all criteria, including cost.
1. Craftsman: The top left fireplace is in San Diego, and the owner tells me it cost $2,600, which included expert craftsmanship from a talented friend. What a transformation from the original faux stone fireplace, top right, we've all seen too many of.
2. Rock: The Corona fireplace, middle right, was a DIY (with neighborly help) upgrade with river rock that cost less than $1,000. This river rock is really gorgeous. I'm sure it looks even better with a quarter cord of firewood stacked to the left. The before photo, bottom right, shows that it was impossibly sterile.
3. White: The owner of this Reseda fireplace, bottom left, says it's a "woman's fireplace," with the white paint, shuttered mirror and places for trinkets, photos and mementos. The before photo to its right shows 1970s wood and mirrored slats. The redo cost $700.
Want to share your remodel? Send before and after images to me, along with a few paragraphs explaining the project, including the cost. We'd love to see your masterpiece!
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 It must have seemed like a good idea at the time. You can imagine these SoCal homeowners all jazzed up about a new pebble and resin coating on their driveway. They may have read marketing materials about how the new surface would add value to their home, set off the architecture and set the house apart in the neighborhood of big and nice but somewhat homogenous houses.
The pebbles do set the house apart, but not in a good way. With the resin giving way and letting the pebbles loose to find new homes on the sidewalk, gutter, or adjacent lawn, this house looks way worse than it would have with the native concrete driveway. Notice the pebbles coming off the front of the steps? So it's not just the car tires loosening the stones.
Anyone else had this kind of problem? Or know what causes it? Or how to avoid it?
Resource: SoCal paving contractors
 When Chantal Dussouchaud and Harry Dolman bought this Hollywood Hills home, they had one major objection to it: the massive driveway that dominated the entire front of the house.
Part of the couple's reaction stemmed from the fact that they had been living in Paris (they are both European natives), where the car culture is much less pronounced than in Southern California.
To them, the driveway was nothing less than shocking, and all the more so because Chantal wanted to convert the existing garage into a workshop for her interior design business and to build a carport on the other side of the house, as was required by codes.
 Then, the driveway would be totally useless.
So they did a radical thing: they took out the driveway and replaced it with lawn, an olive tree and a gravel walkway lined with lavender. Did they do the right thing? Or did they hurt the overall value of the home?
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I guess the apartment where Carrie Bradshaw researched and wrote her columns in the "Sex and the City" television show probably did need a makeover. 
