Name: Féline & Ryan Location: Upper East Side, New York As soon as we decided to move in together we had a very clear vision of what we wanted our home to look like. We are both insanely crazy about that big vast space which we call the Ocean, everything about it… the salty smell of the wind, the turquoise water, the seashells, the sand, the sound of the surf…It’s one of the very first thing that we bonded over (the second is whiskey).

Name: Jennifer and Hans Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands My boyfriend, Hans and I, Jennifer have been living in this apartment together for two years now. After studying Fashion Design at ArtEZ in Arnhem and traveling through South America, I moved to Amsterdam in 2011. Here I founded Studio J|A|A|F, a design label that focuses on material and color combinations. Besides the design label, I am also an interior stylist. Hans has almost finished his PhD in chemistry.

Name: Cat Location: London, UK My name is Cat and I live in London with my Texan partner, Matt, and our scrappy ginger kitten, Chutney. We are both terribly boring lawyers in our day jobs, but we are also the couple behind Take Courage Blog, a London-based lifestyle blog which we’ve been running for four years. Living in London isn’t cheap, and we have lived in some horrendous, tiny rentals over the years.

Name: Brigette Location: Bellevue, Nebraska Built in 1941, our home is full of quirky charm! The unique floor plan lends itself to several nooks which have been really inspiring to decorate around. We’ve taken to curating little vignettes around our home, each corner telling a story about us and our past. Having lived in Hawaii and Germany prior to moving to Nebraska, much of our decor is eclectic.

Name: Avery and Ryan Location: Bouldin Creek neighborhood, Austin, Texas We moved into our 2,200 square foot house in central Austin from a one-roomed, open floor plan condo with a three-week-old baby and fairly little furniture. With a newborn, we were just happy to have doors and didn’t really care that we couldn’t afford to completely furnish our space right away. We bought a nice couch and a new bed and added a few cheap pieces to fill out the space as best we could.

Name: Abigail and Joe Location: Washington, DC I love that our landlord let us paint! The pink wall felt like a risk at the time, but now it seems demure. We love it! I have a love/hate relationship with the size, at only 560 square feet. Most days I can’t imagine ever wanting something bigger, but other days I can’t find any space for the books that somehow keep finding their way into our home.

Name: Jen Location: Travis Heights neighborhood, Austin, Texas My best friend Marina moved to Tel Aviv to study abroad for a year, so I moved into her house. She moved out all of her stuff (except for a fabulous orange couch), and it’s been really fun to make the place feel like my home by putting my own personality and style into it. Because it is a temporary space, I put a lot of work into it at the beginning so I could get settled in quickly.

Name: Cedrick and Sunny Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada We moved into this 1938 bungalow in mid-town Toronto’s East End in September and immediately tore up the old shag carpet to reveal original oak floors. The house has lots of original character, from the original wood burning fireplace to leaded windows to dark wood paneling throughout the dining room and we love the tension of vintage. Mid-century modern furnishings against traditional details.

Name: Erin Location: Denver, Colorado My husband and I moved to Denver from Chicago almost 2 years ago. It was an adjustment going from big city life to a smaller town vibe with the necessity of a car. But, we love the sunshine, mountains and west/southwest decor style. I have quickly adopted a love for western textiles and ceramics. We have also been MCM fans for years and many of our pieces are from thrift shops, flea markets and estate sales.

Name: Bola Location: San Francisco, California Our home is a 1,250 sq ft flat in the heart of San Francisco. Just a stone’s throw from Golden Gate Park and up and coming Divisadero street, our lovely home was built in 1913 and with all the Edwardian charm you find in San Francisco. Narrow hallways lead to boxed rooms with heavy molding and thick hardwood floors. Bright airy rooms allow lots of greenery to thrive in every room.

Name: Allison Location: Upper Fells Point, Baltimore, Maryland I’m located in Baltimore, Maryland and my house is an old row home in Upper Fells Point that I bought in 2013. It is 1800 square feet. We named our house Wolfehaus after the street it’s on — South Wolfe. It’s a three bedroom that I share with a couple good friends, three great rescue pups, and one grumpy princess cat. I’ve lived in this home for two years now.

Name: Amanda Location: West Village, Manhattan, New York City I live on an iconic street in an iconic neighborhood in New York City, in what I would call a classic New York apartment. It’s small. It’s technically a one bedroom, although the bedroom only fits a bed, the kitchen is part of the hallway, and I’ve definitely had to find ways to make do with the space. It also has so much New York character — an exposed brick wall, wood floors, and more.

Name: Ryan and Erica Location: Petworth, Washington, DC We have lived in our 700 square feet Petworth apartment for two years. Our home is colorful and always changing. We regularly add, subtract, or rearrange our walls for the inspiration of new pieces. Most of our items are handmade by us or friends, found, and/or thrifted. We take great pride in that our dishes, cups, rugs, afghan, and almost all of the hanging art has been made by us or artist friends.

Name: Brett and Rachel Location: Lafayette, Louisiana Our home was built in 1955 by David L. Perkins, an architecture professor who played a key role in starting the architecture school at what is now The University of Louisiana At Lafayette. It was one of the first of many modern homes and buildings he designed that shaped the contemporary landscape of Lafayette, Louisiana.

Name: Whitney Location: Gramercy Park, New York, New York There is a lot going on in my little studio, in line with my “more is more” style. I like large patterns and bright colors and didn’t want to shy away from them just because my space is so small (450 square feet). I went big on the walls, and the pièce de résistance is the hexagonal pattern that took me about a week to do between making the stencils, taping it all off, and actually painting.

Name: Andy & Sam Location: Tokyo, Japan After a whirlwind romance and a couple of countries, we decided to leave sunny England and fulfill our dream of living in Japan. It is truly a magical place and we feel so fortunate to call this our home for a while. We knew the minute we walked in, this was the flat for us. It’s so light and sunny, decently sized for Tokyo and has a view of Mt. Fuji. It’s our sanctuary from the craziness of packed trains and busy streets.

Name: Tasha Location: St. Paul, Minnesota This is our darling little 1940 story and a half. It’s our first home and we purchased it a little over a year ago. While it is very much a work in progress (it’s pink and a bad pink) there are certain things I am quite proud of. The main thing, the fact that we furnished it with a very low budget. For instance take our living room… Many of the pieces are from thrift stores. One thing I am very good at is “treasure hunting”.

Name: Natacha Location: Berkeley, California I am a part-time designer (furniture, ceramist and interior), and I just moved in with my long-time boyfriend Joshua, who is currently studying at UC Berkeley. We met in San Francisco, while I was in school in France and when I moved back to the Bay we decided to move to Berkeley. We found this lovely small apartment right by the campus. It’s a landmark building, built in 1902 (which means it lived through tough earthquakes!

Name: Suna Location: Santa Cruz, California I have lived here for eight years. When my realtor showed me the house my heart stopped. It had fallen out of escrow and was suddenly back on the market. Despite its quite grandiose exterior (Victorian Italianate style) it is actually a very comfortable family home. The rooms have wonderful proportions and 12-foot ceilings. Fortunately, the necessary modernizations have left the house reasonably intact.

Name: Abby Greenawalt, photographer Location: Capitol Hill, Washington, DC. Size: 550 square feet Years lived in: Rented 8 years We first got a peek at Abby’s style in her house call last year, where she showed off her bold use of color and her comfortable, cozy selection of furnishings in her third floor apartment. The extra bedroom of her tiny space had been serving as a sublet where friends and more helped share her apartment over the years.

Name: Maureen Location: Jamaica Plain (Boston), Massachusetts If Maureen’s expert and liberal use of bold wall colors and sophisticated look seem familiar, it may be because we featured her style in a home tour a few years ago: Maureen & Lui’s Pondside Lily Pad. Well there’s a new addition to the family — and they also moved down the street to a new house! Enjoy this sneak peek of their new house’s style. We have recently moved down the street to a new home.

Name: Mike Location: San Antonio, Texas The house was only the second one I ever looked at and though it needed a lot of work, it spoke to me right away. My dad and I did all the renovation — a complete gut — over the next year and a half. When we weren’t actually working on the house itself I was designing and building furniture for it.

Name: Kay Rozynski Location: Lower East Side New York, NY I am a design student/amateur designer and this is my studio apartment on the Lower East Side of New York. Just under 400 square feet, I tried to define a clear living, sleeping and dining space without the use of any dividers so I can keep an open and airy flow. I did everything with a very small budget and the bulk of my money was spent on my mattress and down topper.

Name: Michelle Location: Upper East Side New York City, New York The Frankfurt Kitchen of 1926 was the forerunner of modern fitted kitchens and had a unified concept to enable efficient work, consolidating a person’s efforts and allowing them more time to spend elsewhere.

Name: Molly Torres Location: New York, New York (Midtown) Before I started school, my boyfriend and I found the perfect (and affordable) 520 square foot studio apartment in midtown last summer — centrally located to school, for me, and work, for him. Though I only had a minimal budget to work off of, I was extremely excited for the decorating challenge. Within the small space, I wanted to create a functional entryway and a “separate” living area, dining area and bedroom area.

Name: Hannah Wareham Location: Northampton, Massachusetts After four years of living in our current duplex apartment, my wife Kristie and I finally got our living room decor right for us. It’s a mixture of vintage finds (like using an old magazine rack to store yarn for ongoing knitting projects) and newer bargains (thanks Craigslist!). Our living room is the first thing you see when you enter our home, and because of that, it was tough to make storage options both easy and stylish.

Name: Tina Scherzinger Location: San Diego, California I bought my 1920s spanish craftsman bungalow (1100 sq ft) last year and then spent six months renovating it completely and even changing the floorplan from a three (small) bedroom, one bath home into a spacious two bedroom, two bath home. I transformed the dirt front lawn and backyard into a beautiful succulent and desert garden.

Name: Maggie Dillon Location: Raleigh, North Carolina My boyfriend and I just moved in together in this wonderful 1930s house that he has lived in for the past three years as he went through Law School. To say it has changed a little since I have moved in might be a understatement. Although we have a pretty tight budget, I think we’ve been able to create a welcoming home that reflects who we are. It also helps that the house has killer bones (like 10 foot ceilings!

Name: Judith Cossette and Benjamin Dupont Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada I’m a photographer from Montreal. My boyfriend Benjamin is an industrial designer. We’ve had this amazing 1100 square feet loft in Montreal for the past three years. We love the warm and cozy feel that the place offers. We wanted the first feeling that you have when you first walk in to be the feeling of comfort.

Name: Krista Byers Location: Saint Charles, Illinois Our home is a house we rent and it is nearly 100 years old in one of Chicago’s most charming suburbs. Everything in our home is done on an extreme budget. Nearly everything in the home was found thrifting, at a yard sale or on Craigslist!

Name: Lauren Baker Location: Chicago, Illinois I am the Marketing Events Manager for The Land of Nod based in Chicago. (I plan all the events for our stores around the country, and plan all our bus tours for our #nodtourbus. Dream job!) I purchased my two bedroom/one bath condo seven months ago in the Ravenswood neighborhood in Chicago. Although it had a traditional builder 2007 look, I totally had a vision, and was obsessed with the large window and light when you walked in!

Name: Kendra O’Neill Location: Boston, Masschusetts My gorgeous townhouse apartment is located in Cambridge, Masschusetts just a few blocks from Harvard Yard. What really sold me on this place was the exposed brick. I’m a sucker for character and three large walls gave me just that. It’s a fairly large apartment as it has a full living room, eat in kitchen, small laundry room, 2 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. Plus when the snow melts, I have great outdoor space.

Name: Wendy Location: Wabash, Indiana My home is an apartment in a 1902 duplex in Wabash, Indiana. At 2,000 square feet it is more than roomy enough for myself, four children and our little dog and big cat. I grew up in this small Midwestern town and after being away for several years I decided to move back after some major life changes. It was a huge adjustment for us for several reasons: We had lived in our prior home for 12 years. It was situated back a long lane, nestled deep in the woods.

Name: Julie Carroll Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota I live in a classic 700 square foot Art Deco apartment in Minneapolis. The building was constructed in the early 1930s and maintains much of the original charm (cast iron radiators, porcelain farm sink, crystal door knobs, and the ornate brass light fixtures.) I was drawn to the beauty and opulent architecture of this otherwise modest space. My interior styling is inspired by my Minnesota/Scandinavian heritage.

Name: Cate Grosch Location: San Francisco, California My husband, two young children and our dog just moved to a new place in the Marina. We love the light, the high ceilings and the little nook off the kitchen. We painted the dining room black and added a dramatic fixture from Jonathan Adler. The house has the old charm of a San Francisco flat with an updated kitchen and a pretty open floor plan. Thanks, Cate! • Interested in sharing your home with Apartment Therapy?