Apartment

After applying to the NYC Housing Lottery for seven years, artist Olivia Konys hit the jackpot with this Queens apartment, transforming the "millennial gray” luxury rental by painting the walls, drilling into the ceiling, sawing some baseboards, and other unconventional, artistic customizations.

When her last home flooded after Hurricane Ida, Alison Beshai had to find a new last-minute home, landing in this Brooklyn Brownstone with original mantels, an open layout, and tons of natural light pouring in from every side.

An architect redesigned this 645-square-foot apartment in San Sebastián by removing a bedroom and inserting a curved mirrored wall that reorganizes the layout, turning a typical 1960s home into an incredibly cool, contemporary home.

When this creative couple first walked into their Brooklyn Heights apartment, the original crown moldings were gone, the ceilings had been lowered, and every surface was gray and white — but they’ve spent years bringing the character back to the brownstone.

After a fire forced Taylor Jordan out of his San Francisco apartment of 11 years, he wanted to make his new 560-square-foot rental feel like home immediately. It took careful planning, some Etsy finds, and furniture he already owned, and he created a lived-in home in four days.

The bareness of the original home was an advantage to Kate.

The budget was extremely limited, so owner Marko focused on “paint, styling, lighting, repurposed furniture, and handmade pieces that completely changed the mood of the space without structural modifications.”

Candace Reels is the founder of the digital community Female Collective, and lives in a 900-square-foot 1920s Los Feliz bungalow that’s styled with a warm color palette and vintage mid-century pieces found throughout the years.

Dinesh Pandian’s rental is a warm blank canvas with light wood floors and the “Dallas skyline as a beautiful backdrop.”

This 320-square-foot apartment in Brooklyn's Greenpoint neighborhood is filled with the most brilliant organizing and style ideas of all time.

Adam and Alexa focused on “maximizing storage with smart layouts and full-height cabinetry rather than expensive finishes,” and were able to keep Chicago apartment renovation “practical and budget-conscious.”

It wasn’t love at first sight when these sisters found this rental home. But after filling it with seriously cool secondhand-sourced vintage finds, they love the place as if they own it!

Alliannah Hamilton’s studio apartment is small, but it still fits a space to sleep, make hard, and even hang in a yoga hammock, proving even petite homes can be playful, peaceful, and personal.

This once-boring new build in East Harlem became a joyful, maximalist home for a family of four, all on a tight budget, too!

With glimpses of both the Hollywood Sign and Griffith Observatory, this Melrose Hill rental apartment was the ultimate canvas for interior designer Lauren Talio.

This couple turned a bland 120-year-old London flat into a warm, vintage-filled home that feels personal and is layered with color and art.

Soft neutrals, natural textures, and vintage touches come together to create a serene, lived-in space that’s "warm, timeless, and effortlessly modern."

"The apartment feels cozy without being cluttered, and grounded in the things we genuinely use and love. It may be under 450 square feet, but the way it lives feels far bigger than the floor plan."

Wall murals, cozy banquettes, and vibrant color steal the show in this family's bold Chelsea rental apartment.

This creative couple turned their first apartment into a warm and custom home, all without adding any square footage to the 710 square feet.

Original (and stunning) plaster moldings, delightful Facebook Marketplace finds, and one very joyful kitchen make this Montreal home truly unforgettable.

The renters are likely getting their security deposits back.

There’s not a TV in sight, a Murphy bed turns the living room into a guest room, there’s a skylight over the bathtub, and the kitchen is basically a bar.

Annika Morgan couldn’t paint the walls of her 875-square-foot Bed-Stuy apartment, so she DIYed color into every corner of this sunny rental home. And Tony the cat really benefits, too.

The cellar of this building erected in 1897 was converted into a living space in the 1970s, neglected for many years, and then brilliantly renovated by this creative couple in 2024.

Caroline Dupuy visited at least 20 apartments before finding this utterly adorable 269-square-foot rental in the seventh arrondissement.

Despite being teeny, the layout of this dreamy apartment in Montmartre is perfect for one person and packed with color. You can even hear the bells of Sacré-Cœur every day!

When Emily got the keys, the paint was “uneven and patchy, it needed a good cleaning, and there was pee all over the walls from the previous tenant's elderly orange cat.”

11 people applied for this East Village apartment in one day and Alysse Mazakian still had three months left on her previous lease — but this small rental was so special it was worth the fight.

It’s not a style for everyone, but for two introverts who work from home (and three bunnies), this beautifully minimal and meticulously organized condo in Richmond, VA, “feels like a giant exhale.”

“I love layering art and plants together because it brings so much life and warmth into the space,” writes Rahab Hammad of this one-bedroom Brooklyn apartment from the early 1900s.

Interior designer Adnan Anwar had to do some rearranging to fit his Christmas tree in his small, maximalist NYC apartment, but it was worth it. His holiday home is personal, layered, and bold, and full of clever holiday decor ideas to steal.

The hallway is interior designer Martha Roark’s favorite room, precisely because it has so much character. “All the art pieces have so much meaning, and I love walking by to see our collection.”

This apartment in Turku, Finland is bubbly, cheerful, and multilayered, but while it’s packed with art and design, it “doesn't take itself too seriously."

There's an intoxicating blend of creative-meets-contemporary vibe in Gloria's Palermo apartment, which features original ceiling frescoes from the late 1920s.

The home is so colorful, too!