Tours

Alicia went for plush furnishings (like velvet), deep, dark colors (like dark green walls), and unique artwork including custom neon lighting in her small UK terraced house.

90% of the furniture and decor elements in this small Barcelona rental apartment are vintage or secondhand, and the stained glass transom windows and beautiful bedroom bay window are a must-see!

New Orleans homes always have the dreamiest architectural details, and interior decorator Blair Price's rental apartment in a Victorian mansion serves up plenty of enviable design elements.

This home already had tons of charm, like lots of windows, great molding, and cute built-ins. The designer and homeowners worked to allow those elements to shine when they refreshed this condo.

Antonio Monserrat, the founder of Monserrat Studio, has totally transformed this Brooklyn loft with his own modern style, adding arches, opening up the space, and even building custom furniture (for humans AND a cat!).

Even though this Denver studio apartment is small, it feels like it has distinct rooms like a bedroom, dining, office, and living thanks to a good layout and the use of open and closed storage.

Despite having a tiny budget, Jerica has been able to transform her house into a unique, colorful, patterned, vibrant home thanks to tackling many of the projects herself, like a very cute dining banquette area.

Both supremely talented individually, architect and designer Alejo Petrucci and designer and artist Francisco Miranda worked together to create a home that perfectly showcases each of their styles and all of their skills.

To create her wheelchair accessible home, Marina had three key words in mind: "autonomy, safety, and practicality so that I could live in the most serene way."

Spike and Elizabeth Stone bought this bus on Facebook Marketplace, stripped it, and DIYed a home on wheels perfect for a young family. "We literally drove every single screw in the bus."

After a breakup, Kat purchased this 1963 mobile home that needed a lot of TLC, remodeling it to add her own personality while keeping some charming original details like cute built-ins.

Podcast host Latoya Coleman and violinist Jordan Waré love their LA rental. "Overall this apartment has a very New York City feel, in LA, which is perfect for us two native New Yorkers escaping winter in search of sunshine."

Karst started with a neutral blank canvas when he began renting this tiny studio, which he's filled with plants, thrifted finds, and cool murals.

Slick furniture, cool art, wild wall paint colors, a long hand-painted mural, three dogs, and a whole lot of reptiles... this mid-century house is packed with 1970s vibes.

Logan has been woodworking since childhood, and together with Maria's knack for plants and antiques, they've DIYed and designed a relatively small space while turning it into an incredibly cozy and comfortable home.

This total fixer upper was dark, dingy, and closed off, so interior designer Isabelle Dahlin opened up the ceilings to expose original beams and put in skylight windows to brighten the space.

It's like a "Gay Man’s Modern Victorian Apothecary."

It was important to Julia and John to build a house in a way that was respectful of the environment and that would be sustainable to live in long-term. It took three years from when they started building to before they were able to move in, but it's because they did nearly all the work themselves while working full-time jobs.

This Chicago home is eclectic '80s maximalism at its finest.

Conan and Katherine bought this falling apart vintage camper for $600, and have spent the last year or so DIYing an adorable home-away-from-home, inside and out.

Schoolhouse's Director of Product, Katie Elliott, lives in a Lovely Portland Home, and Yes There Are A Lot of Great Lamps

Musicians Jacki and Jacob Warren-Bullard, of the band Major Murphy, helped refresh this 1920s rental bungalow in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It's full of renter-friendly ideas and inspiration.

Stuck with beige walls she isn't allowed to paint, Amara has injected color into her rental home without damaging the walls using creative and clever renter-friendly decor hacks in nearly every room. The result is a sanctuary of saturated hues!

This tiny 350-square-foot studio loft with laid-back vibes and tons of windows sits on the top of a tall building, glistening in the sky.

When Andy Grant first moved in to this house, every single surface in the home needed repainting... and she's been renovating it and adding her own personality through tons of DIY projects since.

Artist Meredith Olinger has used her Memphis house as a gorgeous canvas for her colorful and patterned style.

Designer Jamila Scarlett and her 13-year-old twins have owned this 350-square-foot houseboat, a 1976 Coho Chris Craft with vintage mahogany, for five months.

Living in 380 square feet required Danielle to ditch her walk-in closet, live minimally, and get creative with DIY projects to make a small home beautiful and functional.

This creative couple bought an abandoned Airstream on the side of the road for $600, eventually spending two and a half years and $20k to completely renovate it themselves!

And it's positively PACKED with clever budget decorating DIY ideas!

Conceptual art house designer and consultant Shawn Button's home in Los Angeles' Echo Park area is a delightful 1950s-era cabin surrounded by lush vegetation and filled with dreamy bohemian details.

Instead of using heavy or bulky room dividers, Abigail was able to maximize all 415 square feet of her tiny studio apartment and create an entryway, living room, dining room, bar, bedroom, and office!

Though not exactly tiny, Kim Bui's house still had to fit her family of five and all the various functions they needed during the pandemic — including two home offices and school for three kids — in to her house. She did so by making rooms perform double and triple duty!

Podcast Host Becca Freeman needed to find a creative display and storage solution for her books, and a gorgeous custom bookcase from Soil and Oak was just the right fit.

The biggest challenge was mastering the layout of a studio apartment and figuring out my storage situation. Using underbed storage for cameras, photo supplies, and out-of-season clothing saved the day!

Architecture and landscape architecture graduate student Caleb Brackney bought a 36’ 1995 Thomas International school bus on Facebook Marketplace in February 2020 for $3K. The rest of his only 10k budget he spent on turning the bus to a tiny house one wheels.

Trinity Shi of Cube House Jungle lives in a bright modern LA home that's full of bold bursts of colors on a crisp white background, surrounded with lots and lots of leafy green plant life.

Like installing pink peel and stick backsplash tiles, replacing fixtures and hardware such as handles, light switches, faucets, and more!

This renovated home has brightly patterned tiles, white walls, earthy ceramics, gold accents, and gorgeous hunks of old wood.

Former Small/Cool Contest winner Pamela Kaupinen's tiny apartment has had to turn into many different things during quarantine, including a home office and gym! See how she fit more functions in her small space with this updated look at her NYC rental apartment.

Hattie Kolp has transformed her childhood home — this stunning prewar brownstone apartment she's lived in since she was 10 years old — by revealing gorgeous original architectural details, like several pocket doors that were covered by sheetrock and shelving.

Painting was a budget-friendly way for Angie Eng to elevate her studio apartment, helping to keep the "rooms" aesthetically separate, but still fluid.

There are colorful and cool murals, 50+ house plants, cool secondhand furniture finds, and a plant hanging idea that'll make you want to grab a ladder today.

Decorating her home is an outlet for her creative energy and most of the brightly colored paintings scattered throughout the space are her own.

Mamie Morgan's home's style is described as "maximalism meets Amelia Bedelia meets my mother’s full-length fake fur from Costco."

Tim Davidson owns and lives in 270-square-foot Tiffany the Tiny House, but also owns another tiny house on the property that he rents out on Airbnb that he calls Shellmate Island Octagon Tiny Home, which is 320 square feet large.

Since the pandemic began, photographer Margaret Wright has been able to: Build a fluted dowel coffee table; paint fireplace tiles; build a DIY ping-pong table; color block the hallway; install the hallway light fixture; build and upholster a guest room headboard; and remove the screens and paint the old wood windows.

Actress, podcaster, and writer Julie Klausner's NYC rental apartment features a neon sign, stripes, and fake cakes and flowers in the entryway, wild paint colors in the living room, dessert-themed wallpaper in the kitchen, and more.

This home is COMPLETELY unrecognizable after a gorgeous remodel.

These podcasters and founders of an events company consider the dining room table as the anchor oftheir home... and it's now has become their podcast recording studio, too. "In many ways, this is the space where we can still bring people together and now instead of feeding their mouths, we are feeding their spirit with inspiration."

Actress Bitsie Tulloch had to start from scratch when it came to furnishing the new house she bought with her husband, actor David Giuntoli.

When clinical nutritionist, cook, and educator Angel Munro and her family first moved in to this home, the original house was very dark, and so their renovation’s aim was to make it as “white, airy, and light as possible.”

Athlete and social media strategist Whitney Mitchell and her roommate share this two-bedroom apartment in New Orleans' Lower Garden District. It has tall ceilings, exposed brick, and lots of colorful art.

Alann says that nearly everything in this apartment was either found, stolen from his parents’ house, or picked up at a flea market or yard sale.

Designer and children's book author September Scott describes her style as playful. "I’ve always loved incorporating old pieces with new and find that doing this adds much more personality and character to a space."

Interior stylist Tracey Hairston, who blogs under the moniker Mocha Girl Place, lives in a spacious ranch house she's decorated beautifully with warm, earthy colors, natural textures, and tons of plants, of course!

You'll fall in love with designer Laquita Tate's entire house, but especially the all-black living room, with black walls, a black fireplace, and two black Article chairs.

Taking the renovation process room by room, Vanessa and Félix have transformed the space into a warm — and very pink! — abode that reflects their bright and fun-loving personalities.

Alex Lucas's home has a gorgeous mural inside on the kitchen cabinets, too!

"Dedicating time and attention to designing spaces that are happy, healthy, and supportive is the ultimate form of wellness and self-care we can give ourselves and our family. There is a lot of power in good, intentional design."

When Rachel K first took a tour of this place, she knew immediately this was the spot for her. "There is a beautiful garden surrounding the apartments, it has gated security, and is a 10-minute drive to restaurants and shopping centers."

Writer Jessica Cumberbatch Anderson has managed her sanity during quarantine by tackling some home refresh projects that were on her to-do list.

This designer's rental apartment is FILLED with gorgeous vintage gems.

Bobbi, the creator behind earring brand Bobbi Made This, makes work that spreads joy "one ear at a time." And the colorful and fun home she shares with her family spreads joy one room, paint color, and art piece at a time!

Clay Crider and his husband, Julian Kline didn't plan on having a monochromatic living room, but they "fell in love with the paint color and then the two blue couches, and it all started to fall into place."

Architect Samantha Stein and her fiancé moved from a studio apartment to a slightly larger apartment in the middle of a pandemic (and while on a budget) but the result is quite dreamy despite the challenges.

Pia Thompson is the founder of Sweet Digs, where she teaches clients how to get their homes in order. The Brooklyn rental home she shares with her young daughter is spacious, tidy, and yes, incredibly organized.

Esi Agbemenu is drawn to fun, bold colors, big patterns, and glam accents.

Mariana's condo is new construction and initially lacked architectural charm, but she brought life into the space by mixing her own paint colors, sourcing things secondhand, using what she already had, DIYing what she didn’t, and investing in a few things that could really make a difference.

Elizabeth Rees is the co-founder of wallpaper company, Chasing Paper, and her home has a gorgeous color palette, beautiful custom built-ins, and yes... great patterned wallpaper in many rooms.

Author and New York Times journalist Jessica Bennett explains that while it's useless in terms of noise or light, her loft's open wall/bookshelf makes for a lovely zoom background.