Before Friends Starred: on Family Ties and in movies such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
Family Life: Married David Arquette in 1999
Best Friends Moment: Tying the knot with Chandler (Matthew Perry) in the seventh season
What's next?: Joining Arquette to produce Mix It Up, a home-improvement show, for cable's WE

The difference between Friends and real life? "Monica cleans because she needs things to be perfect," Cox Arquette, 39, says of her neatnik alter ego. "I am cleaning because people are coming over and I don't want the sawdust from the drill to be on the couch." Now the serial home renovator (she has owned seven homes in 10 years) is putting her hobby to work producing Mix It Up, a series premiering Oct. 22 on Women's Entertainment network that will help couples meld diverging decor tastes. Her coproducer is her husband, whose quirky passions (like a bobblehead-doll collection) didn't exactly fit with her sleek style. Is mixing love and work stressful? "Stress and relationships go hand in hand anyway," says David, 32. "But for us, it brings us closer, if anything. It makes me feel good seeing her enjoying herself so much."

Not that she won't miss Friends. "It's going to be very emotional," Cox Arquette says of taping the final season. Strike that: "It's gonna be awful." Fortunately, she'll leave with a solid movie résumé (including the Scream flicks) and close pals, especially Aniston and Kudrow. And a rewarding marriage with plans for a family. "Someday he is going to make the most amazing father," she says of Arquette. "They have complete trust and they make each other laugh, and they were friends first," says a friend of the couple's. "They approach things differently, but when they have to come to a compromise, they both agree. They always come together in the same place."

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