Apartment

After getting divorced, selling her house, and moving across the country, Elle was pretty much starting from scratch when it came to furniture, decor, and her "whole outlook on life! So I leaned into everything that makes me happy and feels like me."

Breaker Novogratz's small Lower East Side rental apartment has no closets. Like, zero. So he had to use the space wisely.

Mario and Maxime’s apartment is an airy and joyful space surrounded with plants and is filled with rugs, textiles, tables, and a couch all handmade by local artisans or vintage.

Dan Trumble and his wife wanted a clean, cozy, art-filled oasis when they moved into this blank Upper East Side rental apartment. With a small budget, they had to get creative.

Design rules went out the window in this gorgeous home.

Before moving in, says children’s book illustrator and art director Steph Stilwell, this 800-square-foot, 100-year-old apartment in Prospect Lefferts Gardens was a “typical empty New York apartment,” with “[w]hite walls, lots of hardwood flooring, and some interesting design choices made by the owners.”A mere two months later, after putting her stamp on the space, Steph describes the apartment now as very colorful.

This Brooklyn rental apartment is a maximalist dream filled with color, cats, and a lot of coziness.

The bedroom is giving serious magazine vibes, thanks to green limewashed walls and a six-foot-tall DIY mirror. And the owners made a design choice that everyone (even the painters!) was skeptical about at first.

Emily decorated her rental with a maximalist, light academic slant, with touches of whimsy. (She also made pineapples, skulls, and disco balls work together in one small space.)

Color and art represent Carolina’s Puerto Rican and tropical side in her apartment, which is a classic prewar unit with arches, wood floors, crown molding, and ceiling beams.

Discover all the cozy gemstone colors and global bohemian style in this 550-square-foot Manhattan studio apartment.

“I believe it’s important to come home to a space that feels calming and like a little oasis just for yourself,” Lakesha Charles says.

Miguel and his husband, Gabriel, wanted bold, vibrant colors like those found in 8-bit video games for their Barcelona apartment’s renovation. See which colors they went with!

And the custom Flavor Paper wallpaper is also extremely cool and personal.

"We wanted people to walk in and immediately understand who we are as a couple, and we feel like that’s exactly what we’ve accomplished."

Allie isn't afraid to use color, mix patterns, or embrace maximalism. "My space doesn't feel like an apartment I'm renting, but rather a home that I've created that is welcome to all."

Designer Rodney Alday’s vision was to “restore elegance and grandeur” to his apartment, highlighting architectural features such as high ceilings, sash windows, wall paneling, and an original fireplace.

Sara painted every wall and some of the furniture in this apartment to add personality to her apartment that’s located in Sondrio, Italy.

“Creating a sense of balance was key,” explains renter Kelsey Matyas of this “soft but grounded, warm but not overly styled” Manhattan apartment.

See inside a charming 1920s apartment with vintage bathroom tiles, a pedestal sink, a tiny stall shower, and crank windows.

La Carmina is a blogger about “Japan cute culture, travel and design” and her small apartment’s design puts a “personal kawaii (cute Japan) spin on Mid-Century Modern.”

When Sheryl Song first bought this apartment, she could only afford a few IKEA pieces. “Slowly, over the next ten years, I transformed this apartment into a reflection of who I am — one chair, one corner, one layer at a time.”

Katy Ma is a user experience designer, so when it came to designing her home — this 400-square-foot apartment in the East Village she rented for three years — it was important for her to “create a home that is very functional” for how she wanted to live. “I’ve maximized storage solutions in closets, cabinets, and underneath my bed so that I can have everything I need but don’t have too much visual clutter,” Katy says.

This literature professor and fiber artist has turned a “dingy, run-down, cramped” apartment located in an attic into an incredibly layered, fascinating, rich, comfortable, and artistic home.

Beautiful delights and colorful gems: This very well may be the most gorgeous apartment in Paris.

Gina knows *exactly* where everything is in her 870-square-foot apartment; she's custom designed her home to house her treasures perfectly.

When Bachelor Nation alum Katie Thurston and husband, comedian Jeff Arcuri, first moved in together, they decided to start with a blank slate and design their home together to match both of their personalities.

Kit and John love this apartment’s vaulted ceilings, French doors, and outdoor space (and more!) so much, they’ve rented it for 14 years.

This 100-year-old San Francisco apartment was completely transformed with bold wallpaper, vibrant color, and playful details.

This clever condo shows how smart design, clear furniture, and lots of sunlight can make even the smallest homes feel spacious.

Sam’s rental apartment is partially underground, so some parts don’t get a lot of light! Along with dealing with dark corners, he’s also had to get creative with creating privacy, storage solutions, and more.

“I got creative with fun ways to add color and personality to blank walls — DIY fabric wallpaper, gallery walls, vintage plates, pennants, and book pages have been some of my favorite paint alternatives,” explains Marissa Zingg.

Ben and Leon “have intentionally curated a space that feels calm and cohesive.”

“I think the most unique aspect of our home is how we've managed to create storage spaces that are discreet and unobtrusive,” writes Alan of his small, renovated apartment in Barcelona.