Jessica Rapp

Apartment Therapy photographer Jessica Rapp shares this cute apartment with her partner Iain and their two cats, Pigeon and Jonjon.

Designer Leslie Sumner doesn't believe a home has to have one certain style: She uses them ALL.

Becky makes the most of her transformed tiny space with a lofted bed, a sunny balcony, and minimalist decor.

Name: Christine Knapp and Brooke Osecki Location: Maplewood — St. Louis, Missouri Size: 1,100 square feet Years lived in: Owned 1.5 years Most university students facing a three-month lease in a summer sublet would barely bother tacking a poster to the wall. Not Christine Knapp. I have never known her to live in a place more than a week without thoughtfully making it her own, even if it meant working within a student budget.

Name: Julie Morel Location: French Concession — Shanghai, China Size: 400 square feet Years lived in: 3 years, renting Julie’s apartment love story all started with a radiator. No one moves to Shanghai — or spends even a night there — without hearing grave warnings from residents about the damp, drafty homes that skimp on central heating. Tenants in century-old flats depend on space heaters and electric blankets, or take solace in trips a little farther south.

Name: Starry Xiao Location: Guozijian — Beijing, China Size: 320 square feet Years lived in: 9 months, renting Starry Xiao’s hutong home is nestled among the throngs of mom and pop stores selling incense for visitors to Beijing’s famous Lama Temple. Within its blue walls, however, it radiates a completely different kind of aroma. A local chef, Starry is known to make use of every corner of his tiny kitchen to whip up elaborate brunches for his girlfriend.

Name: Stephanie Betant and Chace Vanderwolk Location: French Concession — Shanghai, China Size: 2,150 square feet Years lived in: Rented 6 months Beijing and Shanghai dwellers often engage in friendly spats over which city is the better one. Stephanie Betant and her husband Chace Vanderwolk recently found themselves in the unique position of getting to know both.

Name: Mary Kate Fitzpatrick Location: St. Louis Hills — St. Louis, Missouri Size: 700 square feet Years lived in: 1 year, rented Mary Kate Fitzpatrick’s St. Louis shotgun apartment boasts many delightful characteristics, but perhaps most tantalizing is the bedroom view: just feet away is Ted Drewes, serving the city’s famous frozen custard. But temptation begins to melt away as you make your way to the opposite end to a living room bathed in sunlight.

Name: Ashley Chu and Alex Acker Location: Beixinqiao — Beijing, China Size: 950 square feet Years lived in: 3.5 years, renting Beijing is famous for its centuries-old hutongs — the winding alleyways that once made up the main arteries of the city. They were filled with traditional courtyard homes until the spaces were divided or destroyed to make room for a swelling population.

Name: Sasha Fominskaya and Aaron F.L. Location: Fangjia Hutong — Beijing, China Size: 645 square feet Years lived in: 1 year, renting Living in Beijing as an expat often means working with what you have, usually pre-furnished apartments and roommates that never seem to stick around long enough to decorate. But when Sasha Fominskaya and her boyfriend Aaron moved into their first apartment together, they wanted to put more effort into making it a home.

Name: Coro Urdaneta and Marco Cortavitarte Location: Sanlitun — Beijing, China Size: 1,500 square feet Years lived in: 2 years, renting It’s hard to find an expat in Beijing who doesn’t know about the Moka Bros, or the Venezuelan siblings behind it. When the restaurant first opened in 2013, it flipped the capital’s healthy café scene on its head, largely thanks to its refreshingly bold and trendy creative concept.

Name: Céline Lamée and Heather Mowbray Location: Dongsishisantiao — Beijing, China Size: 750 square feet Years lived in: 1 year, renting It’s hard to step into Céline Lamée and Heather Mowbray’s home and not be charmed by its sense of playfulness, starting so obviously with an extensive pillow collection that fills their dining nook and has started to take over their living room sofa.

Name: Adam Wihlborg Location: Former French Concession — Shanghai, China Size: 950 square feet Years lived in: 4 years, renting When Adam Wihlborg tells the story, it’s hard to believe that six flights of dark and dusty stairs once nearly deterred him from signing a lease on his spacious, light-filled flat looking out over the trees in Shanghai’s French Concession.

Name: Alexander Åhnebrink Location: Former French Concession — Shanghai, China Size: 3,200 square feet Years lived in: 1 year, renting When Alexander moved to China with his wife four years ago, he dreamed of a traditional courtyard home. He was met with reality: finding one that didn’t need serious renovations was next to impossible and they would be settling for a more modern serviced apartment in the city center.

Name: Lexie Comstock Location: Former French Concession — Shanghai, China Size: 800 square feet Years lived in: 3 years, renting For someone whose cookie baking skills have gained her countless fans in Shanghai, Lexie Comstock is very chill about not having a kitchen in her apartment.

Name: Meg and Julia Rigano Location: Fox Park — St. Louis, Missouri Size: 2,126 square feet Years lived in: 6 months, owned Five years ago, hosting a party at this address would have been unheard of — the century-old home was falling apart and on the market for less than $40,000 at the time. But in recent years, St. Louis investors have been quickly buying up homes like this one to flip.

Name: Amy Kuntz Location: St. Louis, Missouri Size: 2,000 square feet Years lived in: 18 months, renting Why stick with one living room when you can have ten? Amy Kuntz loves to change up her first-floor flat in St. Louis whenever she feels inspired, giving her Instagram followers a new, stylish look every few weeks.

Name: Elsie Tuttle, Leslie Salisbury, Tierney Furlong Location: Tower Grove South — St. Louis, Missouri Size: 1,626 square feet Years lived in: 1 year, owned Elsie’s home has made something of a name for itself. Called the “Humphrey Homestead,” after its street address in St.

Name: Claire Swindale Location: Blackheath — Southeast London Size: 1,500 square feet Years lived in: 15 years, owned Claire Swindale is fearless. She spent eight years seeing the world (with a prolonged stint in Nepal) where she trekked around Mount Everest and explored the countryside from the back of a truck.

Name: Abbey Eilermann and cat Dolly Parton Location: The Hill — St. Louis, Missouri Size: 2,000 square feet (includes the work studio) Years lived in: 3 years, renting It all starts with a hot pink name plate that stands out among the red and green awnings on The Hill, a traditional Italian American neighborhood in St. Louis.

Name: Will Harvey, Iona Sangster, and Luna the Cockapoo Location: Leith — Edinburgh, Scotland Size: 800 square feet Years lived in: 3 years, owned Will and Iona Harvey’s modernly colorful and whimsically decorated flat in Leith, a district to the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, is dotted with references to school: A vintage school desk and chair serve as office furniture in their living room, while a seat meant for a small student sits in the bedroom.