Minneapolis's northeast neighborhood is one of those charming places where you'll find a bike and a cat in nearly every home. Merrick Mayer's apartment is no exception. But what you'll find at Merrick's that you won't find in those other homes is a collection of beautifully restored Mid-Century modern furniture and bold, colorful art that make the space really come alive. 

Name: Kristi and Isaac Maiselman, and Koda, their 4-year-old Chow/Australian cattle dog mix
Location: Penn Quarter, Washington, DC
Size: 863 square feet
Years lived in: 10 years; Owned

The radiator in the entry hall is art. The piece, by DC sculptor Ben Jurgensen, is fitted out with speakers, and when you plug it in it snaps and crackles, just like the real thing. Kristi and Isaac Maiselman live at Penn Quarter's Mather Studios, in one of the building's 12 dedicated "artist lofts" — live/work spaces that were offered to creatives in 2003 at a special rate. 

Name: Eunice Chang, Senior Principal User Researcher at Autodesk, a 2D and 3D design, engineering and entertainment software company
Location: Eureka Valley, border of Castro and Mission; San Francisco, California
Size: 1,073 square feet
Years lived in: 3 years; Owned

The soothing coast meets San Fran city living inside Eunice’s sophisticated-yet-laidback urban hideaway. After years of moving around from place to place on the East and West Coasts and Hawaii, she returned to her home state of California to put down roots. 

Name: Esma Annemon Dil / designer / founder of ANAÏMON and Vogue Germany Contributor  
Location: Hollywood Hills; Los Angeles, California
Size: 1,800 square feet
Years lived in: 3 years

When a friend told me that Esma was a contributor to Vogue I prepared myself for a home with great style and taste in furniture and art. Something I didn't necessarily expect was how personal Esma's home would be. Her personal touches throughout the home also makes the space that much more special and emotional.

Name: Natalie Wright
Location: Lehi, Utah
Size: 2,400 square feet
Years lived in: 7 years

Impressive! I work from a converted closet myself, but this might be the first time I've seen a closet-turned-home-office designed to accommodate for two inside such a small space. Natalie's compact closet workspace was designed as the preface to a larger story, with a larger work studio companion space offering a little more elbow space when required...

Name: Dana Dramov
Location: Flatiron District, Manhattan, New York
Size: 2,500 square feet 2-bdrm
Years lived in: 1 year; owned

According to Dana, "work never really ends. There's no separation between work and life." As such, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Dana's showroom  and where Dana lives are one and the same address.  

Name: Olivia Williams, interior designer
Location: Venice Beach; Los Angeles, California
Size: 1,800 square feet
Years lived in: 1 year; rented

Olivia and her landlord are lucky to have found each other. Olivia often walked past her the building that is now her residence and fell in love with it so much that she started stalking the property and asking neighbors about the space - she had to live there! She finally got the name of the landlord and when she called him the loft was available to be rented, but...

Name: Westbrook Maker
Location: Venice; Los Angeles, California
Size: 500 square feet
Years in business: 1 1/2 years

Westbrook Maker owners and hat designers Nicholas Fouquet and Gregory Westbrook moved their workspace from an underground parking garage in Venice to an official location on Abbot Kinney Boulevard less than than a month ago. After acquiring the location, they outfitted and designed the space, which now includes a store, in under 2 weeks! 

Name: Irving Diaz-Burg & Timothy A. Day (and Matias, their Wheaten Terrier)
Location: Union Sqaure; New York, New York
Size: 850 square feet
Years lived in: 3 years; rented

While they now live upstate, Irving and Timothy were kind enough to share  images of their previous home in Downtown New York, overlooking Union Square. In this soothing space high above the hustle and bustle of one of the busier parts of the city, the couple and their pup Matias enjoyed an enviably bright and well decorated home. 

Name: Stacy and Christoph
Location: Russian Hill; San Francisco, California
Size: 1,400 square feet
Years lived in: 3.5 years; Rented

Walking to Stacy and Christoph’s Russian Hill apartment from mine in nearby Pacific Heights was like taking my own personal stroll down memory lane. I lived just around the corner from them 10 years ago, and despite never getting used to the steep hill climb it was one of my favorite neighborhoods — very classic San Francisco, right on the cable car line with a view of Coit Tower to the east and Alcatraz to the north, with quainter and quieter restaurants than you find down the hill on Polk Street.