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I love fireplaces for their cozy ambience, but there was a time when they were more utilitarian than aesthetic. In my 1895 rowhouse, for example, there were originally fireplaces in every room for functional heat.Once radiators were installed, those fireplaces became unnecessary, and previous owners decided two fireplaces were plenty. But instead of leaving the other six fireplaces open to admire, they simply covered them up with drywall. Horror of horrors!On one hand, I get it.

For better (see: these 20 incredibly chic studios) or worse (see: not being able to fall asleep due to a light coming from a random kitchen appliance), studio apartments famously do not have a distinct sleeping zone. But that doesn’t mean they have to stay that way. Renter Ashley Buchanan (@historyinhighheels) created a cozy bedroom with plenty of clothing storage in her 480-square-foot studio apartment in D.C.“Technically, there was no bedroom before!” Ashley says.

A crisp white color scheme can help rooms feel bigger and brighter—but in some spaces, that’s just not enough. The only upstairs bathroom in Alli Devlin’s home suffered from an always-cramped feeling, thanks to the tiny windows and poor layout.Another drag: The 1978 home had seen few updates over the years, and the bathroom was no exception.

Blank white spaces, given their expansiveness and endless potential, can be tricky to decorate — especially if it’s a long hallway. But luckily for plant enthusiast Paige Tailyn, she knew she wanted to create an experience for her hallway that would make guests “feel suddenly engulfed by their surroundings,” she says.

Hillary and Johnny Musselman weren’t looking to buy a house when they went antique hunting at an estate sale a year ago… but when they saw that this space hadn’t been touched since the 1960s, they jumped at the chance to purchase this architectural gem.

Courtney Hierath had a lot to love about her little bungalow, but the kitchen, with its buttermilk-yellow walls and dark wood cabinets, wasn’t on the list.“I despised it from day one,” says Courtney. “But the idea of tackling this huge project was daunting, so I kept putting it off as long as I could.

During Meredith Svoboda’s final walk-through of her Nashville home, she photographed the dining room, “dreaming of the life I could bring to this room,” she writes.She, her husband, and their three children moved into their new house this past April, and Meredith decided from the get-go that she’d have to make some changes.“The room was so dark and always had a yellow hue to it,” she writes.

Jenna Schreck, a holistic nutrition consultant, shared her pivotal living room makeover with Apartment Therapy. She was able to rediscover her design style after a breakup (and the ex moved out).This time, Jenna reveals her recent hallway-turned-home office makeover (which she had help designing with Annie Mueller of Currant Design), and it’s great inspiration for anyone looking to carve out space to be creative and productive in an unconventional spot.

Tired of all-white? Honja‘s kitchen remodel proves the trend still has legs, especially when paired with cheerful spring pastels. Their kitchen was blessed with good bones, but also cursed with a purple laminate counter — and swinging saloon doors.“We knew it had all kinds of potential down the road,” she says.She saved for three years to afford this streamlined $10,000 remodel, and elected to do a do-it-yourself renovation.

“That feeling of scrubbing a bathroom until your arms ache, only for it to still look kind of grimy, is the ultimate motivator,” DIYer Joe Bergantino says. Joe is one half of the DIY duo @HomosWithHammers, an account he shares with his husband, Ricky Gonzalez. They’ve slowly been restoring their 1800s Chicago home, and that grimy feeling was the couple’s inspiration to make the tiny powder room “pack a giant punch.