New York

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

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.

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.

Each time, sound musician Jackie Cantwell has transformed small rental apartments with color, cool vibes, and style.

Justine added removable peel-and-stick tile backsplash, changed out handles and outlet covers, and installed new overhead light fixtures to transform this 600-square-foot rental.

“I’d also describe my home as mid-century-Parisian,” writes renter Anna. “I even have a bunch of decor that came straight from the set dec department of 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'!”

This rental came with dust, grime, and even cigarette butts in the kitchen sink, but Elizabeth “looked past all of that for the great layout and price!”

It's filled with so much beautiful art.

Caitlin Maestrini is the curator of Teak New York, a Scandinavian design store in Brooklyn, and has styled her rental apartment according to “Scandinavian design principles and aesthetics."

Railroad apartments definitely come with some floor-plan challenges.

It’s repainted almost monthly.

Christine and Nik have spent the last two years making renter-friendly adjustments to their small Bed-Stuy loft to create an incredibly dreamy, DIY home.

The apartment needed a gut renovation.

Marisa is a floor sitter and prefers the ground over the couch. See the cozy small-space solution she came up with instead!

Full-time food and lifestyle content creator Gwyneth Yuma’s 695-square-foot Brooklyn rental apartment is warm, cozy, and eclectic, and has a little tropical flair.

The renovation budget was $100,000.

There have been so many changes, and it’s a rental!

Tour this couple’s rental home in Astoria, New York, that was in such rough shape before moving in, everything needed painted (and some things completely redone!).

There’s a must-see small room used as an inspiring home office called the jewel box: “As this room has a pretty small footprint, it was important to me that every piece of furniture was beautiful and well-appropriated.”

The renovation is stunning!

There’s even a walk-in closet room in this 800-square-foot apartment.

“The living room walls, cloaked in black, evoke a sense of a speakeasy from another age — rich, intimate, as though time itself has slowed,” describes renter Javier Riostello.

The main feature of this 700-square-foot apartment is a "huge brick wall with a hand-painted advertisement for an old market that used to be in our neighborhood," writes renter Brandon Corcione.

Tracie Moore is on a "mission to transform this space into a home that feels just as warm and inviting as the one we had back in Georgia."