Marie-Lyne Quirion

When David and Ara bought this house in 2015, it was a duplex, and, more importantly, a complete disaster.

Her style: "Minimalism meets vibrant colors meets effervescent design." Also, "I've-never-met-a flea-market-I-didn't-like!"

This home's nickname is "The Pink Palazzo."

Originally built in 1885, when renovating this historic house, the homeowners had to change out the electricity, the plumbing, the lights and the flooring.

Name: Christine Lolley, her husband and business partner Tom Knezic, and their two kids Location: Roncesvalles Village; Toronto, Ontario Size: 900 square feet Years lived in: 1 year; Owned Tom and Christine bought their 100-year-old house in July 2013 with the purpose of renovating it. As co-founders of sustainable design firm Solares Architecture, their goal was to create an ultra-energy efficient family home.

Name: Violaine, Gaëtan Havart & Hubert Location: Mile End; Montreal, Quebec Size: 825 square feet Years lived in: 4.5 years; Owned Violaine and Gaëtan live in one of the most desired neighborhoods of Montreal, and their condo is stunning. As a Belgian architect now living in the city, Gaëtan designed the new kitchen and bathroom in his spare time. The result is unique and simply gorgeous.

Marie Letard is the owner of the Montreal-based decor shop Bouche Bée, and her apartment is a chic space filled with pops of cheery, pastel color.

Name: Laurence and Alexandre Location: Petite-Patrie; Montreal Size: 940 square feet Years lived in: 1 year Alex and Laurence were looking for an unusual place. A merge of the functional “Batcave” and the artistic grandiloquence of the Mysore Palace in India. They found this apartment, with enough wall space to hang all of Alexandre’s artworks (from past exhibitions) and Laurence’s numerous travel souvenirs. The apartment is full of architecturally strange surprises.

Name: Morgane Location: Villeray; Montreal Size: 650 square feet Years lived in: 6 months; rented Working in an art gallery and having a natural talent for decorating, Morgane’s apartment is a true reflection of herself and her love for art. The space is airy, well balanced, delicate, monochromatic, with a touch of natural tones, unique pieces and personal touches. For her, everything resides in the small details. She puts great care on choosing each piece that she brings into her home.

Name: Florence and Julien Location: Plateau Mt-Royal — Montreal Size: 980 square feet Years lived in: 8 months Florence is the founder of Me Myself & Montreal, a blog that provides the best spots in Montreal to visit. She also organizes “discovery” events for its readers. The Montreal apartment she shares with Julien is bright and radiant and the large windows provide the best views of the city, like the Mount-Royal, the city center and the Olympic Stadium.

Name: Gilles, Ismérie and Alexie Location: Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie, Montreal Size: 800 square feet Years lived in: 3 years Ismérie, founder of The Little Spot and owner at L’Atelier du coin de la rue (“The workshop around the corner” a creative space for DIY passionate Montrealers), opened up her family home for us and shared their little universe.

Name: Mark Andrew Hamilton and Bergþóra Jónsdóttir Location: Montreal, Canada Size: 800 square feet Years lived in: Rented This Montreal rental is shared by two artists with a great eye for design and finding wonderful treasures in random thrift stores and pop-up flea markets. As housemates, they created a cozy home despite the limitations of the apartment — you’ll notice there’s no living room!

Name: Jonathan, graphic designer and founder of Pulp and Pixel Location: Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie, Montréal Size: 1,000 square feet Years lived in: Rented 1.5 years Graphic designer Jonathan has a great eye for design, and he’s carefully collected decor for his rental apartment that reflects his personality. His home is something like a Rainbow Chips-Ahoy! cookie: mostly plain with pops of color throughout.

Name: Elyse Location: Ville-Marie — Montreal Size: 700 square feet Years lived in: 6 months Elyse’s apartment is a museum of small objects that are decorative rather than strictly functional. In fact, she calls it her “tchotchke heaven.” The bright light pouring in through big windows and the clean white walls prove to be the perfect gallery for her collection.

Name: Lisa Martin Location: Ville-Marie, Montreal Size: 540 square feet Years lived in: 1.5 years, rented Her travels in South America — seeing the colorful culture and world-renowned traditional crafts — have heavily influenced Lisa Martin’s Montreal apartment. Though small (just under 550 square feet), the space feels light and airy, thanks to clean white walls and a minimal aesthetic (and the small bits of color sprinkled throughout).

Name: Margherita Terrone Location: Montreal Size: 860 square feet Years lived in: 6.5 years, owned Maggie is NOT a fan of the “dull modern beige and white interiors that dominate design blogs,” as she describes. As art director for Werkliv, she layers color and texture to create vibrant spaces on a daily basis. Not surprisingly, she applies this design philosophy to her own home. Here, she’s achieved a fresh contrast to dull beige — and without spending a lot of money.

Name: Virginie Pichet and roommates Ada Kraszczynski and Mée Reed-Desjardins Location: Villeray, Montreal Size: 1,500 square feet Years lived in: 1 year, renting Virgine is the editor of a popular lifestyle blog based in Montreal, Le Cahier. Her home reflects her girly, romantic and fearless personality. Passionate about fashion, she even dedicated her bedroom as a walk-in closet!

Name: Peter Venuto Location: The Plateau — Montreal, Quebec Size: 1,500 square feet Years lived in: 4 years, renting Peter Venuto’s apartment was originally an Airbnb rental — which Peter himself once rented — but after the landlord grew tired of that setup, Peter managed to work out a deal with him and rent it as a “normal” living space. Today, the apartment showcases bright pink colors, metallic walls, and lots and lots of synthesizers.

Name: Corine Deshaies and her partner Max Location: Villeray, Montreal Size: 950 square feet Years lived in: 1 year, owned Corine found her first McCoy planter under a table in a garage sale at only four years old; she’s always had an eye for spotting great deals and rare original goods. Because of her gift for thrift, nearly every furniture piece in the duplex she owns with her partner Max is vintage. She’s found it all at various garage sales and in second-hand shops.

Name: Gabriel Assouline, Sarah Marciano, and Levi Location: Outremont, Montreal Size: 1,200 square feet Years lived in: 1 year, owned Sarah and Gabriel’s Montreal home is on the second floor of a building located on a tree-lined street. The space itself could be described as “monochromatic tones meet a few pops of color.” In other words, it’s a space decorated with care and filled with a selection of rich materials, original pieces, and organic details.

Name: Stefano Giacomello Location: Outremont, Montreal Size: 600 square feet Years lived in: 1 year, renting Stefano is a 3D artist and designer with a great eye for home decor and spatial planning. And his style is influenced considerably by the ’80s and a love for graphic lines and vibrant colors. Although Stefano’s apartment is on the small side, every item has its own place.

Name: Anh Tg Location: Petite Patrie, Montreal Size: 600 square feet Years lived in: 1 year, renting Plants. Plants. Plants. White walls. Art and Design. This minimalist Montreal apartment is tastefully styled by the talented exhibition designer of the Canadian Centre of Architecture. Designer and co-founder of bureau sacha von der potter in Geneva, Anh definitely knows about the delicate balance between negative and positive space.

Name: Audrey Morissette her husband Francois and baby William Location: Blainville, Quebec Size: 2,380 square feet Years lived in: 4 years, owned Audrey Morissette established her store Boutique Vestibule in 2014 in the Mile End of Montreal. Vestibule is an original lifestyle concept shop that offers decorative accessories, clothing brands, jewelry and many local products carefully chosen, all in a minimalist, feminine and timeless style.

Name: Melanie Power Location: Plateau Mont-Royal, Montreal, Quebec Size: 700 square feet Years lived in: 3 years, renting When Melanie Power, a poet from St. John’s, Newfoundland, first moved into this compact apartment, it was a neglected space. Over the years, she has collected items and furniture from thrift stores across the provinces to revive and restore it, creating a place full of magical whimsy and intrigue.

Name: Marlène Deshaies Location: Villeray, Montreal Size: 950 square feet Years lived in: 10 months, owned Marlène considers herself a decor magazine junkie. She lives in a 950-square-foot flat in a duplex she shares with her daughter Corine and her boyfriend Maxime, and it’s inspiring publications like Martha Stewart Living and IDEAT that helped her completely renovate the kitchen and bathroom, as well as decorate the entire space.

Name: Mona Hamilton Location: Plateau Mont-Royal Size: 650 square feet Years lived in: 2 years, renting Mona is a 24-year-old retail florist by day and an aspiring web comic artist by night. And she had always lived with her parents in Toronto…until she decided to “kick-start her adult life” by moving to Montreal after visiting in the summer. For her, this apartment allows her to create and curate a space where she can foster her own growth.

Name: Sophie, Guillaume and baby Simone Location: Heart of the Plateau — Montreal Size: 900 square feet Years lived in: 5 years, owned Avid travelers and a creative couple, Sophie and Guillaume live in their warm renovated flat in the heart of the Plateau with their young daughter Simone. The flat’s architecture is at once rich and minimal, and the couple loves to merge old, timeless design pieces with newly acquired ones.

Name: Roxanne Arsenault and Pascal Desjardins and Colette, 7 years old Location: Rosemont, Montreal Size: 2,500 square feet Years lived in: Owned, Roxanne: 13 years / Pascal: 2 years Roxanne and Pascal are both art lovers with very unique taste in home decor, and they live in an eccentric and colorful home in Montreal. Their space is a mix of rich patterns, textures, and comfy elements of the ’70s, along with vivid colors, styles and shapes of the ’80s.

Name: Manon Thibault and family Location: Brossard, Quebec Size: 2,000 square feet Years lived in: 15 years, owned After earning a business degree and working as an Account Director at a large live-event company, Manon Thibault made a career switch. Clearly already imbued with a “designer’s eye,” she worked as an interior decorator at a Pottery Barn for awhile, before founding her own company called Manon Thibault Design.

Name: Maude Jetté and Marc-André Côté (and three children) Location: Joliette, Quebec Size: 3,000 square feet Years lived in: 4 1/2 years While traveling in Sayulita and in California, Maude Jetté had the idea of opening an online shop for the well-traveled home. Inspired by the beautiful boho vibes and the craftsmanship of artisans, she realized that it was what she was meant to do… offer special findings from all around the world to her fellow folks in Canada.

Name: Karine Matte, Louis, Danick and Pablo, the Golden Doodle Location: Vieux-Longueil, Québec Size: 2,200 square feet Years lived in: 9 years, owned Karine is an interior stylist and founder of Matte & Glossy. She is also a color junkie, a decor consultant, a blogger, and an avid traveler. She lives with her husband Danick and their son Louis in this charming 1954 bungalow in Old Longueuil. Their home is her creative playground.

Name: Lea Nguyen and Ugo Rioux Location: Ville-Marie, Montreal Size: 420 square feet Years lived in: 1 year, renting After an extensive search, Lea, a freelance writer and journalist, and her boyfriend Ugo, a science assistant in a college, left their respective beloved Montreal hoods of Little Italy and Villeray to move in together in Ville-Marie borough. The apartment did not look anything like it does now when signing the lease, but they saw the potential.