The Latest: Jun 2016

Outdoorsy types have their own unique organizing struggles. You see, bikes and surfboards and other sporting equipment are big. And they’re really hard to store neatly at home–especially without a garage or a mudroom or even more than a few hundred square feet to work with. These house tours, though, managed to make it work, finding tight and tidy spaces where they could store some big equipment at home.

Name: Maria Location: Moscow, Russia Located in the old district of Arbat in Moscow, Russia, our three bed city center penthouse has lots of charm with its mix of modern and historical. Black marble retro fireplace, a mix of updated granite and original hardwood flooring, tall ceilings with crown molding and bright rooms. It’s a modest 128 square meters (1,378 square feet) but its layout makes our space feel bigger. Originally from the United States, we moved to Moscow as expats.

Name: Jody Location: Round Hill, Virginia We lived in a 3,500 square-foot house, and owned five other traditional American homes. One day, when looking over finances, we realized we were both working to support our home. The house owned us. At the same time, we’d been questioning our carbon footprint. I “blame” that on the Solar Decathlon.

Name: Mollie Location: West Loop —Chicago, Illinois My husband, Dave, and I have lived in this space for a little over a year. Prior to moving in we did an entire gut rehab of the space. The condo was originally a factory that was later converted to residential condos (imagine maple cabinets and dark granite counter tops).

Name: Victoria of Prospect Refuge Studio Location: Fulton Neighborhood —Minneapolis, Minnesota It’s been said that the house is “built like a ship” with a use for every space and nothing extra. This simple 1920s foursquare on the south end of Lake Harriet was ripe for a refresh when Minneapolis designer, and co-owner of Prospect Refuge Studio, bought it in 2014.

Name: Max & Mia (2 years and 3 months) Location: Austin, Texas My son Maxwell’s black and white nursery was actually featured on Apartment Therapy when he was born in 2014. When I found out I was expecting another baby just 14 months later, I was excited to update the nursery to welcome our baby girl. We absolutely needed another bed or crib and a larger dresser to make room for two kiddos.

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” The phrase has a contented history, but the expression boils down to this: lemons are harsh and sour – kind of like the dated rental kitchen you can’t stand to cook in – and lemonade is sweet – like these 3 real rooms that made the best of a bad situation.

Leirecent full tour of the home Dining table: Gregor Jenkin Benches: Similar – Parsons Bench at Target Bench cushions: custom made by Ashanti Sideboard: made by Recreate, Lei briefed them and they sourced an old sideboard for her which was then remade Glass lamp: @home Pendant lights: Hoi P’loy Rug: Alexander Joles Large pink painting: by Natasha Miller Gutman, who runs Tel Aviv Art Studio.

Name: Mia Location: Bed-Stuy — Brooklyn, New York I live with my boyfriend and our roommate in a charming two-bedroom brownstone in Bed-Stuy. It is a fairly tiny (700 square feet) home, but it is very cozy and charismatic. The boys are from Florida and comically obsessed with orange so that color can be found all over the apartment.

Name: Gina Location: Canberra — Australian Capital Territory, Australia Located in the leafy suburb of Hughes, Canberra, Australia, our newly built architectural home uses contemporary black metal cladding and red brick to connect the house with the more traditional homes in the area. We originally bought the land nine years ago with a small white brick house on the block and made some renovations immediately to make the house liveable.

Name: Ana Location: Tacoma, Washington After a long house hunt last year, I bought my first home in early October. It is a 1921 fixer-upper craftsman with good bones that I bought in lieu of having the money to buy a “nicer” place. But after much elbow grease I now have the house I couldn’t afford! I am a special events designer by day and I run an online vintage shop by night. I think my space is unique as it is a showcases of my eclectic worldly style on a budget.

Name: Jess Location: Ravenswood — Chicago, Illinois When I moved to Chicago for a job I looked at a ton of apartments. I had a couple showings on a Sunday I was in town, but Chicago was hit with one of the worst snow storms that day and all the brokers canceled on me but one. I told him I really wanted to see the place and he said if I made my way up to the apartment from the Loop he would be there as well.

Name: Danny Location: West End — Portland, Maine My wife and I live on the historic Deering Street in Portland, Maine. The building was built in the mid-1800s and our unit is around 950 square feet. We have 10 foot ceilings and black marble fireplaces in both the living room and bedroom. We recently moved from Wisconsin, where we lived in another mid-1800s home. In January, I started my own design studio and our apartment doubles as my workspace.

The super cute family above are Esther, Álvaro and Aníbal and they live in Valencia, Spain. They own a fashionable shop called Gnomo and have style to spare, as was proven in their recent house tour. We’ve pulled out some great shoppable photos from the tour, providing you with links to the smart mix of high and low products that fill their home.