Emily and her family of four live in a 1,000 square foot apartment in Westchester County north of New York City. They're expecting the fifth member of the family any day now and since her other two children share a bedroom, she's set up a corner of the master bedroom as a welcoming nursery nook for the new arrival. 

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Name:

Ziv

Location:

Tel Aviv Israel

Square Feet:

635

Division:

International

What I Love About My Small Home:

It's colorful, yet calm. It combines modern design and retro accessories, and holds collections of tin toys, old posters, plush dolls and other sweet memories from our childhood. Though it's pretty small, it feels spacious enough. It totally feels "ours"!

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Name:

Bethany Kay

Location:

New York, NY

Square Feet:

305

Division:

Teeny-Tiny

What I Love About My Small Home:

The location, the fantastic southern light (I'm on the top floor of a four-story walk up), the big bathroom. I love how the bed frame of my four poster bed defines the sleeping space. A lot of friends suggested I get rid of it; I'm so glad I didn't! It's cozy at night and in the morning I wake up looking out onto a lush, green courtyard. But, most of all, I love that I can still entertain. The natural light, the high ceilings and open floor plan make the space feel bigger than it is. I've had cocktail parties with more than 20 people in my penthouse studio!

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Name:

Heather

Location:

Livermore, CA

Square Feet:

420

Division:

Tiny

What I Love About My Small Home:

Less to clean! No but really, I love that my small space is just that- my own. Everything in my place is something that I absolutely love and truly represents me.

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Name:

Kristen

Location:

New York, NY

Square Feet:

545

Division:

Tiny

What I Love About My Small Home:

The open plan space of the living room/kitchen/dining room is what we love most. We like hosting dinner parties for about 4-8 friends – and with the kitchen just a few feet away, it allows my partner Mike to cook and entertain at the same time. I scooped up a mid-century modern teak table with an expandable leaf that allows us to get more than half a dozen folks over for a sit-down.

Name: Thora, 2
Location: Rockford, IL

We live in Oakland, CA, but much of our family is in Rockford, IL. When my daughter turned two, I knew I wanted to celebrate with family. So we packed up, hopped on a plane, and gave ourselves two days execute her little soiree.

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Name:

Silvana

Location:

Canneto Pavese Italy

Square Feet:

165

Division:

International

What I Love About My Small Home:

Light, colors, and atmosphere

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Name:

Daniel

Location:

New York, NY

Square Feet:

324

Division:

Teeny-Tiny

What I Love About My Small Home:

I like the high ceiling and the full window overlooking a small balcony that give sense of more space to the apartment, and an incredible natural lighting.

This is the first apartment that I live in alone, and I like that I can experiment and find something that can represent my style, so I am adding or changing new stuff every time, I know I will stop (I hope so) but for now I am having fun.

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Name:

Hani & Andrew

Location:

New York, NY

Square Feet:

440

Division:

Tiny

What I Love About My Small Home:

We love the organic modern feel and our art, including a prized secret ceramic glaze recipe from our dear friends at KleinReid. The built-in shelving connects to two distinct living areas -- we especially love the vintage jar collection that we use for our pantry to elegantly extend the tiny kitchen into the dining area while the opposite wall is filled with books and functional items and connects into the living area. For dense city living, we're also lucky to have an incredible view of a brick wall covered in Boston ivy that changes fiery red in the autumn, instead of facing another apartment window or an alley. We love the live "tree-light art" that we wake up to in the morning on the balcony doors, and enjoy our six distinct living spaces all within one rectangular room: dining room, living room, bedroom, kitchen bar and workspace, a cozy reading chair, and a balcony cafe.

Boston temperatures reached the 80s last week, but I've yet to break out the sundresses and put away the coats. The warm weather wear is still in the basement, while my puffy jackets are taking up space in the closet. I'm making myself tackle the change this weekend, but what motivates you to switch your clothes out for the season?