Every time I see a photo of a gorgeous Paris apartment, or of an apartment in an old New York brownstone with a fireplace and wood floors and gorgeous moldings galore, I get a little surge of jealousy. It just doesn’t seem fair — you could put a cardboard box in these apartments and it would look fantastic, because the apartment itself is already so great. The good news is that, even if you’re stuck with a distinctly un-unique, cookie cutter, builder-grade American apartment, there are still things you can do to give your home a little bit of character.
