Lilli Waters and Jake Cole

Photographer Lilli Waters and musician Jake Cole rent a beautiful three bedroom home in Pascoe Vale.

‘I remember after a weekend of house inspections, feeling so depressed at the falling apart shacks we had seen, we sent an email to the real estate on a Sunday basically begging for them to accept us, and they did!’ recalls Lilli. The pair wasted no time in making their new surroundings feel like home, establishing a veggie garden, and decorating with a varied mix of furniture, textiles and art.

If you’re not lucky enough to rent a home with existing hooks or picture rails for hanging artwork, try 3M hooks – a great solution for artwork display, without damaging walls.

Revisit Lilli and Jake’s home here.

Poppy Lane, Scott Gibson & Family

Renting has been no barrier to creating a uniquely personal family pad for Poppy Lane and Scott Gibson of Pop & Scott. For these two clever creatives, simple updates such as replacing light fittings and window furnishings, and taming an overgrown garden have had a huge impact.

Revisit Poppy and Scott’s home here.

PieterJan Mattan and Jett House

New Yorkers are the ultimate renters – this is a city where house-proud tenants stay put for many years (even decades) in one apartment, and often repaint the walls, or even renovate the kitchens in their rented homes.

The apartment of creative consultant PieterJan Mattan and UX designer Jett House in TriBeCa is a proper old school New York loft, in a 200 year old building which was originally an umbrella factory. ‘This place needs constant care and attention, something breaks every month, and it gets cold in the winter with our giant single glass windows… but they say that’s old New York charm!’ says PJ.

Revisit PJ and Jett’s New York apartment here.

Sarah Booth and Housemates

Share house living is a rite of passage for many young Australians, and the Collingwood apartment of Sarah Booth (of Tiggy Cafe, Flour Market and B’OK Flowers) is the ultimate Melbourne share house. This home is the sort of versatile, open plan space that is a magnet for creative people – both those who live here, and a steady stream of friends and creative collaborators.

This household revels in the ‘communal’ aspects of co-habitation. They cook for each other, watch TV together, and offer encouragement and input on each others’ various creative endeavours. They even ran a pop-up restaurant here a couple of years ago, which seated 40! A hive of activity, in every sense.

Revisit Sarah Booth’s eclectic share house here.

Miranda Skoczek and Family

The colourful home of artist Miranda Skoczek in Upwey, at the foot of the Dandenong Ranges, is testament to just how much personality you can inject into a space without making any structural changes.

Miranda collects art, furniture and beautiful objects obsessively. Her home is a celebration of her favourite things – this is a place where Australian contemporary art sits alongside vintage textiles, contemporary design pieces are celebrated equally alongside tribal relics, and Asian antiques perch perfectly alongside  vintage ceramics from Portugal to Japan, Ethiopia to the US. Miranda is a bowerbird in the truest sense.

Revisit Miranda’s home here.

Laura Jones, Alex Standen and Mirra Whale

Artists and housemates Laura Jones, Alex Standen and Mirra Whale know the owner of their rental property, which has given them the freedom to significantly improve their rambling, three bedroom home. They’ve ripped up carpet and painted walls, but their most impressive project has been the DIY renovation of their kitchen! (Such a top effort!)

The presence and immense talent of each artist is felt all around this house. The walls are hung with large artworks by both Laura and Mirra, as well as a host of their artist friends, while almost all of the ceramic tableware in the kitchen was made by Alex, and is used daily.

Revisit Laura, Alex and Mirra’s house here.

Kate Stokes and Haslett Grounds

Since we first featured their beautiful rented apartment, designers Kate and Haslett have expanded their family, and moved into a bigger place (!) but we’re still super inspired by their creative solutions for this expansive one bedroom apartment in Fitzroy.

Most impressively, when they found out they were expecting their first bub, instead of seeking a house with more bedrooms, Haslett and Kate responded creatively, by designing a mini cubby-house inspired bedroom for Kiko in the large living space! (Genius!). They also softened the space with the most impressive collection of indoor plants – it makes such a difference in a lofty space like this.

Revisit Kate and Haslett’s home here.