Michigan

Name: Vicari Vollmar and Jordan Conley Location: Lansing, Michigan Size: 600 square feet Years lived in: 4 months, renting Vicari is a senior designer for a public policy firm with an affinity for fitness, bold color, and a good gin fizz. She firmly believes in carbohydrates, horoscopes, and the power of love. Jordan is a state contract monitor, CrossFit coach, and bookworm. He enjoys binge-watching a series on Netflix, comic books, and snuggling his calico, Harley.

The nice part about a spec home is you start with a great blank canvas with such potential for personalization.

Name: Lynn Serulla and Adam Kuehl and their dog, Oscar Location: St. Joseph, Michigan Size: 900 square feet Years lived in: 1 year; Rented Lynn and Adam’s home is a gathering place for people and things. When the second-story apartment isn’t filled with friends, reminders of them are still evident. Artwork from friends is on display in each room. Lynn and Adam have a personal connection to each piece of furniture, every trinket and even the plants. Everything has a story.

Name: Jenni and Esai Location: Heritage Hill — Grand Rapids, Michigan Size: 1,000 square feet Years lived in: 2.5 years; Rented Jenni and Esai’s apartment is a loop. The living room leads into the kitchen/dining room, which flows into the bedroom/office/nook, which is open to the living room. While photographing the space, I notice chevron curtains, art pieces featuring triangles, a striped blanket, a striped rug, a parallelogram rug, a diamond rug, and lots of circles.

Name: Randi and Joe Location: Wyoming, Michigan Size: 770 square feet Years lived in: 1.5 years; Rented Randi and Joe live in a sprawling, 430-unit complex in Wyoming, Michigan a suburb of Grand Rapids. The rental units have the usual beige carpet, white walls, and wall-mounted air conditioners, but those items aren’t noticeable in Randi and Joe’s home.

Name: Shelly Klein, Curt Wozniak, twins Marty and Nora, dog Sugar and cat Ben Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan Size: 3,000 square feet Years lived in: 11 years; owned I arrive at Shelly and Curt’s house on a Sunday morning. Shelly greets me at the door and explains that Curt took the kids out for breakfast. She tours me through the house and I feel a calm, quiet easiness in each room. Perhaps it’s the white paint, white furniture and abundant natural light.

Name: Jenny and Jim O’Connor (with children Lily, 3 and James, 7 months) Location: State Streets; Livonia, Michigan Size: 1,088 square feet Years lived in: 4 years; Owned Jenny and her family live in Livonia’s State Streets, a neighborhood where most streets are named after U.S. states. The neighborhood is adjacent to Old Rosedale, where Jenny’s parents Sue and Doug live.

Name: Melissa and Kevin; children Elle, Harper and Beckham; and Ally the cat Location: Old Rosedale Gardens; Livonia, Michigan Size: 2,000 square feet Years lived in: 3 years; Owned Melissa and Kevin are raising their family in the Detroit suburb of Livonia. They live in the historic Old Rosedale Gardens neighborhood, which was modeled after Detroit’s Rosedale Park. Most homes in the neighborhood were built in the 1920s and 30s and each house looks different.

Name: Amanda and Matthew (and Severus the cat) Location: Ferndale, Michigan Size: 950 square feet Years lived in: 1.5 years; rented While photographing Amanda and Matthew’s second-floor apartment, I tried to define the overall theme of their collection. I saw floral prints on oven mitts and furniture. I noticed animals – both stuffed and printed on textiles. There were bowls of Japanese candies and lots of colors. I finally asked, “What do you collect?

Name: Shawn Merkel Location: Heritage Hill; Grand Rapids, Michigan Size: 849 square feet Years lived in: 1.5 years; Owned The adjective “eclectic” can be overused in interior design. But when thinking of how to describe Shawn’s condo, I kept coming back to the word “eclectic.” (The good eclectic.

Name: Laura and James Location: Heritage Hill; Grand Rapids, Michigan Size: 920 square feet Years lived in: 3.5 years; owned Laura and James’ home is a study in scale, balance, repetition and continuity. Artwork is carefully staggered on the gallery wall across from the kitchen. Even though the size, color and subject matter of the artwork vary, the presentation is kept clean and unified with black, white, birch and silver frames.

Name: Tyler and Jack Location: Heritage Hill; Grand Rapids, Michigan Size: 1,000 square feet Years lived in: 2 years; Rented Tyler and Jack have the best-smelling home I’ve toured so far. As I entered their apartment, the scent of pine trees and an Up North campfire hit me. The incense and candle fragrances floated from room to room as dreamy, lounge music from Neon Indian and Bonobo spun on the record player. I began counting the number of iconic chairs in the apartment: fourteen.