New Traditional

Name: Jonny and Aimée Mendez Location: Albany Park — Chicago, Illinois Size: 1,400 square feet Years lived in: Rented for 1.5 years Jonny and I were married in May of 2015. One of our deepest joys over the past year has been creating our home together. Soon after we were married, we really considered the questions, “How do we want to feel in our home?” and “How do we want others to feel when they enter our home?

Name: Tiffany and Alan Goldstein Location: Austin, Texas Size: 1064 square feet Years lived in: Owned for 9 Months Natural light pours in through large windows, warming Tiffany and Alan’s Austin bungalow. Tiffany’s background in fashion and the couple’s traveling adventures have inspired chic yet playful interior design. In just nine months, they have creatively remodeled the home to make their space feel open and airy.

Name: Melanie Branam, husband Scott and brand new baby Molly Location: Myers Park — Charlotte, North Carolina Size: 1,600 square feet Years lived in: 4 1/2 years, renting You can immediately smell the flowers when you walk into Melanie’s home, which is only natural given she is one of Charlotte’s premier florists. Melanie is the talented woman behind New Creations Flowers and her 1,600 square foot home is not only where she lives, it also serves as her floral studio.

Name: Alexis Sassard, husband Walt and children Felix, Luella Location: The Woodlands, (right outside of Houston) Texas Size: 2,500 square feet Years lived in: 4 years, owned Alexis and her husband Walt moved to his hometown of Houston from NYC almost five years ago to start a family. Walt, a former professional photographer, fulfilled a dream of his to become a fireman. Alexis, an interior designer, was nervous but excited about rooting down in The Woodlands, a large suburb outside of Houston.

Name: Hayley Francis Location: Roosevelt — Seattle, Washington Size: 1,800 square feet Years lived in: 2.5 years, owned When Hayley Francis set out in search of her dream home in Seattle during the summer of 2015, she did so toting a wishlist of charming must-haves: checkerboard black and white tile floors in the kitchen, hardwoods throughout, and a classic Craftsman style.

Name: Sarah Scott and her pugs, Lulu and Ozzy Location: Sea Point East, Cape Town Size: 1615 square feet Years lived in: 2.5 years, owned The beautiful house you see today is a far cry from how it looked when Sarah, a designer, purchased it two and a half years ago. She had chanced upon the property when it was totally derelict and still in the very beginning stages of a renovation.

Name: Caroline Z Hurley Location: West Village, NYC Size: 420 square feet Years lived in: 13 years Caroline Z Hurley has lived in her apartment for 13 years, but has known the space even longer. Both of her sisters each lived in the apartment before her, and at one point, Caroline shared the 420-square-foot studio with one of them! Originally, the apartment was just an open studio with a half-wall separating the bedroom area.

Name: Emily DeRosa and Matthew Pugliese Location: Upper West Side, NYC Size: 800 square feet Years lived in: 2.5 years Emily and Matt’s pre-war apartment building (built in 1925) is located on a quiet block on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The couple has resided in their 800-square-foot apartment for two-and-a-half years, and during this time, have filled it with treasures from their travels and art made by dear friends. Emily works in an art gallery and Matt is a physical therapist.

Name: Kate, her husband and their dog, Millie, Location: Vicenza, Italy Size: 1,830 square feet Years lived in: 2 years, renting Kate Goethe, like most military spouses, didn’t picture herself living in an Italian villa five years ago when she was living in a small suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. But like all military members and their families, you go where duty calls — and well, sometimes that comes with perks that include a jasmine-filled veranda and a villa.

Name: Milicent Armstrong, Brian, and Gerry Location: South End — Boston, Massachusettes Size: 1,800 square feet Years lived in: 5 years, owned Walking into Milicent’s South End home is like being invited into a small oasis. Upon entering, guests step into a hallway with soaring ceilings and beautiful wallpaper.

Name: Anissa and Brian Zajac Location: Indianapolis, Indiana Size: 2800 square feet Years lived in: 1 year, owned A year ago Anissa and Brian were living in the northern suburbs of Indianapolis, in a traditional home, in a traditional subdivision. Though perfectly fine, the home just didn’t feel like their family’s style. So, they listened to their hearts and relocated to their dream neighborhood, where the couple has remodeled and redecorated to better match their personalities.

Name: Alex Fitzgerald Location: West Village — New York, NY Size: 420 square feet Years lived in: 6 years, owned The trick to studios is how to make the most of the space you’re given. For Alex, a studio apartment previously owned by an architect obsessed with built-ins has proved both a boon and a challenge.

Name: Andrea, Fernando and their children Delfina, Juan Cruz, Bautista and Benito Location: Villa Adelina — Buenos Aires, Argentina Size: 950 square feet Years lived in: 20 years, owned When Andrea got pregnant with their first child, they moved to this house that belonged to her husband’s family. It was supposed to be for the meantime, while they’d keep looking for their “forever” house.

Name: Meg, Glenn, Maddie and Isabelle Hoburg, and dog, Piper Location: Capitol Hill — Washington, DC Size: 1,500 square feet Years lived in: 14 years, owned Meg Hoburg is an interior designer with Southern roots, a true sense of Southern hospitality, and a fantastic eye for wallpaper. She and her family have been living in their Capitol Hill row house in Washington, DC for 14 years. Customizing the house throughout these years has been a steady work in progress.

Name: Darren Sandras Location: Tamboerskloof — Cape Town, South Africa Size: aprox. 1550 square feet Years lived in: 5 years, renting Tucked away in the heart of Tamboerskloof is a row of semi-detached Victorian houses, each with a different colored door. And if you enter the blue door, a surprise awaits you: A beautiful and relaxed home that has come together over time. The fabulous location is what initially drew Darren to his home.

Name: Amy Stewart and Scott Brown Location: Eureka, California Size: 2800 square feet Years Lived In: 17 years; own (well, we used to own it. We just sold the house and we’re moving to Portland.) How do you say goodbye to a house you’ve lived in and loved for 17 years?

Name: Katie, Anthony, Isabelle and Freya Miller, with dogs Oliver and Tulip Location: Belmont, North Carolina Size: 1,800 square feet Years lived in: 1 year, owned Katie’s friends are right, walking into her lovely duplex in Belmont, North Carolina is an immensely welcoming experience. Maybe it is the two insistent yet extremely friendly dachshunds that greet you upon arrival, or maybe it’s the comforting furnishings and thoughtful art that permeate her abode.

Name: Beatrice Fischel-Bock, CEO & Co-Founder of Hutch, her dog Ellie (and a roommate, her friend Lizzie, not pictured) Location: West Hollywood, California Years Lived In: 2 years, renting It was love at first sight when Beatrice saw this West Hollywood rental home in 2015. “It had so much character and was perfect for what I was looking for. I really wanted a place that had some integrity, and especially a place that was very California,” she describes.

Name: Emily Ley, husband Bryan, toddler twins (Caroline + Tyler) and first-grader (Brady) Location: Tampa, Florida Size: a little under 4,000 square feet Years Lived In: almost 3, owned It was becoming a mom that led Emily to the life she leads today: A designer, author, and the creator of the wildly popular Simplified Planner.

Name: Amelie Mancini, Rami Metal, and their daughter Babette Location: Crown Heights — Brooklyn, NY Size: 1,000 square feet Years lived in: Rented, 2 years Before getting pregnant with their daughter, artist and designer Amelie Mancini and her husband Rami Metal called Greenpoint, Brooklyn home. They loved where they lived, but knew that their tiny apartment (less than 400 square feet total) wouldn’t accommodate a growing family.

Name: Drew Vuong Location: Silver Lake — Los Angeles, California Size: 600 square feet Years live in: 7 years, renting With the constant sunny Los Angeles weather, Drew Vuong wanted to incorporate his love of outdoors and patio living in the inside of his home. He has created a great space for entertaining, leisure, and displaying his favorite artwork both personal and collected.

Name: Suzanne and Oliver Jeffers, and their son Harland Location: Park Slope — Brooklyn, NY Size: 1,600 square feet Years lived in: 2 years, renting Originally from Northern Ireland, Suzanne and Oliver Jeffers have called Brooklyn home for ten years. Before moving to their current rental, they were living in a tiny, one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn Heights. The apartment fit their needs just fine…until they found out their family would be expanding.

Name: Raelyn Woltz and her fiancé Jon Location: Buffalo, New York Size: 1,100 square feet Years Lived In: 2 years, owned The house had been vacant for two years when Jon and Raelyn bought it…and it needed a lot of work. Not just to make it look better, but also to make it more livable. “We spent a little over a year planning and working on it ourselves (and a ton of help from family!).

Name: Bev Wilson Location: Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Size: 975 square feet Years Lived In: 2.5 years, owned Bev is a lawyer, but has always been interested in interior design and photography. So when it came time to start searching for an apartment to buy, she wanted a space she could really design and customize. She wanted a renovation project. “When I bought my place, it had been used as a rental for over ten years and was not in good shape,” Bev shares.

Name: Bonnie Berridge Faxén and Per Faxén Location: San Francisco, California Size: 650 Square Feet Years Lived In: 3.5 years, renting Designer and interiors consultant Bonnie Faxén says she has a passion for “art, design, architecture, colors, fonts, materials, textiles, paint, wallpaper. If it has to do with design I’m thinking about it!” This healthy obsession for visual elements has spilled over into the small apartment she shares with her husband Per.

Name: Jeff and Sara Jones and their two dogs Location: Waco, Texas Size: 400 square feet Years lived in: 1 year, owned You may recognize this couple from season three of HGTV’s Fixer Upper. After living in their Fixer Upper home for over a year, Sara decided to go back to school for nutrition…and it forced the couple to get creative with their finances.

Name: Sarah Priestap-Porter and Jeffrey Porter. Our land-mates are Arlo (rescue mutt) and Glaumur (Icelandic Horse) Location: Tunbridge, Vermont (Central Vermont, for y’all who have no idea where this is) Size: 1620 square feet Years Lived In: 1 year, owned When I started dating Jeff back in 2009, one of the first things he told me was how his dream was to build a house for his family some day.

Name: Carly Kuhn Location: Larchmont — Los Angeles, California Size: 1,303 square feet Years Lived In: 1.5 years, renting “I moved into this space about year and a half ago. I was drawn to this space because of the great location. As a New Yorker, I love this Larchmont area that’s really walkable.

Name: Curry Hackett Location: Howard University/Shaw — Washington, D.C. Size: 800 square feet Years lived in: Renting, 1.5 years The apartment that Curry has lived in for one and a half years couldn’t be anymore perfect for his diverse pursuits, which include graphic design, vintage furniture collecting, and playing the trombone. He’s also the founder of Hackreative, a multidisciplinary design studio specializing in placemaking, visual design, and creative direction.

Name: Hilde Leiaghat Location: Los Feliz — Los Angeles, California Size: 2000 square feet Years Lived In: 23 years, owned Linen designer Hilde Leiaghat’s effortlessly romantic home is full of artifacts and antiques reminiscent of her time spent scouring the local Belgian flea markets as a young girl.

Name: Shannon Buckley; husband, Nick Huertas; and 3 cats Location: Andersonville — Chicago, Illinois Size: 1,500 square feet Years lived in: 1 year, rented Looking at their apartment, it’s hard to believe Shannon and Nick only moved to Chicago one year ago. Leaving Boston, the East Coast, and a number of dark, dreary apartments behind, they were determined to find a home with outdoor space and lots of natural light.

Name: Chris McGovern Location: NoMad — Manhattan, New York Size: 925 square feet Years lived in: 1.5 years, owned In a city full of high-rises often with floors of identical apartments, Chris was keen to find a space that was both architecturally unique and required some renovation to put his own touch on it. He gravitated towards loft spaces throughout his search. In 2017, he purchased a loft in Manhattan on the border between Chelsea and NoMad.

Name: Jamie Gasparovic, husband Ryan, and two rescue pups Location: Orlando, Florida Size: 2,000 square feet Years Lived In: 2 years, owned When my husband Ryan and I were looking for our first house, we were looking exclusively at fixer uppers. I’m an interior designer, so I’m very particular about my house looking how I want, and I didn’t want to pay a premium for someone else’s tastes and renovations that I didn’t even like!

Name: Kevin O’Gara and family Location: Cabbagetown — Atlanta, Georgia Size: 1,500 square feet Years Lived In: 5 years, renting My dad first moved to Cabbagetown, a historic neighborhood in Atlanta, when my parents divorced in 2009. His first pad was a three-room shotgun duplex where my sisters and I first started exploring the neighborhood, and quickly we fell in love with its artistic charm!

Name: Audrey and Matt with Simon, Bennett, and Cora Location: Lawrence, Kansas Size: 1,700 square feet Years lived in: 3 years; owned When you visit Audrey’s clan at home in Lawrence, Kansas, it’s an unassuming beginning: Their place is tucked into a relatively new housing development where the houses have a tendency to look similar to one another.

Name: Wes Trammel, Ben Cooper, (Dog) Duffy Location: Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan Size: 1,870 square feet Years lived in: 1 year, owned An Alabama native and graphic designer, Wes relocated to Detroit three years ago with his fiancé, Ben. Having worked for 16 years as a graphic designer for a national home and lifestyle magazine, Wes has recently turned his attention to home renovation and interiors.

Name: Lisa and Adam Location: Cobble Hill; Brooklyn, New York Size: 600 square feet Years lived in: 10 years; Rented Everyone who knows Lisa knows she likes an organized and clean space! So she’s extra challenged in a small pre-war apartment with a husband and a new baby, but she makes it work, and with a very nice feel. There is something about this apartment that all people who visit this charming home love.

Name: Michelle Lin Greenip Location: West Village, New York Size: 1,100 square feet Years lived in: 6 years; Rented Out the window, there’s a tumble of rooftops and a church steeple or two. Inside, a palette plucked from Ladurée, lavender fields, Hermés boxes and champagne labels, with a bit of gilding for good measure. While it’s one part atelier, including an artist’s garret of sorts, it’s the West Village, not the Left Bank.

Name: Annie Elliott, CEO Bossy Color Interior Design Location: Woodley Park, Washington, DC Size: 2700 square feet Years lived in: Owned 8.5 years With a business called “Bossy Color” one naturally has a strong point of view when it comes to design. Enter Annie Elliott, the energetic designer behind Bossy Color Interior Design based in DC.

Name: Will, Rebekah, & Liam Hasting Location: Paris, France Size: 1,400 square feet; 3 bedrooms Years lived in: 8 Months In Paris’ 14th arrondissement, not far from the Place Denfert-Rochereau, is a little family home with a lovely view.

Name: Kelly Furman Location: Graceland West; Chicago, Illinois Size: 1,400 square feet Years lived in: 5 years; owned Kelly is a colorful person, vibrant in personality and exuberant in spirit. Her home, which she affectionately calls the “tree house,” captures the poise, humor, and grace with which she approaches the world, but it does so with an understated elegance.

Name: A. J. Berne Location: Village of Swansea — Toronto, Canada Size: 645 square feet Years lived in: Owned 5 years What can be better than a view of Lake Ontario and the chance to take in a few moments each day, to gaze out at the water and watch the sailboats wander and tides change? For A.J. — not much. A.J. lives in a waterfront condominium in the city’s West End.

Jarod and Tim's home reflects a love of good design, an appreciation for quality, a willingness to go bold, and a sense of fun. In other words, there's a lot to love.

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

Name: Thalita Murray, her husband, and twin boys Location: Cobourg — Ontario, Canada Size: 2,100 square feet Years lived in: 2 years, owned Thalita is an interior design professional who believes in keeping it real. She owns Thalita Murray Design and runs the design and lifestyle blog, The Learner Observer, and if that wasn’t enough, she is also a wife and mother of twin 2-year-old boys.

Name: Joe Gast and Willow the Weimaraner Location: Leschi — Seattle, Washington Size: 1,690 square feet Years lived in: 25 years, owned My 1908 Leschi cottage was a victim of several ill-conceived remodels and plenty of deferred maintenance. A transplant from Ohio, with an Ohioan’s modest budget, I purchased the house because it was in my price range and it was located on a magical stairway, steps above Lake Washington.