Every kid dreams about a treehouse. I still dream about one myself. If you are lucky to live in the country with a big garden or land, then it might be a dream that can become true if you're handy. 

New York apartment dwellers know all too well what a challenge it can be living the dream on a budget. Sometimes all you can afford is the lower level railroad apartment without direct sunlight. For Alex, the plus side to this is having backyard access to plant a garden and express his love of horticulture. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to catch Alex’s garden in full bloom because he is moving soon (but staying in Bed Stuy), so he submitted some outdoor photos that friends have taken in summers past. This house tour is a little farewell to Alex’s garden floor apartment on Putnam Street.

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Name:

Hannah

Location:

Seattle, WA

Square Feet:

350

Division:

Teeny-Tiny

What I Love About My Small Home:

I love that my home is a personal reflection of who I am, where I've been and how far I have come from as a person. It is my tiny sanctuary where I can be surrounded by my favorite colors, textures and collections of silk screened prints and urban vinyl toys I have collected over the years through my travels across the US and Japan. I don't like to own a lot of 'stuff,' but each item displayed in my tiny home holds sentimental value and is a documentation of a life event. Coming home to me is like walking into by own brain, uncluttered yet colorful - a place I can recollect my thoughts and escape from the hustle and bustle of the city. I also love being on the top floor, and with west facing windows I wake up to the sun glaring in my face with the nested birds on my roof chirping all around - it helps me forget the fact that I do live in the heart of downtown, across the street from a hospital.

Designers always have tricks up their sleeves to be pulled out in challenging situations. We've gathered some of the most helpful small space design tips and tricks to get all you can out of any size space. And these tips are not solely for the square-foot challenged — they can work in every home.

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Name:

Daniel

Location:

Tulsa, OK

Square Feet:

720

Division:

Little

What I Love About My Small Home:

Small?! We prefer the term square foot challenged. When we got our hands on this space, it was nothing more than an empty garage. It was tiny and so was our budget, which encouraged us to look in unconventional places for building materials. The maple flooring was rescued from a flood at a local school gym. The vintage orange fireplace once housed a family of mice in grandpa’s abandoned farmhouse. Our big red headboard hung for years as the “M” on an old WalMart before it took its rightful place above the bed. The lovingly restored rocking chair rocked my wife’s great grandma to sleep and has rocked every generation since. The carefully selected décor was either fabricated on our kitchen floor or found on a stroll through the flea market. Even the IKEA items come with laughable memories of how we felt like the Beverly Hillbillies as we drove home with boxes sticking out in every direction! We remember the love it took to build this house and can’t help but love it back!

For those among you who are just be starting out, hoping to one day make a name for youself in the world of interior design, the story of Annie Kelly is relatable. Trained as an artist, she became a color consultant. It was after images of her own home were published that she began to attract clients, who wanted her style — unusual color combinations, Asian elements (the influence of mentor Tony Duquette) and a casual/glamor mash-up that seems to be the special province of the Australians  — for their own (though it wasn't until a renovation she had worked on, Frank Lloyd Wright's La Miniatura in Pasadena, was featured on the cover of Architectural Digest that she realized that she'd changed professions!).  

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Name:

Brendan & Jarrod

Location:

Melbourne Australia

Square Feet:

645

Division:

International

What I Love About My Small Home:

My apartment was built in the 1970s in Melbourne and has that retro 70s vibe going on (ya either love it or you don't!). One of the benefits of these older style apartments is that they are solid brick with very high ceilings, unlike many apartments built today. I love the light from the giant floor to ceiling windows and the crisp white walls, which can be used as a canvas for pretty much everything.

Name: Hannah & Brandon Proff and (Scottish Terrier) Remington
Location: Curtis Park; Denver, Colorado 
Size: 1,000 square feet
Years lived in: 2 years; Owned 

Many of us have come to appreciate that really special aesthetic that comes to life when a historic building is renovated. That wonderful juxtaposition of the old and new, right!? But every once in a while or perhaps more often than not some cosmetic renovation choices tend to lean in favor of the taste of the renovator and not to the future home owner. So what do you do then? Like Denver newlyweds, Hannah and Brandon, you take it one step at a time and slowly make it your own. 

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Name:

Lasse

Location:

Copenhagen Denmark

Square Feet:

484

Division:

International

What I Love About My Small Home:

To me less can be more. I live in central Copenhagen close to bars, restaurants, the Meat Packing District, public transport, shopping, the harbour baths and all the other things Copenhagen has to offer. My home is my retreat from the city life - small but mine. I see the small home as a great opportunity to declutter your life and your mind, without missing anything.

There's always money in the banana stand. Netflix has been promoting the return of 'Arrested Development' by setting up the Bluth frozen banana business around town, and today it will be in Times Square from 11 am to 5 pm. The line may be long, but the bananas are free. New episodes of 'Arrested Development' premiere May 26 on Netflix.

In other news, check out celebrity real estate that's on the market, from Cher to Versace. See the headlines after the jump.