Name: Tanya List, hubby Ry and daughter Reid Location: Muskoka — Ontario, Canada Size: 1500 square feet Years Lived In: 4 years, owned You saw a sneak peek of Tanya’s beautiful home in a house call last year, and now you can get a longer look and read more about her home. Tanya writes: We moved from Toronto to Muskoka about four years ago. The city was lovely, but once we had Reid, I craved moving home to my hometown of Muskoka.

Name: Brandon and Ashley Trebitowski and kids Location: Corrales, New Mexico Size: 240 square feet Years Lived In: 1.5 years, owned Our converted school bus has been our home for about a year in a half now and we love it. It has completely transformed our lives. We went from living in a 2100 square foot house to 240 square feet. Our bus is minimally decorated and everything was self built. We spent six months converting the bus into our home and now it’s our favorite place to be.

Located in an old printing house building, massive original windows overlook the city.

Name: Sarah Priestap-Porter and Jeffrey Porter. Our land-mates are Arlo (rescue mutt) and Glaumur (Icelandic Horse) Location: Tunbridge, Vermont (Central Vermont, for y’all who have no idea where this is) Size: 1620 square feet Years Lived In: 1 year, owned When I started dating Jeff back in 2009, one of the first things he told me was how his dream was to build a house for his family some day.

"Being immersed in interior design day-to-day for clients definitely helped me define my own personal style."

Name: Nisha Mirani and Brendan Kramer Location: Upper West Side — New York, NY Size: 500 square feet Years Lived In: 9 months, renting We recently moved to New York from Los Angeles to be closer to family and to live a car-free lifestyle. I work full time on Sunday/Monday from home and Brendan helps on nights and weekends, so our apartment search was as much of a studio search as an apartment hunt.

Name: Andrew, Kelly, and Cecilia McMahon—and Doris, the family dog Location: South Orange County, California Size: 1,600 square feet Years lived in: 7 years, owned Our historic California bungalow has been reborn and we love it! As a musician (Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness), I spend as much time on the road as I do at our home. My love of travel started early, growing up all over the U.S., however California has been home for most of my life.

Name: Zane and Aldo Location: London, UK Size: 860 square feet Years lived in: 1 year, owned We lived together in Australia before moving to London in 2014 on a work transfer. We were only going to be here for two years, but we fell in love with the city and decided to stay. Aldo works as a Senior Designer in a prominent architectural firm, and Zane became COO of the tech consultancy 101 Ways. We were already living in Borough and knew we wanted to stay here.

Name: Jennifer Biswas, husband, son (2 years), daughter (8 months), dog Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Size: 3,600 square feet Years lived in: 3 years, owned When my now-husband, Rishi, and I got engaged we started looking for a home to purchase. Since he’s a California kid living in Minnesota, he was dead set on getting a new construction home so we didn’t have to deal with frozen pipes and all the joys of older homes.

Name: Cortney Moore and Tyler Moore Location: Studio City Neighborhood — Los Angeles, California Size: 800 square feet Years lived in: 1 year, renting Since getting married back in 2011, we’ve moved at least once a year. We hopped around Nashville for a few years before moving out to Los Angeles, and have moved twice since we’ve been here. We both love to go out and be social, but we cherish our time at home as well.

Name: Kristyn Location: Pleasanton, California Size: 406 square feet Years lived in: 3 years, renting I love that my apartment has the unique charm of a Victorian home but has been renovated to be comfortable and modern. My landlord is a contractor and did a beautiful job keeping the Victorian characteristics as he updated it. Living across the hall from one of my lifelong friends, Melissa [whose home we toured before!

Name: Rachel and Nick Kuchar Location: Ewa Beach, Hawaii Size: 2,040 square feet Years lived in: 5 years, owned We turned our cookie cutter suburban home into the vintage surf hideaway we had dreamed of. We were given a 1950s Gordon & Smith longboard from a relative and that began our love affair with the era. I asked my husband, a graphic designer, to make some art for the house since I couldn’t find anything that was just right.

Name: Wendy van Wilgenburg and two sons Willem (10), and Adam (12) Location: Zaandam, The Netherlands Size: 1700 square feet (the house), 4700 square feet (garden) Years lived in: 6.5 years, owned My name is Wendy van Wilgenburg, and I am a visual anthropologist and documentary filmmaker focusing on craftmanship. I have made films on master craftmanship for over twenty years and decided to found the Craft in Focus Festival to engage a large audience with the beauty of handmade objects.

Name: Stacey Norkun and Chris Norkun Location: Salem, Massachusetts Size: 2,629 square feet Years Lived In: 3.5 years, owned We would visit Salem often in the early 2000s and loved the history, culture, and vibrancy of the city. It was a place that always held special meaning in our hearts. After some years living in the metro D.C. area, we decided to move back to New England, and Salem was the obvious choice—it had just the right amount of kitsch and character we were looking for.

Name: Chris McGovern Location: NoMad — Manhattan, New York Size: 925 square feet Years lived in: 1.5 years, owned In a city full of high-rises often with floors of identical apartments, Chris was keen to find a space that was both architecturally unique and required some renovation to put his own touch on it. He gravitated towards loft spaces throughout his search. In 2017, he purchased a loft in Manhattan on the border between Chelsea and NoMad.

Name: Jake Levin Location: Big Bear, California Size: 972 square feet Years lived in: 2.5 years, owned I found this cabin after being frustrated with the out-of-reach housing market in Los Angeles, where I live and work full-time as an Art Director/Graphic Designer. One day I started looking at places in Big Bear, just a two-hour drive from the city, when I realized wait a minute, I might be actually able to do this.

It's important to remind everyone you can really achieve big changes despite the small square footage.

Name: Jamie Gasparovic, husband Ryan, and two rescue pups Location: Orlando, Florida Size: 2,000 square feet Years Lived In: 2 years, owned When my husband Ryan and I were looking for our first house, we were looking exclusively at fixer uppers. I’m an interior designer, so I’m very particular about my house looking how I want, and I didn’t want to pay a premium for someone else’s tastes and renovations that I didn’t even like!

Name: Mary and Tom Eirich Location: Watertown, Massachusetts Size: 1,100 square feet Years Lived In: 2 years, owned We had previously lived in Belmont, Massachusetts, for 30 years and had decided, as empty nesters, to move to the north shore, not far from the ocean. After a few years of being further from our children (and, eventually, grandchildren) and also missing the conveniences and cultural benefits of being close to the city, we decided to look at real estate closer to Boston.

Name: Stacy and Ben Location: San Diego, California Size: 2,930 square feet Years lived in: 1.5 years, owned It was the enviable views of the ocean and quirky mid-century details that appealed to Ben and Stacy when they bought this house, which hadn’t been renovated since it was built in 1958. Located in a bohemian beachside community in San Diego, the couple was expanding their family and looking for a place to settle where growing kids would feel comfortable for many years to come.

Name: Dawn Sweitzer of Notre Monde Location: High Point, North Carolina Years working in: 5 years, owned Dawn Sweitzer is the artist behind Notre Monde, a brand known for textiles, furniture, and accessories like trays, art, mirrors, and more. Her designs are distinct, as well as modern, minimal, and a little bohemian, too.

Name: Erin Flett and family Location: Gorham, Maine Size: 2,400 square feet Years lived in: 3 years, owned We found an open lot in the middle of an established neighborhood in Gorham, Maine, and instantly fell in love. It was almost four acres, half-wooded, and half-open and flat.

Name: Steve and Nikki Carlson Location: Encinitas, California Size: 544 square feet Years Lived In: 4 months, owned Our home, which we named “Cottage + Sea,” is a tiny 544-square-foot beach bungalow studio steps from Moonlight Beach in the quaint surf town of Encinitas near San Diego, California. We never knew we could live tiny.

Name: Kaitlyn McGowan and Evan Walker Location: Downtown Gainesville, Florida Size: 1,400 square feet Years Lived In: 16 months, renting Our home is a 1930s-ish converted duplex that I share with my partner of four years, Evan, and our cat, Rasputin, or Poots as we call him. Located downtown in a college town, our place has seen some interesting, fun, and scary renters.

Name: Hannah Wilson Location: Dallas, Texas Size: 1,300 square feet Years Lived In: 5 months, owned My husband and I own a home remodeling/design company called Blank Slate Renovations. He is a licensed contractor and I’ve recently graduated with a degree in interior design. We flip houses full time and are always looking for the next project or creative outlet. We found our current abode here in Dallas through an investor that had previously sold us a project a few years back.

Name: Emily Berger-Crawford, husband Chris Crawford, daughter Edie, dog Lilly and cats Chester + Charlie Location: East English Village — Detroit, Michigan Size: 1,650 square feet Years Lived In: 2 years, owned Our house is well loved and full of character, a perfect home base for our family to relax and enjoy watching our 4-month-old daughter grow up. Although it’s a constant project (and sometimes headache), we feel like we lucked out in finding it with so many details in tact.

Name: Emilie Schiller, David Kramer, dogs Gus and Scarlet Location: Hampden — Baltimore, Maryland Size: 1,300 square feet Years Lived In: 1 year, owned Our home was somewhat of an impulse purchase, which is not usually how home purchases go, but it’s how ours went. My now-husband Dave and I were living together in a different neighborhood in Baltimore in a house that he purchased before we got together.

Name: Christin Haussman, my husband Lars, with our two kids Calle and Emma. Location: Upplands Väsby — North of Stockholm, Sweden Size: 2,000 square feet Years Lived In: Myself 4 years, the hubby 12 years, owned I am originally from Germany but have lived in England and Scotland, until moving to Sweden five years ago. Sweden is a bit of an outdoorsy-type country, so I was like let’s start a new hobby!

Name: Adrianne Herold (and my fiance Dylan and our cat, Scavenger) Location: Champaign, Illinois Size: 1,005 square feet Years Lived In: 1 year, renting We actually lived across the parking lot in the same complex but in a two-bedroom and one day I noticed them ripping carpet out of some units and replacing it with wood paneling. I quickly asked our landlord if we could just transfer our lease to one of the updated units and she actually let us do it!

Name: Kira Cole and two cats Location: Gold Coast — Chicago, Illinois Size: 1,080 square feet Years Lived In: 8 months, owned My home was built in 1892, originally as a single family. In 1978, it was renovated into condo units. I actually grew up in the unit below, so I was very familiar with the building and neighbors when purchasing! When I first got my hands on it, it had not been renovated (not even paint touch-ups) since the 1978 renovation, so it was in serious need of love.

Name: Maggie Smoller and family Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Size: 1,600 square feet Years Lived In: 4 years, owned Since the day we closed on this house four and a half years ago, we’ve been putting our stamp on it room by room. As self-proclaimed homebodies, there’s nothing we love more than staying in and getting cozy, and it was so important to create a home that we loved being in and living in.

Name: Becca Tobin, husband Zach Martin, and Orly Martin the dog Location: Laurel Canyon — Los Angeles, California Size: 1,200 square feet Years Lived In: 2.5 years, owned We moved into our home a little over two years ago. We were drawn to the space because the house had so much charm! Los Angeles is filled with a lot of new construction that feels really sterile, so this 1930s gem felt super special.

Name: Laura Santora, husband Kevin, daughters Ellie (6), Evie (4), and Dylan (1), plus dogs Moco and Oliver Location: Mission Viejo, California Size: 3,450 square feet Years Lived In: 3.5 years, owned When looking for a new home three and a half years ago, we wanted something with enough space, some character, and something we could make our own.

Name: Meredith and Luke Coe + our 1.5-year-old son, Nathan Location: King of Prussia, Pennsylvania Size: 1,830 square feet Years Lived In: 1.5 years, owned My husband and I bought this home (our first!) in May of 2017. It was very dull and slightly neglected when we first bought it—all of the walls were a shade of brown or yellow and the floors were in need of some serious TLC. We’ve been able to make several minor updates that have really helped turn it into a space we love!

Name: Jacqueline Sarah, my fiancé Joshua Zeolla, and our 5-year-old son. Location: Currently in Greenville, South Carolina Size: 200 square feet Years Lived In: 8 months, owned There’s so much to love about our tiny home. What I personally love the most is that the space truly uniquely represents my family and I. There’s a master bedroom that feels like our own little oasis, and a bunk/bunk room we created for our son so he too could feel like he had a space of his own.

Name: Lauri Carleton, husband Bort Carleton, kids Kelsey and Ari Carleton, Buoy the Aussiedoodle, Zorba the Yorkshire mix, and Jake the orange tabby Maine Coon cat. Location: Lake Arrowhead, California Size: 2,300 square feet Years Lived In: Owned, renovations for 7 years, lived in for past 5 years Our family planted their roots in Lake Arrowhead in the 1940s. Lauri grew up spending an extensive amount of time with her grandparents that had built a family lodge in Lake Arrowhead.

Name: Kate Keesee, Robert, Gracie , and our doggy Guinevere Location: Orange County, California Size: 1,375 square feet Years lived in: Grew up in this home! I was gifted this home that I grew up in by my mother who adopted me when I was 12 years old. I have over the years taken the unwanted and discarded to create a space that tells the story of how I found myself within these walls.

Name: Maya Goldfine Location: San Francisco, California Size: 400 square feet Years Lived In: 6 months, renting Call it fate or luck, but something aligned the day I found this studio. By chance I had come across the listing on Craigslist the evening prior—at 5:45 p.m. it was posted that an open house was happening at 7:30 a.m. the next day.

Name: Rachael and Virgil Gibilterra and Jovie (our little border collie mix!) Location: Highland Park — Los Angeles, California Size: 408 square feet Years lived in: 1 year, renting We found this little slice of L.A. on Craigslist. I was sold on the windows. We jumped on it as quick as we could! We were living briefly in an Airstream before this (we unfortunately had to sell that beauty due to job opportunities in L.A.