Name: Marina
Location: Upper West Side, NYC
Size: 650 sqft. rental
Years Lived In: 2+ years

During an eighteen-month stint in Boston, Marina acquired 95% of her current furnishings and nearly 100% of her design awareness, knowledge, and inspiration. She lived in the South End and spent most of her free time in the design shops, where she got to know the inventory and the owners very well.

Name: Cherry and Jeff
Location: Mid-Levels, Hong Kong
Size: 800 sq. ft., 1 bedroom
Years Lived In: 2 years

Leaving health-crazed, outdoors focused, nature loving San Francisco for the densely populated, fast-paced, retail-obsessed city of Hong Kong was not an easy transition, but Jeff and Cherry welcomed the challenge.

Name: Matt, Ryan, Mason
Location: Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Size: 3,000 sq ft. indoors/ 2,500 sq ft. outdoors
Years Lived In: 4

Matt, Ryan, and Mason know that they have one of those mythical New York City living situations — a cavernous raw space with an equally expansive outdoor component!

Name: Dixie Laite
Location: New York City, Midtown West
Size: 1650 square feet, 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo
Years Lived In: Exactly one!

Hard-core AT fans should have no trouble recognizing Dixie or her style. This is Dixie's third apartment featured on Apartment Therapy, she's in our Real Homes, Real People book, and her apartment was in one of our earliest Smallest Coolest contests.

Location: Englewood New Jersey
Size: 3500 square feet, 4 bedroom home
Years Lived In: 10 years

This 1920's interpretation of an English Tudor house has had only three owners over its near century long life. The current owners moved in about ten years ago and tread lightly. They found pleasure in the quirky layout — narrow doorways, labyrinthine corridors, small rooms — as well as the original finishes and hardware details.

About a month ago, I noticed the occasional moth aflutter in my walk-in closet. This annoyed me, and I would do my best to find it and kill it! One day, I discovered a favorite sweater attacked vociferously by a peer of said moth. I bought a pile of little cedar blocks and distributed them throughout my closet.

Name: two children (4 and 1)
Location: West Village, New York City

Doryn grew up in a house in which the kid options were few and far between. While she did not wish to turn her home over to her kids, Doryn successfully created wonderful kid friendly places that integrate well into the overall design. In addition to each of her two children's bedrooms, there is a great playroom on the ground floor.

Name: Betty
Location: Chelsea, Manhattan, New York
Size: 1400 square feet, 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath
Years Lived In: 4

Betty bought a commercial office space in a large mixed-use — but office oriented — building and turned it into both an interior design office for herself and her assistant and a comfortable home for herself and her 11 year old daughter.

Name: Doryn
Location: West Village, New York
Size: 4000 square feet, 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath townhouse
Years Lived In: 7 months

After a few years of adhering to the widely held belief that having kids means moving to the suburbs, Doryn and her husband decided they could no longer live with that choice, and moved back to Manhattan.

Name: Nick (12) and Lucas (8)
Location: Upper West Side, Manhattan
Room Size: Bedroom is 240 sqft and Playroom is 144 sqft.

Jane has a beautiful home, that, while child friendly, makes very few aesthetic sacrifices. Her boys' bedroom and playroom are no exception. The rooms are sophisticated spaces that, at the same time, burst with excitement and the potential for adventure for Jane's two playful but wise-beyond-their-years young boys.