Fabienne Ayina

Name: Nina and Mohamed and their kids, Alima, Maymuna, and Inès Location: Fes, Morocco Size: 500 square meters (5382 square feet) Years lived in: 2 years; Owned Nina, who left Los Angeles a few years ago, found both love and a paradise in Fes. She’s a textile designer, a sourcing consultant and the founder of Artisan Project, and she lives in a fabulous riad in the Old Medina of Fes with her husband, Mohamed—a Fez native, doctor, and Sunday painter—and their kids.

Name: Jodi Capobianco & Michael Bell and their daughters Location: Parsonsfield, Maine Size: 1,200 square feet Years lived in: 4 years; Owned After three years of looking for the perfect nest, Jodi (Martha Stewart’s former personal head gardener) and Michael (a busy landscaper) found their dream home: a sun-flooded wooden house on top of a mountain.

Name: Laura, Bob, Conor, and Frederick Ker Location: Back Cove; Portland, Maine Size: 1,500 square feet Years lived in: 1 year; Owned When Laura and Bob moved from Brooklyn, New York, to Portland, Maine, they knew exactly what they wanted: to be closer to family and to have more space. They’ve not only created a stylish home for their family, but also opened Find, a buy-trade-sell boutique which has become a staple in the Portland shopping scene.

Name: Anja Szmania and her dog, Mici Location: Wedding; Berlin, Germany Size: 45 square meters (484 square feet) Years lived in: 6 months; Rented Anja, a yoga teacher, has created an ideal home in a Berlin studio apartment. She was looking for the perfect home for her new life and needed a cozy space where she could regenerate herself, host dinner parties for friends, and feel at peace in between road trips.

Name: Philippe Location: Haut de Belleville — Paris, France Size: 45 square meters (484 square feet) Years lived in: 32 years; Owned Philippe’s luminous and book-filled apartment is located on the top floor of a typical Parisian building hidden in a courtyard. Philippe, a writer and former director of the archives at France’s National Audiovisual Institute, has been working and living here for over three decades. As a result, the habitat is very cozy and personal.

Name: Michel Biehn Location: Old Medina — Fes, Morocco Size: 150 square meters (1,614 square feet) Years lived in: 6 years; Owned “Eight years ago, I needed to refresh my life, before becoming too old,” says Michel, the larger-than-life French expatriate textile expert, author, chef, hotelier and owner of Le Jardin des Biehn, who has taken up residence in the Old Medina.

When Adrienne and Benjamin bought this old Parisian printing factory, the space was raw, dark, and badly in need of a renovation, but the volumes were beautiful and they knew there was potential. They took the challenge and after three months of renovations, an atypical, two-story open space was born. They changed the floor, brought in some light, built a stairway and did so much more.

Name: Stephen di Renza Location: Old Medina — Fes, Morocco Size: 56 square meters (600 square feet) Years lived in: 4 years; Owned After years of dwelling in various locations — New York, Paris, London, Hanoi— it is in Morocco that American-born Stephen Di Renza came to a halt and settled.

Name: Adrienne and Benjamin and their children, Jeanne, Sacha and Rose Location: Belleville — Paris, France Size: 200 square meters (2,153 square feet) Years lived in: 12 years; Owned When they’re not playing electro-Balkan music with their band, Djam Orkestar, Adrienne, a passionate socio-anthropologist, and Benjamin, a fashion-loving lawyer, keep the magic and fanfare going in the old printing factory they revamped into a multifaceted duplex.

Name: Silvia Michielotto, Jean-Pierre Mongard and Valeria Concari Location: Old Medina — Marrakech, Morocco Size: 110 square meters (1,184 square feet) Years lived in: 2 years; Rented Crises can sometimes turn out to be good; you can make new decisions, reboot the hard drive, explore new possibilities and do things you could not do before. Friends Silvia, Jean-Pierre, and Valeria did just that.

Name: Amandine Isnard & Mihalis Gripiotis and Aristos Location: Williamsburg; Brooklyn, NY Size: 2,800 square feet Years lived in: 7 years; Rented Amandine is the Head of Product Development for Eve Lom, a European niche luxury beauty brand, and Mihalis is a journalist and the founder of the art-house film production company IFFI Productions. Their Brooklyn house was decorated to look like a film set, and as a result, has been used as a studio for various film projects.

Name: Jen Patryn Location: Nolita; New York City Size: 2,000 square feet Years lived in: 6 years; Rented When she’s not working on fashion shoots, creating visual stories, and advising major labels, Jen Patryn, a New York-based fashion editor, is traveling the world and wandering the mountains of Central America.

Name: Amy, Noah, River, Darby, and Isaiah Location: Portland, Maine Size: 1,800 square feet Years lived in: 9 years; Owned Far away from white and empty spaces, Amy and Noah celebrate the art of uniqueness, embracing blasts from the past, dramatic patterns and a modern era. The result is so refreshing that it left me speechless. Amy and Noah are the founders of Picnic, an indie music and art festival, and owners of Pinecone+Chickadee, a boutique full of quirky finds and old-time surprises.