"My first rental apartment was kind of a bittersweet affair. It was sweet because I roomed with the most divine girl named Julia, whom I love—she's a really good friend of mine—in a very, very glamorous doorman building on 9th Street between 5th and 6th [avenues in NYC]. The bitter part was that I was sleeping in the nursery, which had baby-blue infant wallpaper with little balloons and elephants, and it was just big enough to fit my full-size—wait for it—futon. So needless to say I couldn't sleep for a year because I was sleeping on a futon but it was a very, very pleasant place to spend sleepless nights staring up at the happy balloons and elephants."

· Jonathan Adler [official site]
· All Renters Week 2011 posts [Curbed National]

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"It was a studio apartment in Tucson, Ariz., and it was perfect. I first laid eyes on it when I visited a friend who lived there. He was two years ahead of me in school. Sure, I’ll miss you, I remember thinking, but go on, get, graduate! And may I please have your landlord’s number? El Capitan Court, aka El Cap, was part of a small apartment complex made of little two-bedroom casitas lining the length of a courtyard, and at the far end, a stucco building with four studios. Mine was top right. It was rumored that in the 1940s and ‘50s the movie stars and crew filming at nearby Old Tucson Studios lived there—the stars in the little houses, the crew in the studios.

For us in 2002, it was more Melrose Place—love! A pool! We left our doors and windows open and spent the dry, warm desert days and nights moving from one patio to the next. I moved in after a summer internship in the home department of InStyle magazine, an adult—or so I thought—inspired to decorate. Dark wood floors, white walls, a clean slate with good bones. I painted a table a primary blue I’d never have in my house now. Of course there was a futon. And some furniture I can’t even describe—a magazine rack/room screen hybrid—yikes! I cringe now, but then, it worked. It was just what I needed, and wouldn’t have it any other way!

P.S. I also found this video googling around...it’s a lot less crumbly now!"

· House Beautiful [official site]
· @bendoro [Twitter]

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"It was the summer of 1994 and I'd just graduated from FIT. I had been living in student housing and was trying to figure out whether or not I was going to stay in the city or move back home to Arkansas. I didn't have a lot of money or time to find a place, but I'd just landed a job with [interior designer] Jed Johnson and knew I needed to make a decision quickly. It was getting down to the wire so I decided to sneak into one of the buildings at NYU that supposedly had a listing of available apartments. Sure enough I found the postings and quickly jotted down a long list of numbers. There was a hallway in the same building with several payphones and I immediately picked up the phone and started making calls. If I got an answering machine I would leave a message saying I could be reached on the phone number of the payphone next to me, desperately hoping someone would call me right back. Sure enough, the phone to my left started ringing and when I answered it was in response to one of the apartments I had been most excited about: an 'artist's loft' in the heart of Soho. The woman explained that she was both an an artist as well as a "dresser" for Saturday Night Live and the vacant space she had available was a place where she could drop by, showcase her artwork, and store extra clothes needed for SNL. I practically begged her to see the place that afternoon and once she finally agreed off I went to 581 Broadway between Prince and Houston [streets].

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