Erin Filby covered the dismal yellow paint on her kitchen cabinets with self-adhesive vinyl film and accented each door with rainbow stickers before posting photographs of her handiwork online.
She described the project on Curbly.com so that her mother, who lives in Ireland, could see her kitchen reno.
But the pictures also attracted 980 other visitors, many of whom said they were inspired by Ms. Filby's $60 makeover.
Curbly is one of a slew of new Internet destinations where people can post pictures of their home makeover projects and elicit comments and advice from strangers.
A sort of "Am I hot or not?" for the real-estate set, the sites appeal to the voyeuristic and narcissistic instincts of homeowners around the world, say their creators and members.
"There's sort of an element of being a smarty-pants, like look what I've done," says Ms. Filby, a 28-year-old marketing executive who lives in Toronto. "I mean, who doesn't need a bit of affirmation?"
In the United States, the television network HGTV has tapped into this desire by starting a popular online feature called Rate My Space, where users post pictures of their homes and are given scores by visitors.
Other sites, such as Homeandtell.com and Decornextdoor.com, allow visitors to browse through shots of bathrooms, gardens and lofts, and see how many other visitors liked each one.
At Decor Next Door, users also post pictures of furniture or home accessories they are thinking about buying so that others can weigh in with their opinions, or put impending design decisions up to a vote.
For those who don't own their own home, Apartmenttherapy.com offers the same resource for renters.
"People spend so much time and money and energy making their house an expression of who they are, we thought we'd give them a place online where they could share that," says Bruno Bornsztein, founder of Curbly.
"When you spend two weeks remodelling your bathroom, using building materials from your local Freecycle and paint that you found in a park, it's cool to share that with people."
Curbly has members around the world, including in Japan, Singapore, Turkey and France. The site has 2,000 registered users, including 60 Canadians, and gets about 5,000 unique visitors a day.
Not everyone posts photographs that Mr. Bornsztein finds aesthetically pleasing. Just before Christmas, one member uploaded a picture of their living room where every piece of art hanging on the wall had been wrapped in holiday paper. Mr. Bornsztein was horrified, but said the idea attracted 4,000 hits in a day and hundreds of positive comments.
Unlike Rate My Space, which is purely voyeuristic, Curbly has an instructive element popular among do-it-yourselfers, Mr. Bornsztein says. "You can post a picture of a space and say, 'I don't know what to do,' " he says. "People come on and say, 'Move your desk to the other side of the room and put in some storage over here.' "
Designers say browsing such sites keeps them up-to-date on people's tastes — and decorating troubles. Frank Fowler, an interior designer who owns FJF Designs in Winnipeg, checks Curbly postings about four times a week. He doesn't post pictures of his own work, but browses for inspiration.
Mr. Fowler isn't worried such sites will put professionals like him out of business. "I think designers and decorators will always have a place," he says. "Many people feel they can undertake a project, but more often than not they need someone with professional skills."
Ms. Filby, who has posted several new projects on Curbly since her initial cabinet exercise, says the community provides her with moral support during design crises.
"Everybody seems to have an idea; people are really encouraging and lovely."
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