Name: Anna Reser Location: Norman, Oklahoma One of the best things about moving for graduate school was the opportunity to have my own place since I’ve always lived with roommates. My little apartment has some issues (those cracks along the windows, yikes) but I like it quite a lot and I’m slowly making it my own. I’d like to paint soon, as it’s a bit like living inside a jar of peanut butter at the moment.

Name: Lauren Ebedes Location: Toronto, Canada My fiancee Jordan and I have been living in our 900 square foot apartment in midtown Toronto for 1.5 years and our apartment is a constant evolution. As an interior designer and lover of design blogs and DIY projects, I am continually looking for ways to improve our pad on our modest budget. Do I think I’ll ever be done decorating our apartment? Definitely not…because what’s the fun in that?

Name: Chelsea Park Location: Chinatown, New York, NY I remember thinking my 9×7 room looked a lot bigger when it was empty. Then I got my bed in there. Once I was done crying on the inside, I decided right then would be a great opportunity to stop hoarding and start making good use of my walls. I have a ton of books, so I hung several bookshelves and made the words the focal point of my room. Now it’s my happy little place.

Name: Tina Gonsalves and Matthew Wild Location: Port Douglas, North Queensland, Australia We bought this five bedroom house in late May 2012, just a few days after returning from a year long overseas trip. It was a really ugly house, on a wonderfully quiet street, just near to the beach. It had been on the market for a long time, as I guess no one knew what to do with it. My husband and I took up the challenge.

Name: Emily Ardoin and Basha the cat Location: North University; Austin, Texas Size: 400 square feet Years lived in: Rented; 1 year This isn’t Emily’s forever home. It’s not even her few years home. This tiny studio Emily Ardoin is renting is only her home while she attends graduate school at the University of Texas for Historic Preservation.

Name: Monique Lavie, her boyfriend Matt Woodward, and Elsa the Boxer Location: Travis Heights; Austin, Texas Size: 900 square feet Years lived in: Owned; 6 months It’s completely enviable when someone can successfully pull off a super simple, clean, minimal look without their place looking empty.

Name: Noah Marion of Noah Marion Quality Goods Location: Travis Heights; Austin, Texas Size: 1250 square feet Years lived in: 4 years; Rented Full of light, warm woods, colorful art, and an enviable collection of timeless and classic accessories arranged into lovely vignettes, Noah Marion’s South Austin home is a lesson in how to collect well-designed objects for a rich, meaningful home without the clutter.

Name: Designer Allison Burke, with architect husband Ryan and hound dog Blue Jay Location: French Place/Cherrywood; Austin, Texas Size: 1600 square feet Years lived in: 3.5 years; Owned Allison Burke is a designer with 13 years of experience in high-end residential, small scale commercial and craft-driven interiors. It’s not surprising the home she shares with her architect husband is a modern mix of white walls, pops of color and purposeful accessories.

Name: Kristen Harper and Michelle Flores, owners of the Remodeling Boutique, (and some outside cats named Mr. Cat, Mrs. Kitty and Stinky) Location: East Side; Austin, Texas Size: 952 square feet Years lived in: 2 years; Owned How do you create a rich, layered, personalized home in a tiny space and without a lot of money? If you’re Kristen Harper and Michelle Flores, you combine killer style, fearless DIY skills and a healthy mix of vintage finds and modern furnishings.

Name: Amy L.

Name: Chris Apollo Lynn Location: Bouldin Creek; Austin, Texas Size: 650 square feet Years lived in: 2.5 years; Rented Chris Apollo Lynn always smiles when he speaks. A calming personality, he’s equal parts exuberance and enthusiasm, especially about the city of Austin and its community.

Name: Eric Marshall, technical writer Location: Clarksville; Austin, Texas Size: 600 square feet Years lived in: 8 years; Owned Fans of adorable, well-organized and refreshingly decorated small spaces that open out onto green, tree-filled natural wonderlands might want to brace themselves.

Name: Briana Babani and Dominic Cancilla Location: North Loop; Austin, Texas Size: 1050 square feet Years lived in: Rented 1.5 years Artist Briana Babani and her husband Dominic had to tackle two of the biggest challenges renters face. One: how to combine the homes of two furniture lovers (recently married) and two: how to make a home with a stylish previous owner and very distinctive bones look like you.

Name: Architect Cass Cheesar, Carla Umlauf-Cheesar, Sophie 13, Ella, 11, and Maggie (our lab)Location: Brentwood; Austin, TexasSize: 2,200 square feetYears lived in: 8 years; Owned Architect and builder Cass Cheesar and his wife, Carla Umlauf-Cheesar, a native Austinite and realtor, renovated a 1952 home in the Brentwood neighborhood a few years back.

Name: Emily (co-owner of Prototype Vintage Design) and Ian (awesome musician Orthy) with kitties Monty and Marmie. Location: Cherrywood Neighborhood; Austin, Texas Size: 1300 square feet Years lived in: Rented; Ian 8 years, Emily 3 years Want to see the home of a couple that’s perfectly paired in both romance and style?

Name: Sam, Anne, new baby Tesla and Pup Indiana Location: South Austin, Texas Size: 2200 square feet Years lived in: Owned 8 months Sam and Anne never intended to make this house in South Austin their home. They had been living in a gorgeous modern home we featured on Apartment Therapy last year, and purchased this 1927 bungalow with the intention of flipping it.

Name: Kate Payne, educator and author of “The Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking”, her documentary photographer wife Jo Ann Santangelo, pup Isobel (and the occasional Airbnb guest, including Husky Ada). Location: East Austin, Texas Size: 1100 square feet Years lived in: Rented almost 1 year We first took note of Kate Payne’s hypnotizing and down-to-earth brand of home style when we covered her cheery and colorful kitchen last year.

Name: Matt and Leah (and eight furry cat children)Location: Austin, TexasSize: 2055 square feetYears lived in: Owned 2 years Let’s just get this out of the way: Matt and Leah have eight cats. They also have a gorgeous modern Austin home and enviable tastes, but you’re about to experience a lot of adorable photos of cats perched on modern furniture.

Name: Heather Chontos, Kodie (12) and Zana (3), and dog MarvinLocation: Clinton Hill — Brooklyn, New YorkSize: 1000 square feetYears lived in: 3 years — rent If this post title seems to have a lot of adjectives to describe the home, we felt it only fitting consider the creative woman renting this space happens to wear a lot of hats herself.

Name: Music industry executive Sam, designer Anne & Vizsla pup Indiana Location: Bouldin — Austin, Texas Size: 2400 square feet Years lived in: 2 — owned You could say that creativity’s been in the center of Sam and Anne’s relationship from the beginning, when one of their first conversations centered around their mutual love of design.

Names: Jenny Carlson, a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology at the University of Texas and an improviser with Damned Avalanche, and Collin Cannaday, a multimedia content producer who runs a podcast, “You Should Be Watching.”Location: Allandale Neighborhood — Austin, TexasSize: 800 square feetYears lived in: 1 year — rent Jenny and her boyfriend Collin are like most of us: they love a home with built-in personality and charm.

Name: Roger and Chris Stout-Hazard of Design Hazards, Buck the dog and an evil housecat Location: Agave Neighborhood — Austin, Texas Size: 1500 square feet Years lived in: 4 years — owned Roger Stout-Hazard might be best known for introducing home staging to television ten years ago with the Emmy-nominated show “Sell This House.

Name: Carly Uson, Lifestyle/Fashion/Beauty Publicist and owner of Carly Co. Public Relations and Jason Uson, Film/Commercial Editor with Posey (a female rottweiler), Gunner (a male rottweiler) and Rain (a male pit bull).

Name: Freelance writer/director Michael Holbrook Moss, his youngest daughter, Adrian, little dog Peanut and lab Zoe.Location: Barton Hills — Austin, TexasSize: 1950 square feetYears lived in: 14 — owned With cool blues music pouring out of a stereo from a gorgeous wall of built-in cabinets and surrounded by vintage furniture finds, we immediately felt at home in the house of talented writer and director Michael Moss.

Name: Lestat, Perry and their twin toddlers Lucrezia and OrazioLocation: Cotroceni Quarter, Bucharest, RomaniaSize: 6,000 square feet Years lived in: Owned 2.5 years 6,000 square feet is certainly a lot of space to fill, but Perry and Lestat did not shy away from the challenge. Instead, the stylish and talented Lestat designed and created a space full of color, personality, pattern, great furnishings and fun. There’s so much inspiration here, it’ll be hard to pick a favorite room.

Name: Alan Gonzalez Garcia, owner of new East Austin restaurant Papi Tino’s and Taco (the dog). Location: East — Austin, TexasSize: 2,500 square feetYears lived in: Owned 3 years Two things hit you first when you walk into Alan Gonzalez’s hip-looking East Austin home. One: Whoa! A black ceiling! And two: The realization that this is going to be one awesome house.

Name: Harper and Caleb Carnes with Piper the PomeranianLocation: Dalton, GeorgiaSize: 2000 square feetYears lived in: Own — 9 months Sure, we used the word “sophisticated” in the title because it pairs so cheerfully with the word “Southern,” but make no mistake; the Georgia home of cute couple Harper and Caleb might be grown-up and good-looking, but it’s also bold, bright, adventurous, fun and full of inspiring ideas and enviable thrift store finds.

Name: Michael Yates, furniture designer and founder of Michael Yates DesignLocation: South — Austin, TexasSize: 800 square feet studioYears lived in: Rent 6 years It’s evident upon walking into the studio of furniture designer Michael Yates that this is a guy with a whole heap of style.

Name: Deron and Marye Miller, Son Conner – 15; Daughter Macee – 12; Boston Terriers Sparky, Slinger and Murphy and Chihuahua Wilbur Location: Rollingwood — Austin, TXSize: 4000 square feetYears lived in: Owned 1 year You know the state saying: “Everything’s bigger in Texas.” Because we have a little more room to stretch out here, our houses are sometimes larger than the norm.

Name: Anne Ingman, photographer and blogger, and Jake Ingman, along with dog Judy Location: Saint Paul, Minnesota Size: 842 square feet Years lived in: Owned 4 years The Minnesota home of married couple Anne and Jake Ingman absolutely exudes friendliness, warmth and style. Simply decorated to maximize space, the result is a bright and airy home that fits the personalities of two young, stay-at-home, creative people. Dog Judy also makes an excellent visual accessory for any room!

Name: Designer Trent HultgrenLocation: South — Austin, TexasSize: 623 square feet Years lived in: renting, 3 weeks We don’t think we’ve ever seen better evidence that you can design a small home affordably, beautifully and stylishly than with the Austin apartment of designer, Los Angeles transplant and former HGTV star Trent Hultgren.

Name: Clay Ferguson (aka FERG), vinyl toy designer and owner of toy companies Playge and Jamungo, his wife, artist Sarah Ferguson, their daughter, Georgia and delightful dog, Blackie.Location: Hyde Park — Austin, TexasSize: 1200 square feet Years lived in: Owned 2 years We love a sleek, modern-looking home, but don’t love a space that seems too serious to be enjoyed.

Name: Nana Kim, her husband, their 2-year-old daughter and 2 catsLocation: Bouldin Neighborhood — Austin, TexasSize: 2,300 square feetYears lived in: 4 The home designed by Nana Kim, of 9 square studio, is a dream for anyone who loves modern design and nature.